Ecuador/Galapagos

TravelJunkieHubby

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jan 28, 2019
We are heading to Ecuador and the Galapagos next month. Any packing suggestions? Suggestions for activities on a free day in Quito? Was the altitude an issue? Thoughts on weather this time of year?
 
I had altitude issues in Ecuador. My other half did not. (I had no previous altitude issues when traveling in mountainous regions.) Just take the first day slowly if you do find yourself having issues, and stay hydrated!
 
I'm concerned with the altitude for this trip and the Peru trip. Particularly for my asthmatic kid. You can get altitude sickness, even if you've never gotten it before....
 


We did this trip and Peru. I don't remember altitude issues from Ecuador, but definitely from Peru in the higher elevations. In Peru got headaches that I couldn't get rid of with advil, and I had problems catching my breath while hiking. But it wasn't unmanageable.

I'm noticing that they changed the Ecuador trip since I took it--we only stayed in Quito one night and then stayed at Hacienda Pinsaqui in Otavalo for a couple of nights (which was one of the most gorgeous places I've ever stayed, BTW). I think it was topped by my favorite hotel in Peru, the Sol y Luna.
 


We had a work retreat at Keystone and ended up with a number of hospitalized people, due to altitude issues. And these were fit active people who had never had issues before (and, no, alcohol was not involved). A number had to be transported back to Denver to get better - hospital hydration was not enough.
 
Day 2 in the books and so far know major altitude issues except for a few bloody noses. We had some rain this afternoon but so far March is shaping up to be a great time to visit, guides say it is less crowded compared to the summer.
Looking at this trip for next year. Looking forward to hearing your feedback.
 
Just got back yesterday - we had a great time, I will try to write more this weekend. We lucked out with only 15 guests + the destination manager on our tour. Only 3 other kids but smaller group definitely made it easier to move around. ABD moved to a new boat (Galapagos Legend). The people on the boat as well as on mainland Ecuador are extremely friendly and we enjoyed the people as much as the sights. Guides were fantastic as usual. Weather forecast from our phones was rainy everyday but pretty much every day was sunny and pleasent.

The hotel in Guayaquil at the very end is amazing so if you are able to spend a post-night I would recommend it, we had a 5:30am flight back to the US. More notes to come.
 
Ok - here is a summary of our trip:

Prenights: We got in on 2 days before the start the ABD to relax in Quito and get acclimated to the elevation. Time zone is the same as central time in the US (with daylight savings). Everyone at the JW Marriott was extremely friendly. They usually cater to business travelers so the staff seemed to enjoy hosting families with young kids. One nice thing about Ecuador is that the US dollar is their currency so no currency exchange to worry about. We walked around a bit and used the pool. March is supposed to be in the rainy season and we had clouds most days but little rain (until the night before we left Guyaquil).

Breakfast at the hotel was good, I believe they continue breakfast until 11. We tried to go towards the end of breakfast when it was less crowded. Since we know we don't get to sleep in much with ABD we thought we should enjoy sleeping in on our prenights. We ended up doing an earlier dinner (5pm) and got away with 2 meals. For dinner both nights we went to the sushi bar on the ground floor of the hotel. Everything was super fresh and fairly reasonable considering we were in a hotel. There is a crepe place across the street the guides recommended but we didn't get a chance to try.

You have to use bottled water in Ecuador and we hydrated well. The hotel was good about renewing bottles in our room and we also got bottled waters down at breakfast. When we ordered waters at dinner they did charge us, that was the only place we paid for water.

There are also a few small shops connected to the hotel with clothing, jewelry and some interesting art. We got a few small things but there is ample opportunities to shop on this itinerary.
 
Day 1 - nothing here, just met the guides in the lobby and found out what time to show up for breakfast on day 2.

Day 2 - we had a separate breakfast in The Hacienda restaurant (different hotel restaurant than where breakfast normally is). There was one other family with 3 kids (we had met them at the sushi place earlier) and 3 couples (one on their honeymoon, the other two were older) for a total of 15 guests! The destination manager also joined us. We had the Costa Rica destination manager when we travelled in 2018 over spring break and it's nice to get to talk to them and get their insights on how they make various decisions on these itineraries. They are in charge of several different trips so you can pick their brain about other places you may be thinking to go.

Our first activity after breakfast was a trip to 2 different attractions on the equator. The first is a bigger monument Ciudad Mitad del Mundo, considered a "historical Equator monument" since after it was build they realized the actual equator is a few hundred feet away. The local guide, Robby, is pretty knowledgeable and a naturalist by background. We spent some time walking around and getting pictures, and then our second guide, Lauren, gave everyone $5 to purchase a white elephant gift at one of the shops by the monument or later on. Afterwards we went to another attraction along the real equator. This also had an Intinan Museum. It was interesting to learn how guinea pigs were kept under beds as a source of heat. There are some shrunken heads which may be a little disturbing for younger kids just FYI.

