Crossing into Ecuador from Peru brought a few immediate changes to what we had become accustomed to;
- Everything was priced in USD, so for once we could temporarily switch-off our mental maths when paying for things!
- The relentless roadside rubbish thankfully came to an abrupt halt.
- People began to beep (nicely), wave (happily), and even stop for photos with us and our camper van as we drove by.
- There were bananas growing everywhere…literally!
Aside from admiring the banana plantations and jungle landscapes, our first stop in Ecuador would be in the southern city of Cuenca. Housing nearly 500,000 people, it is the third largest city in the country. Cuenca is a UNESCO World Heritage listed site, due to its outstanding colonial architecture, cobblestone streets and cathedrals that date back to the 14th century.
We arrived there after a long bumpy drive from the border town of Huaquillas. The road was deformed and badly damaged in many places, owing to ongoing tectonic activity below.
Having settled into our campsite on the edge of the city, we took a tram into the historical centre. Having not seen a train or tram in over a year, the kids were truly delighted with this experience and anything else we managed that day would have been a bonus. We did enjoy the afternoon pottering around the city, admiring beautiful buildings and eating local delicacies. This was all done in very agreeable local weather conditions, the city enjoying an eternal spring-like climate that is warm and dry by day, but cool and refreshing by night. Very nice I hear you say!
Our second day in the city was spent celebrating Laura’s birthday. We were delighted to share the day with some Brazilian friends we had made. We dined in a great pizza restaurant along the river, scaled the many steps leading to the roof of the catedral, sampled from the huge fruit and veg market (the Ecuadorians really know how present a market and keep it spotlessly clean btw), visited the Panama hat museum and we got cake to celebrate the birthday. A busy day indeed!
We left Cuenca the following afternoon, after visiting a local mechanic to fix a slow puncture, and headed towards the well-known tourist town of Banos. Our arrival there the following day (after another long drive) brought us to a town in an amazing setting. It is located at the bottom of a valley, surrounded by the greenest, thickest trees imaginable. Really a beautiful sight to see. We parked up at the edge of the main park/playground in the town and did not leave for 4 days. We had not really planned to stay there, or for that long, but were delighted with our choice in the end.
We spent our time in Banos visiting places of incredible natural beauty, going on walks, playing in the playground, and generally just embracing this great town. Yes it is quite touristy, but not to the point that it negatively affected us anyway. Three of our highlights were the Casa del Arbol (a beautiful garden area overlooking the city), the Bosque Encantado (an enchanted forest with an enormous number of little details that the kids absolutely loved) and Pailon del Diablo Waterfall (a 2km out & back trail where you get incredibly up close and personal with the waterfall as it hurtles past). However there were many more sights and sounds that we really loved and would recommend anyone to come and spend a few days here.
The last place we had earmarked to visit in the south of ecuador was Quilitoa and the beautiful crater lagoon that dominated the villages vista. Quilitoa is a water-filled crater lake and its current form is due to a catastrophic eruption about 800 years ago, which produced a volcanic ash cloudflow that reached the Pacific Ocean.
In Quilitoa there are two trekking options to be explored. One is a full circuit of the crater rim. A 13km loop, we decide against this after a recent illness had left one of the kids below 100%. Instead, we decided to hike down to the lagoon’s edge and then back up. Sounds simple right…well we soon found out that it is anything but! The 4km round trip is made very difficult due to the very steep descent and ascent involved, the slippery rock/sand conditions underfoot, plus the almost 4,000m altitude where it is located. We very slowly made our way back to the top, thankful that the lingering illness was just about gone (otherwise it really would have been a challenging situation).
It really is worth mentioning how spectacular Quilitoa Lagoon is. It is a picture perfect crater with the bluest water you could ever imagine seeing. We were only sorry that we were not in a position to spend another day hiking around the rim of it to further appreciate such a thing of natural beauty.
As we often say on our trip, best not to do everything when visiting a place as it will be a great excuse to come back another time!
English