Ecuador

Ecuador is a unique country in many ways. It is located on the equator and here is the most stable climate in the world. Only in Ecuador, the temperature at the ecuator not hot and quite comfortable. It is also the only country with a visa-free regime for all other countries. Official currency is the American dollar, which is very convenient for tourists. However, it is better to have a stack of twenties as $50 and $100 bills are not accepted everywhere.

The capital and most cities are located at an altitude up to 2800-3000 meters, but thanks to the equator here is not cold.

Ecuador is the smallest of the major countries in South America. Taking into account nice climate it is good idea to choose it as the first country to visit on the continent. Although we flew here primarily to visit the Galapagos Islands, which became part of Ecuador in 1832. We have decided to do this after watching documentary about Galapagos from BBC. Islands are unique place and generally can be described separately from Ecuador.

Galapagos Islands

They are located approximately 1,000 kilometers from Ecuador and consist of 13 major islands. Why are they unique? There many reasons. Islands were born from volcanoes, in fact the entire surface is lava. It is almost not visible on the islands, which were formed 5-10 million years ago, but there also islands with active volcanoes.

Animals are the main reason why tourists come here. During millions of years here has formed a unique ecosystem, many animals do not live anywhere else and most importantly they are not afraid of people. To most of them we easily approached by 2-3 meters and to some even closer. Here are some photos:

Seal or sea lion


Sally Lightfoot crab


Marine iguanas


Seal или sea lion


Galapagos turtle


The birth of a small turtle


Blue-footed booby


Gapalagos penguin


Land iguana


Sharks


Galapagos hawk


On the Galapagos Islands has been made a scientific discovery, which has been called the most important discovery in the history of science (according to Discovery: 100 Greatest Discoveries).

In 1835 the islands were visited by Charles Darwin. He made sketches of various animals and, in particular, several species of finches. 25 years later he wrote the book "The Origin of Species" which changed the world. The difference in the beaks of finches from different islands led him to the discovery of the theory of evolution.

When to go to the Galapagos Islands

There is a very good article with a description of each month in the islands. Using it, we chose April.

What to bring to the Galapagos Islands

Be sure to take sunscreen, insect repellent and seasickness pills.

Getting to the Galapagos Islands

Not easy and quite expensive, especially from Europe. You have the following options:

1. KLM and Iberia have direct flights to the capital of Ecuador, Quito from Europe. We had to buy regular tickets without discounts from KLM ($1,700 per person).

2. You can fly to the capital of Colombia, Bogota and continue to Quito with some local airline, for example TAME. However, additional transfer is always bad idea. AirFrance and Lufthasa fly to Bogota, the latter usually has cheap offers.

3. If you have an American visa, you can fly via the United States, this is usually cheaper. There are no transit zones in the United States, so visa is absolutely necessary.

Islands can be reached from Quito by local airlines (Avianca or LAN, round-trip ticket costs $400-500). Usually plane makes a stopover in Guayaquil, so you can fly from this city also.

Tourist tax

At the airport at the Galapagos Islands each tourist pays a tourist tax of $100. And at the airport of Ecuador $10.

Pre-registration

To visit the Galapagos Islands, you need to pre-register online at this website - http://www.gobiernogalapagos.gob.ec/. Press the menu Pre-registro, then Pre-registro turistas (TCT). Next you will see a link to the English version and instructions, follow them.

What to do at the Galapagos Islands

Galapagos islands take only about 200 thousand tourists per year. The focus is on wealthy tourists, in fact, even to get there you need to spend quite a lot of money. And the prices on the islands are high, at least twice as expensive as in Ecuador.

Let's look at the map of the islands


Planes fly to airports on the islands of Baltra and San Cristobal. On these islands there are two main towns: Puerto Ayora and Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. Also there is a small town of Puerto Villamil on Isabela Island and quite tiny settlement on the island of Floreana. You need to decide how you will spend time on the islands. Two options: to live in the town and take daily trips or take a cruise on a yacht.

