Baños turned out to be the best decision. When we got in to the bus station we agreed that it was Dani’s turn to check out the accommodation. Within 5 minutes she was back and gleaming. She had managed to find the most amazing room at Hostal Soliel for $15 USD ($20.25 AUD) per night for a beautiful double room, overlooking the mountains with a private bathroom and it’s very own balcony. We couldn’t believe our luck and happily agreed to the discounted price if we would stay for 3 nights. Baños quickly became one of our favourite places in Ecuador. Unfortunately due to the number of tourists that visit, it is more expensive for basics, but it is definitely worth the extra expenses. An easy money saving tip is to eat at the market stalls around the bus station (yes they do have llapingachos!) rather than in the main market but there are also plenty of street vendors selling delicious snacks out of baskets. As we were fast losing our opportunity to visit the Amazon we decided on a day tour from Baños. This trip is one of the best things we did in South America. I know some of you are thinking…day trip, seriously? Our decision to do this was purely based on the time of year and the expenses in each country. The weather in all of South America has been changing over the last few years and rainy season hadn’t come in a lot of the Amazon Basin in the surrounding countries (I know it’s called the rainforest but you know...keep denying global warming!) In Ecuador there has been higher than usual rainfall. This means that the places you can visit the Amazon from have become unpredictable in relation to whether you’ll be able to get down the river or have the opportunity to spot that giant otter you’re so desperate to see. As we’d had a slightly disappointing experience in the Pantanals, we were reluctant to fork out such large sums of money for what was probably an amazing experience at the right time of year but wouldn’t be when we were there. This trip did not disappoint! It cost $22.50 USD ($30.40 AUD) each for a long day trip starting at 8am and returning after dark. We were driven to a few look out points along the road and in the sunshine I’m sure they were beautiful but in the pouring rain not so great. We were then taken to an animal sanctuary, which had gorgeous creatures that had been saved from the animal trafficking circuits. This all lead up to our incredible experience of riding river rapids down one of the Amazonian rivers in traditional dugout canoes. Our 20-year-old guide navigated these rapids with incredible skill and we had a lot of fun cruising down the river to our lunch spot. Lunch was served in a gorgeous cluster of traditional houses overlooking the river. Next, it was time for our trek through the rainforest to a waterfall. We had been told that this was an easy walk similar to walking through town. This was a lie. It was a climb through jungle, on muddy tracks, stopping every so often to have medicinal plants explained to us, or to be given an Amazon mud face pack. At the peak of the hill there was a rope swing that swung out over the open canopy. This terrified me but Dani was straight up on that swing and out over the precipice. You could see that moment of terror when she reached the point where the ground gave way to a sheer drop but she claimed she loved it. The last stop was a village across the river, where we had our faces painted and had a lesson in using a blow-gun. I was very proud that I was the first person to manage to hit the target. Then there was the “just for tourists” shop that had some beautiful handicrafts. After convincing my wife that I need 2 more bowls (I have a small problem with buying bowls for the house we don’t yet have) we headed back to the car for the beautiful drive home through roads lined with lush greenery and waterfalls cascading all around us (there’s a reason this drive is known as the waterfall highway). We collapsed into bed that night, so grateful that we were in a real bed after such a wonderful day (I know we’re old haha). After some wonderful relaxing days of eating and shopping in Baños (yes I did buy some more bowls but they were gifts I swear) we were ready to face Quito. Quito is a really interesting gritty city. We arrived into the southern terminal and there is a really easy metro bus to the old city right outside the terminal. It only costs $0.25 USD ($0.35 AUD) and takes just under an hour. It was my turn to find the hostel so I left Dani sitting with the bags and headed off. An hour later I had only managed to find one place within budget. It was just off Santo Domingo Plaza and looked like a convent. Grateful to be able to even go back to my wife with an option I chose not to inform her that it was right opposite the bus stop we’d gotten off at and started off up the hill! We have a love for free walking tours so Dani was straight onto the wifi to arrange a tour for the next morning. The tour just so happened to start close to the central market so it was decided that that’s where we’d go for breakfast. This market has a wonderful selection of tasty treats but we did find that the stores on the bottom floor are a lot cheaper than those on the second floor. For $1 USD ($1.35 AUD) you can get a large breakfast of bolon (a big potato, yucca or plantain ball with cheese or meat) and eggs with coffee. The walking tour was great and took us through Quito’s old town. It allowed us to orientate ourselves