Next we went to lung at El Crater which is actually located inside a crater. The food was excellent and every place we ate was able to accommodate for vegetarians. We came back to the hotel for a few hours and then that night we took a bus to Old Town Quito. Robby did a great job of explaining a bit of history with the conquistadors and missionaries. On this itinerary we also met the local partner ABD uses to help with security for the guests. We had heard in the past people travelled with arm guards on this itinerary. I saw people who looked like cops or security guards walking with us on the tour, they may have had guns but nothing obvious. They mostly kept panhandlers and street vendors away, we never felt unsafe though.

We walked into a store that makes Panama hats, which actually come from Ecuador. They can get pretty pricey but it was interesting to learn how they are made and the history behind them. My wife got a hat from my son and he got a lot of compliments on it afterwards, but sadly the shape got a little ruined between the flights after. Then we went to a chocolate store for a demonstration and sampling. It was somewhat similar to a chocolate tour we did in Costa Rica last year but always a good place to buy easy to pack souvenirs for friends back home.

Finally, we finished the night on the roof of Cafe Plaza Grande, the oldest hotel in Quito. They had a really nice ballroom setup just for us. The patio had a gorgeous view of Quito at night and the weather was just perfect. We got see some musicians and dancers perform and the desserts came on dry ice so it looked almost like a volcano.
 
Day 3 - we stopped at another equator monument on the way to a rose plantation. This drive was a little longer than yesterday. We stopped for a local delicacy called Bizcochos, a cousin to biscotti, which was great to dip in coffee or hot chocolate. Next we went to a family run rose plantation and got a tour of where the flowers are grown and then packaged. Interesting to see how different parts of the world prefer different colors of flowers, Chinese customers apparently like multi-colored flowers and they are able to accommodate with a little dye colored water that gets taken up by the roses. The family's original house was where they hosted us for lunch and we toured the small church built on the property and got some nice pics with a separate house full of floral arrangements after.

That afternoon we went to the Otovolo market (largest market in the area) - everyone got more time for their white elephant gift. We also got two nice demonstrations, one of flutes at the house of a family of musicians and the second was weaving, again another opportunity to shop!

This night was the last dinner on our own since we flew out to the Galapagos the next day. We were pretty full so we just packed and called it an early night.

Will try to finish summary of Days 4-7 by next week. Let me know if you have specific questions.
 
Were you required to take any shots ( Eg.Yellow fever) or take malaria pills.

Nothing was required, we choose to take shots for Hepatitis A, yellow fever and oral typhoid vaccines. We were thinking about going to SE Asia at some point so the same vaccines are recommended there as well.
 
Sorry it's taken me a while to finish the trip recap... here are highlights from the Galapagos part:

Day 4 - we flew out to San Cristobal island. The plane stops in Guyaquil for passengers who need to embark/disembark. Once we got to the island we took a shuttle to the beach and got a nice short walk to the pier where there are small boats waiting to take you to the Galapagos Legend ship. The pier was our first experience seeing all the animals up close - iguanas, crabs, sea lions. It's wonderful to see how the species coexist together. Once we got on the ship we got settled in our rooms and had an orientation separate from eveyrone else on the ship which was nice. They did a nice job of keeping us together for the various excursions. Afterwards, we headed back to the island and had a walking tour of Tijeretas Hill and Punta Carola point. It was scenic but honestly we didn't really take much in since we were tired after the flight. That night we had a neat talk on stargazing near the equator... I had listened to a similar one on the Australia ABD near Ulluru, my family was pretty tired that day so I'm glad they got to hear this one.
 
Day 5 - we arrived at Gardner Bay... the group splits into those more comfortable swimming/snorkeling in deeper water and those who prefer to stay closer to land (we did the latter). On the beach, we did a little snorkeling, the kids played in the water. It was pretty relaxed. All of us would point out animals as we saw them and the others to take a closer look. We came back to the boat for lunch while the boat moves to the other side of the island, Suarez Point, for the afternoon. This was a much longer hike (but fairly flat, everyone was able to keep up) which lots of plants and animals to see. We finally got to see the blue-footed boobie on this hike.

Around this time, the boat asks for volunteers for a short play/skit called "Darwin's Party" I believe. The kids on our trip plus a few other kids on the boat signed up along with me and the ABD Destination Manager. We rehearsed a bit today and the ship has costumes for all sizes :).
 

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