We will remember our time very fondly in Ecuador. We loved the amazing fruit, literally falling off the trees all around. We loved the warmth of the people on the roads who waved and beeped incessantly, leaving us feeling like celebrities everywhere we went. We loved the incredible natural beauty that the Andes Mountains presented to us, time and again as we traversed the country. Yet it will be be the wonderful friends that we made that will leave longest in the memory years after our visit to Ecuador has passed.
Our first Ecuadorian destination was the city of Cuenca. A beautiful colonial city with a huge amount of heritage and history, we were happy to stay there for a few days to celebrate Laura’s birthday. Having somehow managed to celebrate the other three family birthdays on our adventure with others, we thought that this one would be different in Cuenca.
However, a day before the big day saw the arrival to the campsite of a retired Brazilian couple we had previously met in northern Peru. While we had gotten on very well with Robson and Rosely, we were not anticipating spending the birthday with them. Yet when they got wind that we would be celebrating a birthday the next day, they immediately made it clear that they would accompany us and would be delighted to share the day together!
Every person or family travelling like we do has their own way of travelling, including their own budget requirements. What was so impressive from our Brazilian friends was their immediate acceptance of our preferences and requirements that day. We headed into the city at the time that suited us, we went without question to sites and places that we suggested and they ate at the restaurant we proposed without prior review or price check. Not all overlander’s (or people in general) would be so accommodating I am sure. For accommodating us so much and accompanying us that day, we were very grateful and thankful for our new friends.
Reaching the capital city of Quito had been a bit stressful, managing both the heavy local traffic and incredibly steep streets. So when we reached our campsite all we really wanted to do was close the door, eat dinner and turn off the lights. Yet our host Andy wasn’t having any of it! Andy is one of those people that somehow manages to bring out the best in people, no matter their mood. An overlander himself, having travelled solo on motorbike from Canada to Argentina, and also headed up multiple biker tours around Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, he knows what life on the road is like. It is with this knowledge, and his innate personable nature, that really endeared him to us.
Over the few days we stayed in his Coda Vista campsite, we spent quite a bit of time with Andy. We loved each interaction, sharing thoughts, stories, hopes and dreams. We left having made a real connection with a genuinely good person, who is doing something good for other people.
To the north of Quito is the town of Mitad Del Mundo or “Middle of the World”. There we planned a quick overnight stay and early visit to the tourist centre, before continuing our journey. As camper van travellers, we are always very conscious where we decide to sleep each night. We are yet to travel in convoy, so it is usually great news for us when the place we have pre-chosen also has another camper van there. That night we had the great fortune of seeing two other camper vans already parked in our desired car park.
On the rare occasions that this happens, our kids are straight out the door to investigate the other vehicle(s), examining their registrations to see where they are from and seeing if there are any stickers or signs that might indicate children on board. We later met the first camper van owners, a retired Brazilian couple traveling with their adult son Junior towards Alaska. A lovely family, we were delighted to chat at length with Junior about their route plans, vehicle and various challenges on the trip so far.
Yet immediately upon arrival, before our kids could even get their shoes on, we were approached by three enthusiastic Chilean’s under the age of 10, soon to be followed by their parents Sole and Bernardo. Their family of five had been travelling for 18 months all around South America (including the very challenging Guyanas and Suriname). They are relative social media stars via their 100,000+ followers on their @fiveundertheroof Instagram page. Yet the way they met us and treated us from the very start was as if we were the first and best people they had ever met.
With the kids playing joyfully together long into the night, we got to know each other with such ease that we knew an early departure the next morning would not be the best course of action. While we did not have a strict timetable to follow, we did have to be in southern Colombia in a little over a week to collect Laura’s visiting mum. Yet it felt right that we spend more time with people we connected with so quickly, easily and deeply.
So we decided to spend the whole of the next day together. We started with a shared breakfast on tables and deck chairs in the middle of the car park (it was otherwise almost empty and the security guards did give us their pre-approval!). This was followed by a great trip to a local visitor centre where the kids loved learning all about the Coriolis Effect and other interesting facts with their new buddies. A local lunch was enjoyed together before the kids again decamped to the local playground. The parents were busy too, albeit in a more practical type of way. In between incessant chatting, appetisers were prepared, pizzas were cooked and drinks served. Once the pizza smell overwhelmed the playground, the kids reappeared and we all shared a wonderful meal together at the halfway line of the world.
Unfortunately, our time with Sole, Bernardo and their kids ended the following day. Both families had to go their separate ways. When a wonderful connection like this is made on a pretty binary route, a very pressing question is usually asked quickly enough – “are you travelling north or south”? When the answer is the opposite to that which you are travelling, it immediately rules out future possibilities to travel, eat, play, laugh and experience new cultures together. Yet this is just something that we must accept, something that makes the short time we have together all the more valuable. And so we drove our separate ways, content in the knowledge that we had made the most our time together.
Ecuador provided us with many things that we had not been expecting. But the wonderful friends we made in our short time there was the best gift we could have asked for.
Click here to read the “Flexibility Is A Must” blog post
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