Adventure Travel

 
  Ecuadore Coordinates

 
 

This page has the coordinates -- the specifics --
about people and places and things on our trip to Ecuador.

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Backroads    Information    Places we Stayed    Special Treats  
Shopping in Quito    Darwin   Other Galapagos Sites   Other Ecuador Sites

Backroads - THE WORLD'S #1 ACTIVE TRAVEL COMPANY

Their Web site: http://www.backroads.com/

The Web site for our trip: Ecuador and Galapagos Multisport, mountain bike, hike and boat in the highlands and islands - http://www.backroads.com/trips/MECI.html

Itineraries change as new opportunities develop. We have copied the itinerary for our trip from the catalog to facilitate preparation of the article and references in it.
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Planning Information

We plan a role of film per day away from home (in this case 16 days) plus additional film if we expect great picture opportunities. We took 33 roles and shot only 14. There were lots of things that would have made great pictures, but clouds limited the light. We shot a some pictures under clouds and let others go. Take more film than you usually take, just in case the sun shines on your parade.

We relied on a combination of CNN and the Los Angeles Times for weather reports to plan our trip. Both reported temperatures about 10 degrees colder than they actually were. We took bulky winter clothing we never wore. We don't have an alternative to recommend. You might try The Weather Channel - Quito

We have been at high altitiudes before in Tibet, Borneo and Peru. We used diamox in Tibet and Peru and it seemed to help. Our doctor prescribed "diamox sequels 500mg capsuels by Leder." We had the usual tingling in fingers and feet, but this time our eye sight was also affected. I had radial keratotomy or "RK" in 1993 with one eye intentionally left a bit near-sighted. On this trip, I was so far sighted that I had to use Pat's glasses to read a menu. Within three or four days after we stopped taking diamox, our sight returned to normal. No other problems and we didn't have much time to read anyway.

Additional Information

Lonely Planet : Ecuador & the Galápagos Islands, 4th Edition, published January 1997 by Rob Rachowiecki

Diccionarios.com for Spanish to English translations in writing this Web site.

Kevin Healey's travel map of Galapagos Islands, scale 1:500,000 third edition, published by International Travel Maps, Canada and provided by Backroads

map of Ecuador

WorldAtlas.com Ecuador

map of the Galapágos
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Places we Stayed:

Quito: Villa Nancy We arrived in Quito late Tuesday evening and left Wednesday afternoon. Villa Nancy was a great, inexpensive place for a quick stop. Rachel and Victor met us at the airport (included in the price) and took us to the hotel. She is Swiss and he is Ecuadorian. The hotel is located on a side street near some of the best shopping in Quito. Rachel went out of her way to help us plan a quick day in Quito. Most flights to Ecuador from the U.S. arrive late at night. We recommend this as a good place to spend the night, and perhaps longer. This one is not listed in The Lonely Planet, but should be.
Otavalo: Hotel Ali Shungu Wednesday afternoon, the drive from Ali Shungu picked us up at the Villa Nancy and drove us the sixty miles to Otavalo.The hotel was planned, built and is operated by two Americans, Margareta (Margaret) and Francisco (Frank). The Lonely Planet says: The best hotel in Otavalo itself is Hotel Ali Shungu ... I have received more readers' recommendations for this hotel than any other in Ecuador. To be fair, I also received two criticisms ...The Hotel Ali Shungu has, I think, the best food in town." Frank says the author has told him that he has now received a third critical letter. Wow, three in nine years. That sounds like a very sincere form of complement. We generally avoid beef in third world countries but beef in Ecuador was very good. I had the best $5.00 steak dinner I have ever had at Ali Shungu.

We ate all of our meals at Ali Shungu except for lunch. Empanadas Argentinas on Juan de Dios Morales north of Antonio Jose De Sucre had great empanads for 30 cents. Not listed in The Lonely Planet, but it should be.

Cotacachi: La Mirage Our tour group meet for lunch in the gardens of La Mirage and we stayed there two nights. There were bathrobes laid out on the bed with rose petals sprinkled about. In the evening, there was a fire in the fireplace and hot water bottles in the bed. It lives up to expectations about Relais & Chateau facilities. They have a sister facility in Quito, Masion del Angel if you are looking for luxury there.
San Pablo del Lago: Hacienda Cusin Established in 1602, this was originally a land owner's hacienda in the best Latin American tradition. It is now run by an Englishman who commutes between Ecuador and New York. It lacks a bit in amenities, but makes up for that with charm. Again, a fire in the fireplace at night.
Hosteria La Cienega, photo  Also founded in 1602, we have regained some of the amenities and kept most of the charm. (less information, but much quicker Web site
The Yate Daphne (pronounced Yacht) was our home and transportation in the Galapagos. It was built in Ecuador in 1997. It has eight double cabins with private bathrooms, full size showers, regular flush toilets and air conditioning. It is 70 feet long with a cruising speed of 10 knots. It is fitted out for touring or scuba diving.