Cruise on the Galapagos Islands

We have decided to choose the yacht, just because it is the only way to see everything. We have booked cruise year in advance, paid with a bank transfer. Each boat has its own route (itinerary) and we wanted a specific route that's why have booked so early. On this website you can see the overview of all yachts, prices and routes. We should say that the prices are very high and it makes sence to go on the first class yacht that have a separate cabin with toilet and shower. If you can not pay $2,500+ per person per week for the cruise, then it's better to take cruise onsite. Many tousrists take cruise and flight in Quito or directly on the islands. We saw offers of $1800 for a weekly cruise. 3-4-5-6-day cruises are even cheaper.

There are two main weekly routes and some variations: northern islands and southern islands.




We were on the north itinerary, as for me it is more interesting. The southern islands are visited by tourists during day trips and the northern ones are for cruises only. The examples above are from website of Rolf Wittmer, German captain, the first man, who was born on the islands. His company owns several yachts Tip Top. The website has detailed descriptions of 3-4-5-6-7-8-day tours with maps.

If you suffer from seasickness, but want to take a cruise, then select a big boat. There are several boats with capacity of more then 100 passengers, while most of the other yachts have 16 places and that is optimal number.

Read a lot of articles about Galapagos Islands on our blog and here is the map with all the places.

Accommodation at the Galapagos Islands

So, if you do not have enough money for the cruise or afraid of seasickness, you can just come and live in the towns, taking day trips to nearby islands. Tours, by the way, are quite expensive, $150-200 per person.

During the preparation for the trip we have considered this option, but rejected it because in this case we can see only small part of the islands. Also we do not like to spend a lot of time (4-5 hours per day) for a boat to the nearby islands. And if you just want to relax on the beach, then Galapagos should not be your choise. Yes, there are nice beaches on the islands, but people come here to see unusual animals in their natural environment and unusual landscapes.

The best place to live is Puerto Ayora, as it is the most developed. Hotels are not particularly expensive, we visited few just to ask the price and it was about $50. If you have time, then it is nice idea to live on several islands and therefore see more interesting places. Islands of Isabela, Santa Cruz and San Cristobal are connected with speed boats and small airplanes.

Our video about the Galapagos Islands

Ecuador

After spending 9 days at the Galapagos we have returned back to Ecuador and continue our journey. We were travelling with a local guide on his car. The route was the following.

Day 1 - Quito, Teleferiko, equator, Pululahua volcano

All the day we were walking around the capital and visited surrounding areas.

Day 2 - Cotopaxi Volcano, Hotel Hacienda La Cienega

On this day we have seen tremendous volcanic valley and reached the highest altitude in our lifes - 4864 meters.










Day 3 - Laguna Quilotoa, Baños, hotel Luna Runtun, tree house (Casa Del Arbol)

On this day, we saw another miracle of Ecuador - flooded crater of Quilotoa volcano. Next went to the mountain spa resort Baños, where had a walk through the city and went up to the observation deck of the volcano Tungurahua. On this site located one of the most fabulous attractions in the world - a tree house with swings. The night we spent at the Hotel Luna Runtun, one of the best in Ecuador.








Day 4 - route of waterfalls, Misahuali

On this day we drove along the road of waterfalls, went down in the jungle and spent the night in the town of Misahuali.










Day 5 - park Amazonica in Tena, animal rescue center, hotel Papallacta Therme

On this day we went to the north through Tena, where visited the great city park. Next we stopped at the animal resque center and stayed overnight at the hotel Papallacta Therme, which offers thermal pools right next to each room.






Day 6 - national Park Cayambe Coca

All the morning we have been walking in the park Cayambe Coca and after lunch went to the airport.




Ecuador useful links

http://www.ecuadorexplorer.com/ - information about Ecuador
http://www.ecuador.com/ - information about Ecuador
http://www.sangay.com/road_distances.html - distances between cities
http://www.avianca.com/en-ec/ - airline
https://www.tame.com.ec - airline
http://ecuadorschedules.com/ - bus schedules
http://www.tourisanfrancisco.com.ec/ - bus company
http://ecuador-travel-guide.org/usefullinks/Default.htm - ecuador directory

Some of the movies where you can see the Ecuador

BBC Galapagos (2006) - documentary, after which we went to the Galapagos Islands

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the Earth (2003) - adventure movie with Russell Crowe, the first film in history, which was filmed at the Galapagos Islands.

Proof of Life (2000) - movie with Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe, was filmed partly in Ecuador.

Man vs. Wild (2007) - in the second season there is an episode about Ecuador, where Bear Grylls "survive" in the jungle.