Ecuador has it all: mountains, jungles, beaches, good food, and pretty darn cheap – plenty to do and see that would take most people multiple trips, myself included. Katie and I had the intention of visiting one of Ecuador’s most popular sites, the Galapagos Islands – arriving first to its commercial hub at Santa Cruz Island, then hopping over to San Cristóbal Island, then finally to Isabela Island. I actually don’t remember the exact order we went in, but we spent half a day rearranging our flights so we could arrive on one island and leave on another, because we originally had a roundtrip for Santa Cruz Island. It worked out well and we ended up seeing a lot of cool spots. Even under normal circumstances Ecuador has some strict policies on visiting the islands, and since we were still on the tail-end of Covid we had to jump through a couple more hoops with all the test requirements. But we made it, and it was a fabulous experience. The Galapagos of course are known for their abundant and fearless (for lack of predators) wildlife, over 2000 endemic species, and of course the adventures of Charles Darwin who developed his theories on evolution while spending his time on the islands studying finches and tortoises. Lots to see and do there: turtles, seals, lizards all over the place; the occasional flamingo; lava tunnels; white sandy beaches; great snorkeling (and diving, but unfortunately did not partake); and also tedious and bumpy boat shuttles if you decide to island hop. After the islands we returned to Quito and then off to the Amazon area of Ecuador where we took a boat up the Cuyabeno River to an eco lodge in the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve to spend a few days. Along the way we saw Pink River Dolphins (!!! no pics 🙁 I didn’t wanna waste the time getting my camera out because they were gone almost as quickly as they arrived), we also saw an anaconda, and then we went bird watching one morning to catch some glimpses of all the diverse species of birds. We also visited the indigenous Siona people and watched their day to day activities including the gathering and cooking of a local staple – cassava, a starchy root vegetable. A shaman visited us and showed us some ayahuasca and demonstrated how he conducts a ceremony (I think we were being up-sold), and the European family that was with us were keen on trying it, even their young kids, though I don’t think they ended up planning anything. We made some chocolate as well, and got to make a joke about choco-huasca that got a lot of big laughs from the group. The humidity was fairly oppressive so we did lots of swimming, one evening being memorable because it was in a large lagoon at sunset which was pretty special. We returned to Quito and Katie went home and I spent a few more days poking around, spending a couple days in the mountain town of Banos, visiting some waterfalls and renting a mountain bike. Ecuador is an absolute gem of a country.
