Exploring Ecuador

After spending 6 weeks exploring beautiful Colombia, we crossed over to Ecuador by bus. Once we hit the border, we took another bus to the nation’s capital of Quito (the second highest capital city in the world after La Paz, Bolivia). For the first and only time in South America, the currency is in US Dollars because of an Economic Crisis. It definitely felt weird to be spending USD while in South America paying for stuff in the small stores, restaurants, hotels, buses, and taxis. Here’s all the things we saw and did during our 3 week stay in Ecuador: 1) QUITO Quito was a beautiful city and we stayed in the historic area right on La Rambla. La Rambla Hostel was very welcoming – it was hard to say goodbye to the amazing staff. They had a delicious yet pricey restaurant on-site and the hostel was in the perfect location walkable from all the major tourist attractions! We also did a Walking Tour of the Old City and took a taxi up to the Virgin Mary Statue (called “The Winged Virgin of Quito”) at sunset for an amazing view of Quito! Here’s a video tour of our hostel in La Rambla: 2) THE EQUATOR The Ciudad Mitad del Mundo is about 30 mins from Quito. Most hostels have a Half Day Tour for only $10 USD which includes transport back and forth. You have to pay the entrance fee separately. I quite enjoyed seeing the attraction as they have several very interesting “Scientific Experiments” showing the unique Coriolis Effect at the Equatorial Line. You can see a famous Shrunken Head and learn about traditional Ecuadorian Culture while visiting. 3) OTAVALO  Did we really need to see another market? The more you travel, the more you get tired of seeing churches, temples, plazas, mountains, and markets. However, Otavalo is on a whole different level. It’s the largest outdoor market in all of South America and all the vendors wear traditional Ecuadorian clothing which adds to the magical ambience. Instead of doing a day trip, I recommend coming up on Friday night and sleeping overnight and then maximizing your Saturday at the market. There is also an Animal Market just outside of the main town. Here’s a video tour of our room at Otavalo overlooking the world-famous outdoor market: 4) BANOS  Banos meaning “to wash yourself” in Spanish and the town […]

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