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Published: April 11th 2010
Breathtaking Ecuador
Before our trip to South America we did little research into Ecuador, we knew we wanted to visit the Galapagos but that was about it, but Ecuador has turned out to be a real highlight of the trip so far. The entire country is so green and lush and full of Volcanoes, they are everywhere, as well as rainforest and waterfalls it has a bit of everything that makes South American landscapes so famous
The first thing that hit us when we arrived in Quito (the capital) is how out of breath we were!! Quito sits in the central part of the Andes in a high valley at around 2900m. The old town of Quito is very beautiful full of colonial buildings, squares and museums, and is listed as a world heritage site for its colonial splendour. Quito also has a section called the new town which is full of modern bars and restaurants and is a surprisingly good night out, all told Quito is an exciting city to visit.
But and this is a big but it also has a darker side, Quito is famous on the backpacker circuit as the place you are
mostly likely to get mugged or robbed in, sometimes at gun point!! The expats in the hostel we were staying at delighted in telling us stories of muggings on the street and taxi drivers robbing people at gun point. This is partly because it is the gateway to the Galapagos so it sees its fair share of cashed up tourists wandering around with expensive gear hanging of f them, we have no photos of Quito (except the first few taken from the bar on the roof of the hostel) as we decided to leave all our gear in the backpackers and wander around with no bags looking like grungy backpackers, all said though we really enjoyed Quito.
After Quito we headed to the Cotopaxi national park famous for its 5900m high picture perfect volcano. The park is incredibly beautiful and we stayed at an eco lodge with a perfect view of the volcano. The lodge called the secret garden has no electricity so at night it was lit by candles and log fires, we decided to stay in fixed tent that overlooked the volcano, waking up in the morning it has one of the best views I have ever
seen out of a tent flap. We did a few hikes to get us acclimatised to the altitude before we decided to tackle Cotopaxi itself which is one of the worlds highest volcanoes. We drove through the park to the base of it in a beat up old land cruiser with mountain bikes strapped to the roof. The climb up Cotopaxi was torture with every breath having to be fought for as the air is so thin! We climbed up to the snow line which is 5000m high which may not sound much but most people reading this will be sat at sea level, so we climbed 5 kilometres vertically over your heads (the highest point in the UK is a mere 1800m)
The view from the snow pack was amazing and you could see the whole area. After we descended to the car park we had an 18km downward mountain bike trail to the parks entrance which was a lot of fun before making our way back to the lodge for a much needed beer and a rest in the hammocks.
Our next stop was the town of Banos which is the adventure capital of Ecuador as
it is surrounded on all sides by active volcanoes, in 1996 the town was abandoned for a few months as one of them blew its top. Banos is full of 4x4 buggies and mountain bikes and we did a great day trip called the waterfall route which took us round the areas many waterfalls.
Our final stop in Ecuador was its 3rd largest city called Cuenca which was just like every other city but to get to it you had to descend from the high Andean plains which was a terrifying ride as the bus drivers in South America are insane!!!
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Emma McClement
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Photos!
Ads, The last few photos look like those Peter Lik ones you and Lou like. I cant believe what an amazing few months you have been having and it seems like the last few weeks have been wonderful. Feeling very jealous actually..... All is good here. Charlie is now 7.2kg and his physio said he is doing so well and we dont really have to go back. I also had good news from the surgeon and she thinks that i wont need surgery unless there is a problem and my blood tests are finally returning to normal after pre-eclampsia. Anyway, cant chat cos Charlie is lying on the bed next to me asleep and my typing is bugging him! We miss you both and be careful. Em