Ecuador: Quito, Baños & Cuenca
After Colombia we took a flight from Medellín to Quito. Initially we wanted to cross the border by bus, but it would take us a very long time, so we chose to fly.
My first day in Quito didn’t start that well. When I called my parents I received the news that my dog (or at least my parent’s dog) Jules had passed away. I cried a lot that day, but luckily Barbara was with me to distract me a bit.
We spent our days in Quito with a free walking tour, eating out in the Mercado Central (delicious llapingacho for 2,5 dollars!) and strolling the Mercado Artesanal. On the 7th of July we did our first small excursion to Mitad del Mundo. It’s the best place to visit the equator, although I didn’t find it that spectacular. The day after we visited South America’s biggest market, Otavalo. We saw the cutest kids and I bought my first souvenirs here.
Our last full day in Quito started quite early. At 8.30AM we took a bus to Lake Quilotoa, which is located three hours from Quito. I loved it here! Nature was super beautiful and we saw our first alpaca’s.
On Monday the 10th of July we left Quito and headed to Baños. When we arrived at our hostel in the evening, we made our plans for the upcoming days. We decided to rent a bike and visit the waterfalls, go to Casa del árbol (a treehouse with a big swing) and relax in the thermal baths. According to the receptionist, Diego, this was all possible in just one day.
So, the next day we woke up early (we had a busy schedule!) to bike the ‘Ruta de las cascadas’, a 18 kilometers route from Baños to Puyo with seven waterfalls on the way. At noon we arrived at waterfall number six when it started raining. We decided to go for lunch first and continue our way to the waterfalls afterwards. After an hour or two, we were ready to bike and hike the last kilometers. We were super exhausted and almost wanted to skip the last waterfall. Luckily we changed our minds and biked to the last waterfall, Machay. After a 30 minutes descend via wooden stairs, we finally saw this beautiful waterfall. I decided to go for a swim here which was a lot of fun!
That day we arrived at our hostel at around 6.30PM (we took a shuttle back instead of biking). Safe to say there was no time left to visit Casa del árbol and the thermal baths 😉. What was Diego thinking… Still exhausted from all the biking we took it slow the next day and went to Casa del árbol by Uber. We didn’t even visit the thermal baths anymore in Baños.
Our last stop in Ecuador was Cuenca. We started our time here with a spiritual cleansing and massage at the Mercado 10 de Agosto, performed by a ‘mama’. It was quite the experience! Apart from that, we just chilled at our hostel and had our daily lunch at one one the many markets.
Now we’re off to country number three: Peru!
