Ecuador 19 August 2024 – 12 February 2025
Days: 178
Travel days: 27 / 15%
Non-travel days: 151 / 85% (Angela had an accident and fractured her pelvis, so we were stationary for a while.)
Total kms: 5736 km
Avg km/day: 32 km
Travel day kms: 4510 km
Avg km/travel day: 167 km
Fuel used: 163 L (Michael)
Fuel economy: 2.83 L/100km (some data estimated as phone was stolen and some data was lost)
Average cost / day:
Angela: CAD$67.24 (Angela had medical expenses due to fracturing her pelvis.)
Michael: CAD$67.04 (Doesn’t include one-off cost of 8 day SCUBA liveaboard in Galapagos or cost of new phone for Michael.)
Where we slept:
Airbnb – 79%
Hotel – 69%
Public Transportation – 0.6%
Trusted Housesitter – 29%
Weather:
Cold/dry – 0%
Cold/wet – 0%
Cool/dry – 11%
Cool/wet – 1%
Warm/dry – 75%
Warm/wet – 7%
Hot/dry – 6%
Hot/wet – 0%
(Wet defined as riding in rain enough to have put on rain gear; if it rained and we weren’t riding in it, the day is listed as dry)
Road surface:
Paved – 98%
Rock – 1%
Dirt/gravel – 1%
Sand – 0%
Things we enjoyed:
Quito
– Middle of the World Museum, Punto Cero and Intiñan Equator Museum – learn about the history of the equator and the various regions and cultural groups in Ecuador
– free three hour walking tour that starts at the Secret Garden Hostel at 10am each day (no reservation required) is a good opportunity to see the city
– walk Garcia Moreno street and you’ll see several things, including:
– Basílica del Voto Nacional – for $4 visitors can climb all three towers for a great view of the area; to enter the church at ground level is almost worth the $2 cost of admission
– Church of the Society of Jesus – stunning detail on the interior of this church
– La Olla del Panecillo is both the tallest aluminum statue in the world and the tallest winged statue of Mary in the world; take a cab/Uber up the hill, don’t walk – we were warned that there’s a high likelihood of getting robbed on the way up/down
Cuenca
– we enjoyed another fantastic free walking tour that we sourced through Guruwalk and enjoyed visiting:
– Mercado 10 de Agosto – huge multi-level market, including food stalls with all sorts of Ecuadorian cuisine
– Catedral de la Inmaculada Concepción – another incredibly beautiful church; go to the alley to the north of the church and find the entrance to tour the church towers
– Plaza de las Flores – named second most beautiful flower market in the world
Baños
– this town has a beautiful waterfall, thermal baths and hand-stretched toffee
– El Pailón del Diablo (the Devil’s Cauldron) is in Rio Verde; $0.50 on a public bus running every 15 minutes from the square downtown will get you there in about 20 minutes or so; there are two different trails that will allow you to visit the waterfall, each of which cost $3 to enter
– Animalpark Parque Temático – a $7 taxi ride will get you here from Baños; the $6 entry fee includes a handful of alfalfa that you can feed to the various animals; not the greatest zoo, but you can pet most of the animals
Cuyabeno
– Dolphin Lodge in the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve is a great place to visit to experience the Amazon; the lodge is fairy rustic, but the food is fantastic; getting to the lodge takes about 3 hours by panga; once there you will get to see lots of animals, visit an indigenous village and hike in the jungle
Galapagos
– Michael elected to go diving off a liveaboard – Darwin and Wolf Islands are among the very best dive sites in the world, and the rest of the diving was pretty good too
– Angela elected to stay ashore and island hop, exploring all that the land has to offer; all-in, it cost less than US$1500 for her two-week visit
Miscellaneous
– Finca Sommerwind (Ibarra) is a well-known stop for overlanders; Hans is a great host, providing cabins and space for camping; the food and the fellowship make it worth stopping here
– Mirador de Oso Andino is where you can view Andean bears in the wild
– Otovalo – the Plaza de Ponchos is the largest indigenous craft market in the Americas
– Mindo – Punto Ornitológico Mindo is a great place to feed hummingbirds right from your hands
– Cotopaxi and Chimborazo – two great volcanoes to visit, but neither allow motorcycles past the entrance; riding to the north entrance of Cotopaxi will give you great views in clear weather; riding north from the entrance to Chimborazo towards highway 491 will give you great views of Chimborazo; the road between -1.285039, -78.799379 and -1.255625, -78.645596 twists and winds its way through a steep-walled valley with decent pavement and little traffic, and is a great ride
– Puerto Lopez – Museo Agua Blanca is one of the oldest archeological site in the Americas; it’s a small museum, but an interesting visit as it is located in an independent indigenous community
– Quilotoa – at 3800m, the air here is pretty thin, and you might find it hard to breathe here, even while sleeping; there is a hike down into the crater lake which is spectacular but very demanding due to the thin air
– Riobamba – the first Catholic church in Ecuador (1534) (María Natividad de Balbanera) is located just outside of town
– Cañar – the ruins of Ingapirca ($2) have an interesting story of an alliance between the Cañari and the Incas
– there is a spot on E40 (-2.652100, -78.433993) that has a large patch of very slippery algae across the road; we both crashed here, and Angela fractured her pelvis