Ecuador Trip

Laguna de Quilotoa

Mt. Fuya Fuya

Mitad del Mundo

  President’s Week in February was a great time to get away for a new Latin American country.  I was excited to get to visit to one of the few Spanish-speaking countries I’ve never been to…Ecuador.  Ecuador has it all…tons of volcanoes to hike, indigenous markets, beautiful beaches, and some of the most remote places of the Amazon Rainforest.  The country is small, cheap, and the people were extremely friendly.

I loved having my cousin Andrew join me on his first trip to Latin America.  It was a blast planning the trip and see how our 9 day adventure would unfold.  On day 2 we found ourselves at 15,000 ft. on Rucu Pichinca, the highest peak that either of us had ever summited.  Over the next days we did some great hikes/trail runs at Laguna de Cuichocha and Laguna de Mojanda which are high altitude crater lakes in the Ecuadorian Highlands.

  
  


 

We decided to get a guide and attempt on the tallest summits in the country, 20,000 ft. Volcán Cayambe.  Getting trained in glacier/crevasse techniques by our guide Diego with great.  After trekking for several hours on a massive glacier a blizzard turned us back at 17,400 ft.  A very memorable day.

Ecuador being Ecuador, we were able to from a glacier volcano back to the capital, Quito, and on to the Ecuadorian Amazon.  Baños, Ecuador is an cool town with a chill vibe.  The next morning we were renting mountain bikes for $8 for the day.  The ride downhill towards Puño is insane.  La Ruta de las Cascadas is appropriately named for the countless waterfalls that come cascading off of the jungle cliffs.

A visit to the spectacular Lago de Quilotoa capped off an absolutely awesome Ecuador trip!

 

Entering the glacier

Our Cayambe Crew

Ziplining in the Ecuadorian Amazon