SANTA ANA DE LOS CUATRO RIOS DE CUENCA: what a name

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The flight from Puerto Baquerizo Moreno in San Cristobal island to Guayaquil went without any incidents. I spent one short nicht in Guayaquil and continued the next morning to Cuenca by bus, back to the heights of the south-american Andes. Cuenca is the shorter, most commonly used name of the city. It is Ecuador's third largest city and is located at 2.500 meters over the sea level. Cuenca was founded on April 12, 1557 as Spanish settlement by order of Andrés Hurtado de Mendoza, then Viceroy of Peru who wanted the city named after his home town of Cuenca, Spain. 

GALÁPAGOS ISLANDS: another dream becoming true

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After spending two days in Guayaquil trying to find the best cruise / boat trip combination, I still didn't know what would be the best option for me in order to visit the islands. One problem was that most cruise tours focus on selling the ship's facilities and comfort (or lack of them) and didn't want to commit to a route / tour of what you will see of Galápagos. Difficult were also the dates and length of the trips available; and their price. At the end I decided to go for island hopping (no cruise) and explore the islands "from land", aware that this will not provide the "full Gapalagos experience", but will help me decide next time when I come back to explicitly visit these islands; and I will!

SANTIAGO DE GUAYAQUIL: back to the Pacific Ocean

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Santiago de Guayaquil is Ecuador's largest and most populous (4 million inhabitants) city, and most important port at the same time. It is located is the western bank of the Guayas river, about 60km north of the Gulf of Guayaquil in the Pacific Ocean.
Guayaquil is not much of a touristic destination. It is however an important place for travelers going to the Galápagos islands, and that was the main reason for me to visit it.

BAÑOS DE AGUA SANTA: a place for adventure or relax

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Baños de Agua Santa is the place where Ecuadorians go for therapy with thermal waters for example in case of soared muscles; exactly what I had after the extra kilometers needed to get to Sigchos.
As it names suggests, Baños is also a religious center and pilgrim destination, making it one of the most visited places in Ecuador. The town is located next to the active Tungurahua volcano, with several waterfalls in the area. All these has added adventure tourism to the already booming town.

QUILOTOA: an active volcano with a lake in its crater

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Quilotoa is a small town in Ecuador that is becoming increasing attention from travelers.
The town is named after the volcano on which its located, and the lake that has formed inside the crater. It is an active volcano.
The reason for me to be here is the Quilotoa Traverse, a 3 days hiking tour starting at the edge of the crater, passing through the small village of Chugchilán and ending in Sigchos.
I've being looking forward to hike again since we left Quito. With an altitude of 3914m seems to be challenging and rewarding enough.

SAN FRANCISCO DE QUITO: ciudad Mitad del Mundo

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I'm surprised to see how many cities in south america have a rather long name that is not used in the praxis. Quito is one of them; its official name is San Francisco de Quito. Bogotá used to be called "Santafé de Bogotá" until 2001 when they shortened their name. Santiago de Cali, San Carlos de Bariloche, ... its a long list. It shows the strong religious influence the Spanisch conquistadores had when founding the new cities in the colonies.

IPIALES and OTAVALO: good bye Colombia, hello Ecuador

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The road between Popayán in Colombia and the border with Ecuador has bad reputation. The internet shows many reports and inquiries of worried travelers planning to use this road. But if you check carefully will see that most of these reports are a few years old.
I didn't want to ignore them and their recommendations but disliked the idea of being controlled by the anonym reporters commenting incidents somebody else told them. I checked with the local people and at the end decided to take a day bus to Ipiales and spend the night there before crossing to Ecuador. This was not a bad decision.