This summer 2014, some friends and their kids will be going to Ecuador with us (see future post about our part time living in Ecuador).  Aside from visiting Quito (Keep an eye for the future post Hola Quito), it’s museums, old town, parks, surrounding areas and doing trips to our usual destinations: cloud forests, parks, the beach (see some of our trips at InCultureParent.com), we’ll do some longer trips (in which everything will be “perfect”) such as the following:

TRAVELING EAST FROM QUITO TO THE AMAZON BASIN, AND

THEN SOUTH TO CUENCA -Stopping at some awesome spots in between

Total Number of days: 11 days

Summary of our trip

We’ll visit the edge of the Amazon basin –there are two different entries via car, Papallacta and Baños. We’ll go in via Papallacta. We’ll stay in Papallacta hot springs for 2 nights, and hike in the Cayambe-Coca reserve. Then, we’ll go to Misahualli, and return via Puyo and Baños. We will then drive south to the city of Cuenca, via the Incan ruins of Ingapirca, visit Cajas National Park, and then drive back to Quito stopping in the town of Riobamba. We’ll visit other areas of interest as we go.

Itinerary:

• Papallacta hot springs (1 1/2 hours from Quito) – 2 days and 2 nights

Activities:

• Hike the surrounding mountains
  • See video about bears and tapirs at Papallacta https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clIexi9nhR4
  • Visit the Cayambe-Coca reserve
• Enjoy the spring pools and sleep there. Leave midmorning the next day

• Misahualli (about 2 or 3 hours from Papallacta: maybe less since the roads are now all paved) – 2 ½ days and 2 nights
  • Stay at Casa del Suizo hotel
  • Enjoy the pool and the views from this hotel located at the junction of two rivers that flow into the Amazon
  • La Casa del Suizo offers canoe visits to a few places including AmaZoonico (a rescue place for amazon animals), Anaconda island, and others

• Baños (3 hours from Misahualli) – 1 day and 2 nights
  • Visiting Puyo and areas of interest on the way out
  • Stopping at the magnificent: El Pailón del Diablo waterfall
  • Visit this colorful town, hike in the surrounding areas, and stay at one of the many hotels available in the town. Just to mention one of the nicest but fanciest ones:
  • Hotel and Spa Luna Runtun, above the town of Baños (with fantastic views of Baños), located in the slopes of the Tungurahua active volcano.

• Cuenca (5 hours from Baños) – 3 nights and 2 ½ days
  •  Stay at Hotel Santa Lucia (a boutique hotel in the middle of the colonial town)
  • Visit the colonial neighborhood of Cuenca, UNESCO’s Patrimony of Humanity
  • Visit the Cajas National Park

• Riobamba (4 hours from Cuenca) ) – 2 nights and 1 ½ days
  • Stay in the outskirts, at La Andaluza Inn, or in town at xxx Hotel
  • Walk around the old downtown
  • Drive to the Chimborazo refuge, and hike nearby
  • Train ride to La Nariz del Diablo (x hours back and forward): a scenic ride in an old train line that zigzags down the Andes. See old and beautiful re-enabled train routes at: Ferrocarriles del Ecuador 

• Return to Quito (3 hours from Riobamba)
  • Hike in the Cotopaxi National Forest
  • Lunch At Café de la Vaca in Machachi. This is not only one of may favorite little local chains (I   think there are 3 around Ecuador) of Ecuadorian food from the mountains (coastal food is very different), but their locations have a huge grassy area for kids that includes a mini zip line