Category: Ecuador

On the second day, we used the hop on/hop off city bus to visit the sites of Quito. Usually, I avoid the hop on/hop off buses because I love to explore on foot and see bits of a city that may be missed by driving around. For Quito, however, I only had one day to explore the city so I would recommend this option.

While waiting to get going a couple of us negotiated with a man on the street to buy our sick panama hats that I’m fairly certain annoyed Kristin for the remainder of our time together 🙂 (Spoiler: getting that hat back to SF was a nightmare… yet somehow… it made it)

Our first stop was the Basilica del Voto Nacional.

I’m still trying to conquer my fear of heights so I joined the group in climbing up one of the towers

But I’m not crazy enough to climb the flimsy ladder on the OUTSIDE of the tower that went to the tip top. I still had nearly 2 more weeks including the Galapagos Islands which I paid a pretty penny for so dying before getting there was not on my itinerary.

This view was sufficient for me.

Another one of our stops was El Panecillo.  

The statue of Madonna is on the top of a hill where you can see out over the city of Quito both from the ground, or you can climb up to a little deck in the middle of the statue (below the dome).

Our final stop on the bus tour was this cute and colorful street called Calle La Ronda

This was an actual barbershop! It looked like a museum exhibit from the 1950s.

That night, all the “young people” went to a bar in Cumbaya called “Shots Only” where we proceeded to play beirut and take many shots. Remind me if I ever get married to not do this the night before my wedding.

Waking up the next morning (Saturday) was a little rough, but our first activity was a massage at the hotel spa which was a glorious start to the wedding day. My new travel goal: get at least one massage during every trip.

We then spent most of the day being a little lazy before prepping for the wedding. Jason and Valeria’s wedding was hands down one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. Everyone looked so beautiful dressed up in black tie attire.

Yes, it’s blurry… but our car caught up with the bride and groom on the way to the ceremony so we had to wave hi

Unfortunately, with my group trip beginning the next morning at 8am, we left the wedding around 2:30 upon which I finalized packing and sorting items that would be going back to Massachusetts. I snoozed a few hours and before I knew it, it was time to wake up and join the group!

xx

Nicole

Continue reading “Hopping around Quito”

My first day of vacation was spent flying San Francisco to Fort Lauderdale, then Fort Lauderdale to Quito, but luckily it was uneventful and I arrived in Quito to see a sign with my name being held by a driver Kristin had arranged. That always feels fancy until I realized I was carrying two backpacks and looked like I needed a shower.

I got into the hotel and tried to creep into our shared room without waking Kristin, but still managed to, and then even as I was in my bed under the covers I kept saying “we just have so much to catch up on!” Next thing I knew though it was lights out and I was being woken up for breakfast and our first day trip!

The bride and groom (Jason and Valeria) very kindly organized a trip for us out to Mindo. We made a quick pit stop along the way to use the bathrooms, but also got to see these views!

After a couple of hours in vans, we arrived at the butterfly sanctuary (Mariposas de Mindo Butterfly Garden). I’ve never seen so many butterflies in one place! You could take a bit of the mashed up banana to attract them and pick them up. Unfortunately we made the mistake of putting on bugspray first, but still were able to catch a bunch.

The best part of this video when we entered the butterfly garden was someone saying “sounds like the life… mating, sleeping…” 🙂

 

The next stop was in Mindo where we broke up into groups to do waterfall rappelling and a chocolate tour. Since my next leg of the trip would include the waterfalls, Kristin and I joined the chocolate tour at El Quetzal de Mindo and enjoyed the more relaxing itinerary where we learned how Ecuadorian chocolate is made start to finish. We finished before the other group so we were also able to fit in a trip to the San Jorge de Milpe Orchid & Bird Reserve where we watched hummingbirds zip around.

 

After reuniting with the other group, we piled back into vans for the ride home and decided to make it an early night at the hotel and rested up for day 2 in Ecuador!

xx

My latest adventure took me to Ecuador. My childhood bestie, Kristin (as seen in my Norway posts!) invited me to join her family at her brother’s wedding in Quito and of course I could not turn down a reason to visit a new country. I may have semi-invited myself but I like to think she was also happy to have me. 🙂

Traveling to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands was a trip of a lifetime. I am so lucky to have a best friend who invites me to join things like this family celebration. Our initial plan included the two of us continuing on to travel after the wedding, but due to extenuating circumstances Kristin had to head back to the US. I, on the other hand, decided to take advantage of my company’s “unlimited” vacation policy since the wedding was in July and that happens to be one of our slowest months. Plus, there’s no way I’m flying to Ecuador and not exploring! When else would I have a reason to buy a flight down there?

I always had the Galapagos Islands on my radar as a bucket list trip, but I never thought I’d be crossing it off my list so soon! Once I knew that I’d be venturing out on my own after the wedding I started researching how to travel throughout Ecuador and how to get myself to the Galapagos Islands. One of the biggest challenges I quickly realized would be standing in my way – I don’t speak Spanish. I took about 6 years of French so that doesn’t help and despite living in California the extent of my Spanish does not go far beyond “Yo queiro Taco Bell” (I had to google the spelling of that) and huevos rancheros, no queso – which is delicious. In parts of Ecuador very minimal English is spoken. I’m all about immersing yourself in a new culture, but realized that it would be safest for me to join a tour group. My concern was that this would make the trip too “touristy” but as you’ll come to see this was not a problem at all!

The next major problem was traveling solo. When I book my own solo travel I just have to account for the fact that I’m not splitting any costs. When you book with a tour company, especially the ones running through the Galapagos Islands, they were charging me based on a double room. This means that I would have to pay for myself and depending on the company up to 90% of the cost of the other person who would have shared my room. That alone could make the trip over $6,000!

Hours of research later, I discovered Contiki. They’re a tour company geared towards 18-35 year olds and solo travelers. They organize everything and assign roommates so you can join a trip without having to find people to come along. I was very skeptical, but watched many youtube videos and read some other blogs that spoke highly of Contiki. They were hosting a trip that left the day after the wedding traveling through mainland Ecuador and out to the Galapagos Islands over the course of 12 days. I took advantage of their customer service and called to ask questions about missing part of the first day because of the wedding, etc. and after speaking with my contact for about 25 minutes I was already giving her my credit card for a deposit.

So that’s how I ended up on a 17 day trip to Ecuador! We fit A LOT into this trip so there will definitely be a post dedicated to each day… and maybe more than that because this trip was jam packed with amazing sights and experiences.

First up – Quito and Mindo!

xx

Nicole