Ecuador
The hostel I stayed in was called The Secret Garden Hostel and it was incredible!
Hands down my favorite hostel I've stayed in so far! It had lots of art on the walls and a beautiful patio on the rooftop. There were people with huge backpacks coming and going all day every day (see the picture below). I was actually cold in the hostel room at night! I didn't want to be a southern American little snot and request to turn the heat up because there were seven other women I shared the room with so I just slept with my jacket on lol I'm assuming the heat was on but I was just so cold coming from 100 degrees and horrible humidity to high of 65 lows in the 40's and no humidity!
- 10 years ago Ecuador was the poorest country in South America. It's incredible to see the amount of growth the country has had since then. Houses in the city are now $50,000 to $300,000! The Ecuadorians (according to my guide) thank the previous president for investing in things like education and healthcare to start to rebuild Ecuador after its collapse in 2000. The collapse occurred when banks talked people into putting all their savings into accounts with high interest rates knowing the government was switching to dollars. The banks took all the money out of Ecuador which was a very sad and awful time.
- A subway system is currently being worked on that was started about two years ago.
- There's a long circular road that wraps around the city I stayed in (Quito) that reminded me of 285 in Atlanta.
- There are 11 volcanoes that surround the city of Quito and three of them are active.
- One of the volcanoes called Cotopaxi is 19,000 feet!
- Most people that live in Ecuador are Catholic.
- The city of Quito is about 45 miles long but only 5-10 miles across.
- There are lots of glaciers in Ecuador and the cities pipe their water from them as they melt.
- The Andes mountains (they run through Ecuador) have 3,000 different types of potatoes and Ecuador alone has 300 types. When the Andes mountains formed they split the forest into "The Amazon Forest" and "The Cloud Forest."
- Men carry their babies in Ecuador. No one uses strollers here.
- I didn't see any homeless people! My guide said the government takes care of everyone here so there are no homeless people, so neat!
- Ecuadorians have a very strong family culture here. My guide said that everyone takes care of their parents when they get old. They have very few nursing homes here and everyone lives very close to all of their family.
- My hands were tingling the entire time and the tour guide said it's very common at these high altitudes and eventually when people get older it turns into pain, so sad!
- You can get two dozen roses here for about $2! Ecuador is a huge rose exporter.
- Beeping in the car means thank you and not screw you like in the states lol
- There are no tornadoes or hurricanes in Ecuador... just volcanoes and earthquakes 😂
The Equator & In Situ Museum
- The vial the guide is holding up (in the above picture) has a fish in it that will swim up your penis if you pee in the rivers here in the Amazon men! Ecuadorian men that live in the northern tribes wear a string that protects their penis from the crazy fish that will swim up it!
- Also, the tribes here used to cut the head off of their enemies, steam it to make it small, then wear it on a necklace! They still do this to animals they hunt. They don't play around in the Amazon!
Inside an Ecuadorian tribal house
Inside Ecuadorian tribal house with guinea pigs
This is how tribes in Ecuador lay dead bodies when people pass away. They believe that you need food and water on your journey after death so they leave things in the room above your body.
- Because Ecuador is on the equator there are no longer or shorter days here, the temperature is the same all year and there are only two seasons of rainy and dry... so neat!
- People in Ecuador sleep 12 hours a night in general because there is always 12 hours of sunlight (awake) and 12 hours of dark (sleep).
- Water doesn't spin down the sink on the equator, it just goes straight down. Depending on where you stand in reference to the equator the water spins down in opposite directions!
- You weigh 1 kilogram less on the equator which makes it hard to walk in a straight line. Also, if you stand on the equator and ask someone weaker than you to push your arms down they can do it easily because you weigh less and your body hasn't adjusted! So cool!
- This is the actual equator, the museum that's a few miles down the street is where GPS tells you the equator is BUT this is where it really is because they showed us all the cool science stuff like the water turning different ways on each side!
- It's easy to balance an egg on it's head while standing on the equator because the yolk drops exactly to the bottom. I did it and received an "egg balancing certificate" which I will be framing and putting on my wall!
Traditional Ecuadorian dance and crafts
Guinea Pigs
Deer and guinea pigs used to be the only protein in Ecuador but when the Spaniards took over they brought horses, chickens and pigs. People in Ecuador still eat guinea pig and it's the "thing to eat" when you're here... I just couldn't do it though lol It was very neat to hear about the history! Guinea pigs live in peoples houses and they squeak when a guest is walking up to your house. Certain guinea pigs are also believed to remove evil spirits but these aren't eaten.
Teleferico
- I rode a cable car up to the top of one of the mountains and the views were incredible!
- There were tons of eucalyptus trees that were brought to Ecuador but the people here soon realized how invasive these trees are and now they're a problem. They're very tall and beautiful though (picture above).
- I met an amazing lady that was hosting two girls from France for a month (age 11) and one of her daughters is in Mexico with the same program. I had no idea they had programs like that for children that young! What an amazing experience!
- The picture of the bear on the sign (above) is found in Ecuador and only eats a certain fruit that is similar to a pineapple. They're afraid of humans so they're hard to see.
- It was a little cloudy today so I couldn't see all the snow caps but I was hoping to see them the next day!
Right in front of an active volcano!
Dog Poo
- My guide asked me "If you like dogs so much, have you ever tried dog poop? It's really good! We'll try it later today." Turns out 'dogs poo' are peanuts sweetened with sugar cane and sold on the street by vendors. They were really yummy! (Just in case you missed that, not real dog poop, just called 'dog poo' lol)
- There were dogs running around everywhere! My guide said that Ecuador is gradually getting used to treating dogs like a lot of Americans do (like human children lol) but the ones that live on the street are well fed as well.
