Ecuador Travel Blogs, Travelogues and Travel Journals - Page 3

Well, our trip is pretty much at an end.  Rachel and I are headed back to the US today.  We will have 3 layovers on our flight home including a 7 hour, overnight layover in LAX (recently awarded the worst airport in the world to spend the night!).  We're both sad to be leaving Ecuador but I am excited to be back in my own bed. Thanks for reading. Roads go ever ever on, Over rock and under tree, By caves where never sun has shone, By streams that never find the se…

¡Latacunga Latacunga! This is what the guy who hangs off the bus yells as we take off from Quito. We pick up a bunch of people along the 2 hour ride, along with the many people who come on the bus for a couple minutes to try to sell ice cream and fresh potato chips.  Pretty crazy place. So, Phil´s friend John has been living in Lata for the last two years basically teaching English, and it was really great to meet up with him. He showed us around, and cooked us an amazing vegetarian …

Well after 18 months of toil and trouble, planning and replanning, I´ve finally made it !! A special thanks go to my boss Di for showing compassion in letting me have this ridiculous amount of time off work for which I will always be grateful.  Also Heather in Sheffield for kicking me into shape for finally taking a risk and booking it prior to my house sale going through (a call that has definitely been the right one).  Also my sister Heather who has helped in making this possible…

After years of thinking about it, months of talking about it and great diffiuclty persuaded my employers to give me leave I'm finally heading off on my travels. From Sept '08 to March '09 I'm going to be travelling overland, firstly from Quito to Rio and then from Kenya to Jo'burg. This blog will be my attempt to let family and friends keep track of me as I go.

Travel photos from Ecuador.

Finally Monday morning came about so it was in to the New Town of Quito to try to find a last minute deal on Galapagos tours.  A few of the bigger name operators didn't have anything until August so I was a bit disheartened early in the day.  One of my google searches had mentioned a place called ´Happy Gringo' (www.happygringo.com) and they were absolutley brilliant.  Once I was in there they were on the phone to one boat or another, and nearly had mean on a 5 day tour o…

Tuesday was the day for Quito sightseeing. We saw the colonial quarter and newer downtown and had a panoramic view of the city from Panecillo Hill. There was time for shopping in the colonial quarter. Several of the Marine guards from the US Embassy were off-duty and looking around one of the shops. They seemed rather bored--Quito was too quiet. In the afternoon, we drove out to see the well-known Equator Monument. Returning to Quito at the end of the day, we&n…

This trip was the reason I started to travel. I remember writing a report on the Galapagos penguin in the fourth grade. Since then, I knew eventually I'd make it there. My friend Tracey and I started the journey in Quito for a few days. Our hotel hooked us up with a wonderful driver and we took two day trips out of the city. Our first was to the Equator monument and museum. The monument was, well, a monument. A big red line painted on the ground. Ironic because I often make a huge point to m…

My university trip to the Galapagos islands of Santa Curz, Floreana, and Isabela.

Costa Rica, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru

With a population of 1.4 million, Quito is nestled along a valley floor beneath a number of large hills and dormid volcanoes. Running North to South, it is about 6km wide and 50km long so its very narrow and it is also very high, sitting at 2,850m above sea level - which when you first arrive, makes walking up anything beyond horizontal quite a task. The city itself is broken into 4 major parts:- In the south, the working class suburbs. People who live here generally range from very ver…

Went to a park where they have weekend markets selling indigenous handicrafts geared towards tourists.  Well, we were tourists, so that's ok.  You have to bargain for everything, and if you don't know how much something should cost, you can get majorly ripped off (i.e. the same necklace at the airport was $45 and I could get it at the market for $3).  However, when it's something like buying a necklace for $5 instead of $2, it doesn't really affect most of us Americans whereas …

WE arrived to Quito late wed night and checked into out hostel, el Loro Verde.  Its a nice and clean place with spacious rooms and private bathrooms.  THe best thing is the location.. we are right in the middle of the Mariscal party seen in new town.  The area is full of cafes, hostels, bars, and nightclubs.  After getting some rest, Trey and I woke up and headed into old town which is the more hostiric part of Quito.  Old town rivals the beauty of Buenos Aires, with …

One of the more interesting activities that we took part in at Jatun Sacha was the bosque (forest) walks. This involved walking through the rainforest pretty much all day, which can be hard work but is totally AWESOME. There are 4 bosque guards, whose responsibilities include looking out for signs of troublemakers, unblocking the rivers, keeping the paths clear and so on and so forth. Most of them have an incredible knowledge of things relating to their environment. The legendary Él Gato, fo…

It´s been nearly 2 weeks of working at the Hospitals here in Quito. First, Alison and i worked at the ER all last week at Eugenio Espejo. I´ve seen so much blood, vomit, secretion, urine, stomach fluids and guts that i enjoy the thrill of the job even more.