TRIP FLASHBACK: Ecuador

Basilica de Voto Nacional

The place: Ecuador (Quito, Lago Agrio, Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve, the Quilotoa Loop, Chugchilan, Lake Quilotoa and Baños)

The dates: Feb. 16-25, 2008

Approximate cost: $830 for 10 days. Main components: $370 airfare from Washington, D.C., $41 Quito airport departure tax, $180 for four-day jungle tour, $25 for half-day of white-water rafting; hostels anywhere from $6-10/night

Highlights: Visiting the women’s prison. The Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve jungle. Riding in the back of a pickup truck through the Andes on the Quilotoa Loop. Quilotoa’s beautiful crater lake. Baños. Joking with the drivers and ayudante on the bus ride back to Quito.

Timeline:

2/16 (Sat): Arrived in Quito, visited Basilica de Voto Nacional, Old Town, other sites.

2/17: Arranged jungle tour for next day, visited women’s prison, took overnight bus to Lago Agrio for jungle tour.

Fishing in the Cuyabeno Reserve.

2/18-2/21: Spent three nights in jungle of Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve. On Feb. 21, left Lago Agrio by public bus and arrived in Quito by midnight.

2/22: Started Quilotoa Loop. Took public bus to Chugchilan, a mountain town.

Kids on the Quilotoa Loop.

2/23: With the dirt roads of the Quilotoa Loop impassable by bus due to rain, bargained for a pickup truck ride to Quilotoa’s crater lake. Hiked paths around the lake and then hitched a ride in a private van with a group of older English tourists who dropped me off 15 miles from Baños. Flagged a public bus to go the rest of the way.

2/24: Went white-water rafting and biking around Baños. Sang karaoke with locals.

2/25: Hopped on a bus back to Quito to catch a same-day flight that afternoon.

Click here to see more pictures from this trip.