Comments on: Ecuador Travel, More Than Just the Galapagos: What to Do, See and Eat

By: Ashley Peak

Ashley Peak — Fri, 11 Dec 2015 14:50:12 +0000

I featured this great guide on Optimism Rampage this week! Thank you; such a great piece!

By: Audrey Scott

Audrey Scott — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 10:43:59 +0000

@Jon: Very happy to hear this! Glad you enjoyed your time in the Quilatoa loop and La Luna – very special places.

@Ellen: We also left Ecuador with a long list of places we wanted to still visit, like the Amazon region. Glad that this post sparked some ideas for your next visit, whether you visit the Galapagos or not.

By: Ellen Keith

Ellen Keith — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 15:22:37 +0000

I may be one of the few travelers who visited Ecuador without a trip to the Galapagos! It’s something I decided to save for a separate trip. I didn’t make it to all of the places on your list, but this gave me some inspiration for some more stops to add whenever I do go back!

By: jon

jon — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 16:01:45 +0000

Thanks so much for mentioning the loop and La Luna.. two of my favorite places!

By: Daniel Noll

Daniel Noll — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 11:02:01 +0000

@Catherine: Thank you so much for your comment. Sounds like you had a full experience in Ecuador. It’s obviously possible — some might even say recommended — to visit Ecuador on its own, without necessarily feeling obliged to visit the Galapagos. In Cuenca, we stayed at the Mocando as well. Turned out to be a relief visit, because just days before we stayed with a man who ran a bed bug-infested guest house in Cuenca. And we ate at the pizzeria across the street. It was called New York, I believe (not to be confused with the much larger Chicago pizza in town).

Casapaxi sounds great. We’ll have to look it up on our next time through Quito.

Finally, I believe you’ve made a great case for visiting Ecuador. And I really like the the way you’ve summed it up in the cross between the cultural and the environmental. Could not have said it any better.

By: Catherine

Catherine — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 01:50:51 +0000

Thank you for talking about Ecuador and not the Galapagos. I just returned from three weeks there associated with my work and never saw them. That being said, I had a chance to explore some of the most beautiful vistas that mother nature has to offer!! My trip took me from just outside Puerto Rico (close to Puerto Lopez) were we stayed at the Hosteria EcolÃ³gica Azuluna. Five days of living just off the coast, in a ‘rain forest’ exploring the coast was wonderful. We then moved up to Cuenca, a substantial city that still feels like a small colonial town. I stayed at the the Mocando – room with a private bath – there are one or two. The staff was wonderful, the location just off the main square by a few blocks and a good pizzaria right across the road!

Finally I ended up in Quito where I stayed at the Casapaxi, a wonderful guest house just outside of the touristy area, Mariscal. Centrally located and high on the slopes of the valley, the place offered amazing vistas of Cotopaxi, the famous volcano.

All in all, Ecuador is small enough to see substantially in a few weeks, enchanting, economical and most importantly, friendly. I encourage people who are looking for a cross between the ‘cultural’ with the environmental, to give Ecuador a try.

By: Audrey Scott

Audrey Scott — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 11:45:24 +0000

@Theresa: We recommend the Quilatoa loop and Cloud Forest Hostel all the time to other travelers. The family running the hostel make you feel like home, even when it’s packed. And, the experience on the buses and almost falling off the cliffs going from village to village is…well, an experience. Good memories!

@Beth: Dan discovered the chocolate croissants at Spicy on Amazonas our first week in Quito and I think we were there about 3-4 times a week. We picked up about six of them to take with us when we left Quito for good. We will definitely add BaÃ±os and Puyo for our next visit to Ecuador. Thanks for the advice!

By: Beth

Beth — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 18:03:40 +0000

Lovely to read your report on Ecuador. I lived in the country for over a year, and have returned numerous times since. and as soon as I saw “Croissant” in the title I was hoping you would mention Spicy on Amazonas! I love their chocolate filled croissant. Whenever I’m in Quito I have one. I would have loved for you to cover two cities close to my heart: BaÃ±os and Puyo. It’s hard to visit all of the loved areas of a country in one visit. Just be sure to add those areas to your to-see list next time you’re in Ecuador.

By: Theresa

Theresa — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:48:55 +0000

Love, love, love Ecuador. Thanks for the post. The Quilotoa Loop was one of my favorite spots. We met so many friendly people and had a lot of fun adventures. Our bus from Saquisili to Isinlivi got stuck in the mud and we joined in with the locals to dig it out. In a funny moment, one of the locals suggested that because Jeff was so much bigger and taller than everyone else that he just pick up and move the bus. We also stayed at Hostal Cloud Forest, and found the people there to be lovely. I think we were the only guests at the time, and they invited us to a birthday party where they kept giving us food and rum. It was really fun. It was also Carnaval when we were there, so there were constant water fights. We were planning to hike from Chugchilan to Quilotoa (the day before we’d hiked from Isinlivi to Chugchilan—beautiful and a great way to meet locals along the way) but after the party we weren’t quite up to it. Jose Luis at the Hostal instead offered to drop us off as he headed to market, and he wouldn’t take a dime from us. So nice. In Isinlivi, I recommend Llullu Llama as a place to stay. Anyhow, that was long… Thanks for giving me reason to reminisce about one of my favorite spots!

By: Audrey Scott

Audrey Scott — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:51:45 +0000

@Spunky Girl: Glad you enjoyed the photos and hope you find a way to visit South America as well. Very different from Asia and important to see both continents, I believe.

@Adriana: We visited Guyaquil for a short visit since my mother’s cousin lives there. She took us around to see the new Malecon. The city is becoming nicer, but as you see our favorite spots in Ecuador were outside Guyaquil. Hope you get to explore more of the country during your next visit!

@Anneth: Seven months in Ecuador – it’s fantastic you were able to spend so much time there! Even though we spent close to two months in Ecuador, we still feel like there is so much more of the country to see and more to learn about its people. We hope that sharing photos and pieces like this encourage people to visit and see more than just the Galapagos.