Ecuador
When I was 19 years old, I went on my first solo trip ever. I had travelled around plenty with my family across the states, the caribbean, and around central America. Traveling to a whole new country, in a new continent itself felt so insane to me!
After watching Eat, Pray, Love, something sparked my curiosity - I wanted to discover who I was too. I was always a bit timid and played life in the “safe-zone”. I walked out of this trip with a plethora of memories from experiences I feel I would say “no” to in any other situation. I went waterfall repelling, hiked in the Amazon, lived in a remote area to build homes in a village, went to salsa bars, and went paragliding. Who was I?! I loved watching Pretty Little Liars and Scandal in bed, loved talking to the people I was used to, and would rarely go out for any sort of outdoor activities.
Four weeks of being completely immersed in a new place with new people on my own pushed me out of my comfort zone. I think this is really when my spark for travel, food and culture was really ignited.
Through the company I had gone through, there was a provided bus and we stayed in the hostel. It was a big group of about 15 people, all were between the ages of 19-28 years. Most of those on the trip were Canadian pre-med students. Being a Canadian and also pre-med at the time, there was a lot to learn from everyone. This experience was voluntourism, but in all honesty everything about this trip was extremely reasonable and it really did affect what I wanted to pursue in life. One of the weeks was dedicated to living in a small village assisting in building homes, and the last week was returning back to Quito to learn about the healthcare system in Quito.
Ecuador in the summer is winter in the southern hemisphere which makes traveling around breezy (literally). Carrying a sweatshirt or a jacket when you’re on the highlands is ideal along with comfortable walking shoes. Three of the four weeks in Ecuador were traveling, and the last week was in Quito. We had travelled to Banos, Tena, Guayaquil, Pujili, Canoa, Manta, Mindo, Cotopaxi, and Otavalo.
Day 1
Upon arrival, everyone reached the hostel in Quito downtown and stored all of their belongings in lockers as we will be leaving for the next three weeks roaming around the whole country. We had a welcome dinner with our whole cohort. We had traditional Ecuadorean cuisine, a bowl of encebollado with popcorn, fritada, empanadas, and a lot of wine! We all went on the party bus and that took us around downtown Quito.
Days 2-3
The next day, after a very early breakfast in the hostel, we left for Banos, a three/ four hour bus ride to the waterfalls!
There were so many waterfalls in the area, and we also took a gondola to the top of the hills. We then took the Tarabita cable car that connects one side of the river to the other side and we continued our hike. Remember to take water shoes here and a rain jacket! I did not bring either and had to do a complete outfit change since I was drenched!
In the evening, we checked into the hostel in Banos, which had several hot spring tubs. We all went out to the springs before we headed out to the salsa bars to check out the night scene! Definetly try the Bob Marley shots when out, that seemed to be popular!
The next morning, we went up to the top of Banos which was a short hike. From this top point, you can see the whole city of Banos. We went onto the swing at the end of the world!
Our next destination from Banos was Tena! Tena was about 4 hours east of Banos and this was such an adventure- we were entering into the Amazon Forest! Everything around us was lush and green. We stopped by for lunch and were greeted by some monkeys around the entrance to the Amazon River.
From the entrance point, we went tubing through the Amazon River. This experience was honestly quite terrifying, as we were told to only be on the right side of the strait, since the fisherman and boats constantly were checking for anacondas, but the other side was not checked and it was closer to the land banks where snakes love to rest. My tube ended up in the wrong strait, but luckily I was able to somehow make it over.
Our hotel in the Amazon was an ecolodge, and it was gorgeous on top of the hill! This meant we had to lug our suitcases to the top of the dirt-ridden slopes, but the view was very well worth it.
Day 4
After the night of restful sleep, we started our plight to hike through the Amazon Rainforest, a dream of mine! Everything around us was so new to me. New insects and plants. We stopped by a small tribal village on the way to see a waterfall where the lady marked us with tribal markings. From the entrance of the waterfall it was a gorgeous sight to behold, and we all jumped into the water.