with the city and discover it’s hidden treasures. It was also on this tour we met a new friend who would join us for the next few days (and then again in Colombia). We all decided that the following morning we would meet for breakfast in the market and head to the 'Middle of the World' together. Mitad del Mundo is located an hour out of Quito and is simple enough to get to. You catch a bus to the La Ofelia bus station and then there are regular buses to Mitad del Mundo, which are well sign posted when you arrive. The whole journey costs less than $2 USD. We hopped off the bus when we saw the Mitad de Mundo marker. Now, you may or may not be aware that this is actually not the equator line. It is approximately 300 metres out and actually marks where the equator was measured to be in the 1700’s. Lots of people give this monument a hard time for not being on the actual equator but I think it’s pretty impressive that it was only out by 300 meters back then with no GPS. We decided against going into see the monument because it was expensive for a large stone block but we did head to the museum that lies on the actual equator. This is a really fun experience because you are able to do experiments to prove you are on the actual equator like balancing an egg on the head of a nail and watching water go down the drain in different directions depending on which hemisphere you happen to be standing in at the time (yeah we did the geeky thing of jumping across hemispheres). It was well worth the $4 USD ($5.40 AUD) entrance fee for that alone. Our last day in Quito was spent wandering through the new town and checking out the markets as well as climbing the tower in the central cathedral. We had a flight booked to the Galapagos the following afternoon and we had to debate how to get to the airport. The airport is in the middle of nowhere and a cab costs a set rate of $25 USD ($33.80 AUD), which doesn’t sound like a lot but that was over our daily budget for one of us for the journey alone. So we decided, as our flight wasn’t till the afternoon we would take the long but not complicated trip. You catch a bus to Rio Coca bus terminal and then catch the airport bus from there. It also transpired that there are direct buses from 3 major bus stations including the southern terminal and the northern terminal. Once at Rio Coca, which takes between 45 minutes and an hour it is an hour and a half on the bus from there. I know this sounds really long, but the whole journey cost us less than $5 USD ($6.75 AUD) for both of us and is definitely a good option for later flights as none of it is actually in anyway difficult. It was happening…we were off to the Galapagos. Budget Time $$$What it Actually Cost: 21 days = $1,028.54 Accomodation: $392.08 Food: $293.92 Transport: $127.52 Entertainment: $78.16 Souvenirs: $71.51 Drinks: $38.24 Miscellaneous: $27.11 All in all, Ecuador turned out to be one of the cheapest destinations in the whole of South America for us in terms of a daily budget. We aimed to average $20USD/day each and actually wound up coming very slightly under that. That being said, we didn't actually 'do' and awful lot while we were there. We undoubtedly explored the county extensively (including going rather fruitlessly off the beaten track) but when it came to partaking in the common traveller experiences like hiking the volcanoes or intrepid trips into the Amazon, these didn't really feature in our time in Ecuador. Most standard features of a backpackers trip to Ecuador are about average in terms of South American pricing. Food and transport are both reasonably priced in terms of quality to cost ratio. Accomodation can be slightly more expensive in certain places but not prohibitively so and there is often room for significant negotiation in quieter periods in popular destinations. The one thing that could and would totally blow a tight budget would be excursions, so your choices need to be carefully considered and planned. There are a lot of amazing things to do in Ecuador but the fact that it is an American dollar economy simply means that things can be and often are more expensive in terms of tourism. It is by no means impossible to happily visit and explore Ecuador on a tight budget but if it is your only destination in South America (or one of few) and you want to do and see a lot then it is likely to cost you a pretty penny or two! LGBT: Ecuador was another conservative South American country but again not somewhere we were ever made to feel uncomfortable. We had an extensive conversation with a gay man from Ecuador who left due to feeling unable to be himself. He had only recently returned to Ecuador 17 years after he left and he felt Ecuador has changed for the better in recent years. He was actually saddened that he hadn't returned earlier. Ecuador also recognise same sex relationships and have civil unions but not marriage equality. In 1998, Ecuador became the first country in the Americas (and only the third worldwide) to include sexual orientation as a protected category in its constitution. In relation to gender Ecuadorians are able to change their ID to reflect their identity. Ecuador also had an openly transgender candidate in their 2013 elections and was openly praised by the Ecuadorian president who stated that he had a huge amount of respect and admiration for the candidate Diane Marie Rodriguez Zambrano.
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