How I fell in love with Ecuador...

---

As soon as I arrvied in Ecuador, crossing the border from Peru, I fell a little bit in love. The scenery was breath-taking and the customs officers made me laugh with their religious pictures and their pornographic calendars side by side in their office, on full public view... excellent.

The first thing I noticed about Ecuador was just how green it was and how clean it appeared (which in comparison to Peru is not difficult!). Instead of signs on the roads telling people how to drive there were signs telling people to look after the evironment, save water, not kill the animals... They really want to look after their country. It reminded me slightly of home, the greeness, the nature, and the mountains. Ok, in the UK there are more hills really than mountains... but I felt at home straight away in Ecuador.

From the border it took a few hours to arrive in Loja, as the road went up and down mountains like a rollercoaster (and was lined with little shrines where people had died coming off the road - scary stuff!). I didn't stay in Loja but headed straight to Vilcabamba, which after just five days may be favorite place in the world.

Vilcabamba is a little village located around a central square with cafes and restaurants and of course, the church. After feeling a little on edge in a few places in Peru with regards to safety, I was pleased to find that this village was perfectly safe and I had nothing to worry about, especially as I had to arrive after dark.

My 'hostel', Rendez-Vous was amazing... not a hostel at all really, more like a hotel in beautiful gardens with flowers and hummingbirds everywhere! The breakfast at the hotel was fantastic and would keep me full until the late afternoon.

Views of the lush, green mountains are unavoidable from everywhere in the village, it really does seem like paradise. There are a number of walks all around the village ranging in duration and difficultly. I, on the first day, went to a little, private nature reserve called Rumi-Wilco which has many different walks all sign-posted and labels on many of the plants with names in English, Spanish and Latin so you can learn a little bit too. The park is only about thrity hectors in size but has such varied widlife and fauna that I got addicted and went every day to do a different walk. There are birds and butterflies everywhere and orchids too. It's a wonderful little place.

Next I headed to Cuenca and stumbled upon a great little hostel called La Cigale. Great food, excellent staff, HOT showers (many hostels say 'hot showers' but mean almost luke-warm showers). Cuenca is a lovely city, loads of beautiful architecture and squares to sit and read and watch the world go by. Art galleries too are dotted around the city and there are plenty of museums. There appeared to be a lack of restaurants but maybe I was just looking in the wrong places.

Baños was the next stop... a very touristic place and therefore not really to my taste. It was beautiful. In a valley next to to live volcano with the roads going in and out of the town lined with waterfalls and deep gorges with fast flowing rivers at the bottom. Unfortunately I caught a cold here... the weather was pretty cold and wet and after all my time in Paraguay I was not used to it so I could not do all the activities that are on offer in the town: canopy, bridge jumps, night trips to see the volcanic activity, rafting. So after a few days I carried on to Quito, which everyone said would be even colder...

But was actually beautifully sunny! :D
Quito is, for a capital city, stunning. Once again set amongst a back drop of mountains, with colonial architecture, big squares, plenty of places to eat... Perfect. I stayed in a hostel just outside of the old city called Secret Garden which was a really great place if a little noisy. I didn't have much time to really explore Quito but managed to fit in the sights in the old city and a trip to an art museum dedicated to Oswaldo Guayasamín, an Ecuadorian artist of whom I had never heard before going to Ecuador, but whose work I now really like!

Next to the hostel where I stayed is a little travel agents called Carpe DM who run trips all over Ecuador including to the Amazon and the Galapagos. Unfortunately I am too poor to go to the Galapagos, but I could just about afford to go to the Amazon... It was expensive, but AMAZING. Definitely worth the money!

In Tena, or just outside Tena, on the river Napo, I stayed at a lodge called Cotococha . This is probably the most beautiful, peaceful, natural place I have ever been (I am aware earlier in this blog I said something similar about Vilcabamba and between the two it is difficult to choose!). The lodge has many small cabins all without electricity (gas lamps magically appear outside the cabins in the evening for night time usage), and a bar and restaurant, which serves amazing food, all inside two different 'chozas' which are little huts made from all the natural materials in the area.

Nature-wise, all I can say is wow. At night, the sounds in the jungle are amazing, all the birds, bats, insects make such amazing noises, no music is necessary. On the first night, a baby owl paid a visit to the bar and landed next to my friend, so close to humans, and then posed for many photos. I also had close encounters with butterflies, MASSIVE spiders, monkeys, grasshoppers and many more insects, although miraculously I avoided any insect bites! Someone I met in Vilcabamba told me to take lots of B12 vitamins because it makes your skin smell funny (just to the insects) and therefore you don't get bitten! Activites: I did a hike to a waterfall, 'tubed' down the river (which involved getting in a rubber ring and letting the river gently pull you along - soooo relaxing!) and visited a butterfly farm. I was very sad to leave!

So! I would like to say hi and thanks to all the people I met in Ecuador if they read this. It was fun travelling with you!

And for anyone else travelling in Ecuador, a few travel details...

Bus from Loja to Vilcabamba is really regular and takes about 1 hour 30 mins and costs $1. Bus from Loja to Cuenca takes about 7 hours and costs around $7. From Cuenca to Baños you need two buses and it is not so obvious where you have to change, so ask! It takes about 8 hours and costs about $8. From Baños to Quito takes 3 to 4 hours and costs $3.50. From Quito to Tena takes 5 to 6 hours and costs $6.

This is all!

---