- The buildings in the Old Town reminded me of European buildings which makes sense because the Spaniards conquered Ecuador at one point!
- The church above was made with seven tons of gold! St. Francis supports the elderly, the less fortunate and animals so once a year on the day of St Francis you can bring your pets into the church to be blessed! I just loved this!!! Dogs are people too, just sayin.
- The picture above is the president of Ecuador's house! You can literally just walk right up and go in! So weird! I was even able to take in my meringue cone I just got from a street vendor!
- The current president is paralyzed from the waist down so the house has been modified to accommodate him.
- Everyone is Ecuador has access to free health care. The picture above with the blue tent is one of the free health centers set up around the city where you can go to get your blood pressure, glucose and other things tested. It's paid for by taxes and oil money. 80% of the money from oil goes to the government and 20% to the company that drills for the oil. The ratio used to be reversed but the government went to the oil companies and told them the ratio was going to flip or they could leave the country... and the oil companies actually stayed! Education is free to the public too! Even college level if you make certain grades.
- Anyone can come to Ecuador and live and buy a house. All you need is some money and you can live here! Such a sweet country :)
Comedy show outside in downtown Quito above
- Most of the restaurants have outdoor patios because the weather is phenomenal year round!
- I told the guide the forecast said rain the whole time I'm here but he said it won't rain! He's not sure why forecasts say that because it really only rains during what we call the 'winter months'.
- KFC and McDonald's are considered expensive here. The Ecuadorians have been eating quinoa and healthy stuff for years and before even knowing all of the health benefits!
- Lunch at a Mexican restaurant. (above). I was craving Mexican food because I associated spanish with Mexican food before this trip. Now I know Ecuador has different food and the culture is different than Mexico. Oh the things this small town American girl is learning :)
Quito markets
Quito parks
Beautiful church is Quito
View from rooftop patio at the hostel
- Ecuadorians use popcorn like Americans use chips! They give you popcorn with dried bananas mixed in for an appetizer at a lot of places and they put popcorn in soup, so neat!
Cotopaxi Volcano Hike & Mountain Biking
- One of my favorite parts about these tours is the guide usually goes around and has everyone say their name and where they're from. It's so neat to see people from all over the world in one place! We had people from Ecuador, US, Netherlands, Switzerland and lots of other cool places on this tour!
- The best way I can describe the landscape of Ecuador is a mix between Iceland, Colorado and San Francisco! Beyond beautiful! Pictures don't do this place justice at all!
- Little side note/advice: when taking these tours, read the tour information carefully because it'll tell you exactly what to bring so you're not miserable on your adventure... like gloves, hat and waterproof jacket lol
Little restaurant we stopped at for breakfast
Cotopaxi volcano
Hiking up Cotopaxi volcano
Cotopaxi volcano
- The base camp for the Cotopaxi volcano hike was at 16,000 feet so I probably made it to 15,700 feet lol The plants here are completely different than yesterday because the micro climates are so different! Apparently there are 23 different micro climates in Ecuador!
- Totally didn't make it to the base camp 😂 it was soooooo windy I kept falling over and the ash and dust were sooooo awful! I had fallen over and just sat down, was getting really sleepy, felt really hot all the sudden, deciding where to puke because I just knew I was going to and having trouble catching my breath and one of the younger girls in high school stopped and was like 'I think I'm turning around, I can't breathe and I can't feel my hands' and I was debating turning around anyways so I was like 'wait for me!' 😂 apparently the weather changes very fast here and two days ago it was beautiful and sunny and everyone made it to the top. We were fine then all of the sudden this huge awful dust and ash storm came and was knocking people over 😂 It was impossible today! About half of us weaklings didn't make it to the base camp... incredible experience though!!!! Despite the wind they let us bike down! They just drove us to where the wind wasn't super bad to start.
- Two of the girls on the trip didn't bring gloves or waterproof jackets and luckily I had extra of each (like an over prepared weirdo). It was just so cold and windy!
- Note: I try hard not to set too many expectations when traveling and I try hard not to regret anything or be let down because at least I got to have these wonderful adventures!
- One of the girls wrecked pretty bad on the mountain bike down but the guide fixed her up and she got on the bus for the rest of the way down. I kept spinning out so I hopped on the bus too 😂 I tried it though! I have little upper body strength so it was very difficult for me to control the bike down the hill hitting so many rocks and bumps and it started raining so I got cold... decided to finish the tour on the warm bus!
Glacier lake formed by melting ice
- Stopped at a little restaurant (above) for some potato soup that everyone eats in Ecuador and some coffee.
- Food is soooo cheap here! You can get a good meal for $2-3!
Mindo Chocolate Factory
Waterfall Repelling "Canyoning"
- The guide kept yelling down 'open your legs!' because if your feet are too close together you'll start swinging all over the place. So of course it made me laugh hysterically which made me swing all of the place even more... which led to more 'open your legs!"
After the tour in Mindo we were headed back to my hostel because I had to catch my flight back home shortly thereafter. On the way back, we ran into a road block. The police officer and the guide were talking back and forth and the guide pulled off the road. I was like "Sooooo what's going on?!?" The guide said the car we were in is in the companies' name and the owner didn't pay the taxes on the car last month so we had one option... get out of the car and they would tow it lol The guide explained I had to get to my flight (we were still two hours away from my hostel and another hour away from the airport) and slipped the police man a $20 bill and he let us go! Can't believe it actually worked! I was kind of hoping it wouldn't work and I'd get stuck in this beautiful country a few more days lol The last video above is part of the drive back to Quito :) I would highly recommend visiting this wonderful country and I will definitely be back!
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