Days 5-10
After our adventures in the Amazon Forest, we buckled up for a long trip to Pujili. Pujili is a small town that is separated by the highlands and the lowlands. Through this trip, our goal was to help build homes in the highlands for the residents there. We were greeted with a huge feast and a lot of children and kind mothers. We spent five days here, all of us living in a small hostel with limited electricity and water access. Every morning after breakfast we would pile into the back of a pickup truck and prepare to work hard all day. We would return back to the hostel in the evenings, and then go back out to bond with the villagers through games of futbol. On our last day in Pujili, we had a very wholesome farewell dinner and ceremony where we and the villagers celebrated with each other.
Day 11
From Pujili, we left for Guayaquil. Guayaquil is well known for its canyons and waterfalls. Here, we did some white river rafting and waterfall repelling or waterfall canyoning. Both were extremely fun and adventurous feats and I was so proud of myself.
Day 12-17
After spending a day in Guayaquil, we made our way to Canoa! The coastal region of Ecuador! On our way over to Canoa, we stopped by Manta for lunch, which is another port city along the coast.
Canoa was such a paradise retreat! The water was warm, the beaches were gorgeous, and we absolutely cannot forget to try the fresh ceviche here! The coastal area is known for fresh seafood. This was our meal for the following few days.
Outside of enjoying ceviche daily, Canoa is known for its high tides and its giant cliffsides. Canoa is a surfers paradise in the country and is a hotspot for paragliding. Between the two activity choices, I was feeling ultra adventurous and leaned for paragliding.
Day 18-20
From the coastal region, we travelled six hours on the bus to the mountainous region of Cotopaxi. Cotopaxi is home of the most active volcano in Ecuador and the second highest peak of 19,000 feet above ground. Now would be the best time to pull out any and all altitude sickness medication. The view of Cotopaxi Volcano was well worth it and seemed like a dream.
We enjoyed some horseback riding at the base of Cotopaxi. It was a real pinch-me moment! The temperature dropped down to the 30s and 40s here, be sure to stay bundled up since the air is more dry than humid.
After our overnight stay in the lodge, we all woke up early to watch the sunrise. What a beautiful way to end our stay here - highly recommended! Right after, we made our way back to Quito, but made a stop at Quilotoa - a water-filled crater lake. The sight was incredible - a crater that was 3 km wide, created by the collapse of a volcano. While there is a hiking route, we were short on time and saw the lake itself only.
Lake Quilotoa
Day 20-26
The next five days, everyone on the trip split up for the first time after 20 days! On this trip, everyone was split up into groups based on their interests, there was a pre-med group, biology group, dentistry, and sports medicine. I was in the pre-med group where I learned how to complete basic sutures, CPR, and to draw blood. A very wonderful experience was shadowing surgeons and doctors and talking through the different issues in public health and receiving care in Ecuador. At the end of our rotations for 5 days, we all took a mock-exam and had a mock case presentation on how to deal with various healthcare scenarios. I have learned so much about how the healthcare system is linked to religious beliefs in the country.
On the last day of rotations, everyone returned back to Quito and we all enjoyed a classic futbol game against two of Ecuador’s clubs.
Day 27-28
With everyone back together, we drove out to Otavalo. A city on the edge of the borders where there’s a huge indigenous artisan market. The market had spices, silver, alpaca sweaters, clay structures, and more.
Day 28-29
On our way back to Quito, we stopped by Mindo for an overnight trip. Mindo is known for its chocolate and cacao found in the surrounding forests. We visited the Chocolate factory where we saw and tried cacao at every stage of becoming chocolate.
Day 30
On the last day of us being in Quito, we spent the day traveling to downtown Quito to admire the architecture and to take in Quito one last time. This included climbing the stairs to the top of the Basilica del Voto Nacional. The most spectacular view even from the cathedral was the statue of Virgin Mary on the other side of the town. We stopped by the Equator latitude line on our trek to visit the Catacombs. All in all, 30 days in Ecuador went by in a breeze! This might be one of my favorite countries that I have been to. Not just for nostalgia’s sake, but also in terms of people, culture, and country.
