08/02/2015
We are planning a guided trip to Ecuador for November this year. I have been rereading our notes on previous trips and am hugely looking forward to making it to the Galapagos Islands this time. Last time I had a bike accident and missed the end of the trip. But even the memories of the punctured lung, broken bones and slow recovery from head injury have not put me off returning as it is such a spectacular land of contrast, culture and wildlife.
We start in the capital Quito, with its history of Quechuan Indians, Inca rule and Spanish violent conquest that is all present in everyday life and architecture. Then it’s quickly on to the Amazon Jungle. Swimming with the fresh water dolphins, fishing for piranha spotting caiman on the same river are lingering memories, but the numerous symbiotic relationships in the jungle were even more impressive. Like the ants that protect a variety of tree from all other predators. Everyone remembers the tarantulas and the bats in the roof, but cooking and sharing a meal in a local village was pretty special. Various members of the group tried local remedies and while I was game to blow my sinuses away with an infusion poured down my nostrils I took my hat off to the woman in the group who chose to be beaten with stinging nettle as a cure for a sore back (she swore it worked but it looked awfully red and sore).
From the Amazon we flew back to the Andean highlands to a temperate climate with 6,000m snow clad volcanoes. Walking up to the refugios on the snow line and sipping hot chocolate in a classic mountain chalet with stunning views was well worth the extreme panting at 4,800m.
While my trip ended soon after this riding down Cotopaxi without due attention (I was watching the herd of wild guanaco, llama like animals) the rest of the group flew out to the Galapagos. Hazel (our daughter and the guide for this trip) was just as blown away with the wildlife as on her first visit. It’s an expensive place to visit, but relatively uncrowded and as spectacular as Darwin found it.
Hazel lived in Chile for a year and worked in an orphanage in Ecuador for several months. So she is fluent in Spanish and has some Quechan. She will flying over from Spain to lead the trip. We are plotting the last of the details over the next moth as we kayak Doubtful Sound and other parts of Fiordland. But the plan is depart New Zealand/Australia on November 1 for 3 weeks. Target price is $8,600 including airfares.