It had a passenger's log for comments. There were a number of pages written by the crew that shot the IMAX movie Galapagos (debuted November 6, 1999). More information at the home page for the movie, a photo album with great animal shots, the cinematographer's story and theater locations where the film is playing. The Environmental News Network   story on the movie with links to additional sites.

Quito: Hotel Sebastian, we had planned to stay our final evening at Villa Nancy, but Backroads had made arrangements to leave our luggage at Hotel Sebastian, a group of us who wanted to go to dinner together were staying there and our driver agreed to pick us up the next morning for our flight so we stayed at the Sebastian. A very nice, moderate priced hotel conveniently located near shopping.

We were pleased to find that all of the hotels that we stayed at provided free bottled water. A pet peeve is the common hotel practice of selling water in your room at four to six times the street price.
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Special treats:

Hacienda Zuleta On day four we hiked to Hacienda Zuleta for lunch -- a wonderful break in our "active" vacation. In addition to lunch in a hacienda setting, we were treated to a visit to their condor rehabilitation project. The condors seemed to be quite curious about us and we had an opportunity to see them up close. This was the home of Ecuadorian President Galo Plaza and is a country residence for the family. They have a few rooms available. We were told that at one time, the family owned Hacienda Cusin and La Cienega and San Agustin. top
Hacienda San Agustin de Callo On our last day on the bikes we rode to Hacienda San Agustin. It was raining lightly, the only significant rain on the trip, and just a bit cold. The dining room was part of an Inca fortress. Lunch began with the Hacienda's famous 'sopa de locro'- a rich cheese and potato soup served with slices of ripe avocado that hit the spot.
Escondida Bar & Grill in Quito Our last evening in Ecuador we had dinner at Escondida which is owned by a cousin of our hostess at Hacienda Zuleta. It bills itself as "California cuisine;" we would say Ecuadorian food in a California style. We had an excellent full meal with a bottle of wine for $25.00 each. A lovely way to spend an evening in Quito. [Gran Roca N33-29 y Bosmediano, Quito Tel: 242-380]top

While visiting the Charles Darwin Foundation, we met some of the crew from one of the sail boats in the [London] Times Clipper 2000 Around the World Yacht Race.  One of them was from Bristol, Pat's home town. Small world.
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Shopping in Quito

There is a shopping area along Juan Leon Mera St. that offers a wide range of items and prices. Some of our favorites are:

Libri Mundi, an international bookstore at N23-88

Galeria Latina is next door at N23-69. It is a shop that is more like a small museum of things from Ecuador. Some beautiful sweaters, Panama hats (really from Ecuador) and other gift items

Los Pendoneros Folklore Artesanias across the street at 820 has a good selection of local craft items

CDX Gallery is on the corner at Baquedano N23 y Juan Leon Mara 840

AG Joyería has some excellent silver items and other crafts and antiques at 614 (N22-24)

La Bodega is another shop with a museum selection of items at next door to AG return to top

Charles Darwin

There are two Charles Darwin Foundation organizations. The Charles Darwin Foundation and the CDF, Inc. The CDF (Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galápagos Isles) is an independent scientific institution founded in 1959 and headquartered in Quito, with a research station in Galápagos. The CDF, Inc. is a "sister" organization, founded in 1992, which grew out of a trust fund program of the Smithsonian Institution.

The CDF at http://www.galapagos.org/faqs.html

The Charles Darwin Foundation at http://www.darwinfoundation.org/

Charles Darwin, the man:

The Darwin Awards

The Darwin Awards celebrate the theory of evolution by commemorating the remains of those who improved our gene pool by removing themselves from it in really stupid ways. return to top

Other Galápagos Sites

An extensive discussion about Paquebot (Ship Mail) What is it and it's history with specific reference to the barrel in Galápagos and the author's experience with 200 letters.

On Sunday, November 19, 2000, the San Francisco Examiner Travel Section had an article by a staff writer about bargain cruising in the Galápagos. Google.com lists the URL as http://www.examiner.com/traveltravel but that page says: "We're sorry ... During our transition some links are not active. We are working to update them as soon as possible." If they get the link back, we will add it.

Cruising Sites that include the Galápagos

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Other Ecuador Sites:

Geography

Map of Ecuador detailed and slow

Altitude: In a list of The top 50 airports [in the world] arranged by their elevation Quito is the third highest after La Paz and Cuzco.

Quito City profile with extensive information

Otavalo

Pan American Highway

Volcanos

Photos, a Song and Shrinking Iguanas


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Lyon Popanz & Forester's Web site and other Adventure articles or the Ecuador article

Created January 30, 2001