Ecuador - the most unexpected trip of my life

Quito 2018

16/01/2018 this day for me started with a visit in the Colombian Migration. 

A small throwback to when my 90 day of a tourist visa ran out – here in Colombia as a European citizen you can enlarge the visa for another 90 online as one has 180 each year. In my case it worked out really well and I thought in 2018 I could do the same – online – as I had other 180 days for 2018. And as I have an occupation in a university here so I thought I won’t have to leave the country for a day just to renew my visa. Well in the end it turned out to be like that - I had to leave Colombia within the next 36 hours, because if I didn’t, I’d have to pay a fine for not leaving the country on time. 

Praying to god to send me a solution later that day I was actually able to find a very cheap flight to Ecuador for more or less $200 for the next day which was the last one to stay in Colombia with my tourist permission. And like this I had the great opportunity to discover Ecuador for a few days. To my greater luck I even found a very nice couple on Couchsurfing that could host me for the three nights in Quito and who helped me out getting to know the city and more of Ecuador.

DAY 1:

On the 17^th I arrived in Quito around 6 p.m. and once I arrived at my Couchsurfing hosts home it was already 8:30 p.m. We only shared a meal together and then I went to sleep. The next day I went out to discover Quito and the best way seemed to be one of those common hop on hop off busses with two floors and a cool view above the streets of Quito. To help me out a bit Cindy, my host, brought me to a very nice church – the Basílica del Voto Nacional – honestly a MUST SEE if you are in Quito. Further this church was located very central so I could continue with the bus tour after. So I started to get to know Quito by discovering all nice spots of the church such as the main church, the Santisimo (the Holy sacrament where catholics keep the communion and which represents the holy place in the church where Jesus is most present), and the tower from which one has a very beautiful view above the city of Quito.

El Santisimo was the most beautiful place of all

 

Finally arrived on top and it is definitly worth all the stairs

The very "safe" way to get to the tower

After a wonderful and calm time in this impressive church that reminded me a lot on the Notre Dame, I went down to one of the main squares. After a small search for this central spot I encountered it thanks to the nice help of Ecuadorian police which makes the center of the city a very safe place. 

 

Loved this sandwich!!

At the Plaza de la Independencia I found the station of the bus easily and figured I’d still have 45 minutes until the next bus will pass. I took that time to look at another church located right at this square – the Catedral Metropolitana de Quito – also a very beautiful church where it sadly is prohibited to take pictures. After that I had a tipical sandwich in a café next to the church and the opportunity to finally catch some Wifi.

Plaza de Independencia

At around 3 p.m. I started my hop on hop off bus tour, that in the end wasn’t coined by a lot of hopping, but more sitting on the upper deck of the bus to discover in the last full 3h tour around the city. It was actually a very easy and fast way to get to know the hotspots of Quito, including the La Virgen de El Panecillo, also known as the Virgen de Quito. This statue is located on a hill in the middle of Quito qhich gives you a breathtaking panoramic view above the city. The tour was very nice in the sense of taking us not only to the most important sightseeing points but also letting us explore the hill for around 30 minutes before continuing the trip. Around this are you can also find nice locals which are selling all kinds of souviniers. Personally I really enjoy buying memories from the places I’ve been to so some magnets and other cute stuff from Ecuador and Quito couldn’t be missed.

The tour costs $15 and if you want you are also able to buy tickets online at http://quitotourbus.com/quito-city-tour/

Gringo bus like in every city - PLUS Wifi

The city showed itself from its best side with a rainbow

La Virgen de El Panecillo

Amazing Panorama photo of Quito I could take from the hill

At night I decided to go to Baños the next day. My hosts told me it is around 2,5h away so I thought that is really doable considering I just had one day to go back and forth.

DAY 2

My second (proper) day in Ecuador I spend in the beautiful town Baños – a must do when you’re in Ecuador. Different than my hosts expected it took me around 4h to get to Baños as on the way the bus was stopping in a (felt) frequency of 10 minutes to let out or pick up passengers on the way - Hello Welcome to South America. The positive side of taking the bus was that taking buses in general in Ecuador is very cheap. For my 4 hour trip I paid $4,50.

To arrive as early as possible I arrived at the terminal at 5 a.m. and took the bus at 5:20. We arrived at Baños around 9 a.m. First thing at the terminal was a guy offering me tours and bringing me to their agency. Normally I wouldn’t follow such people right away but as I had no time to lose this was the best and fastest option. They offered me a waterfall tour and the tour to the tree house with the famous swings (Casa del Arbol). After lowering the price from $25 to $20 with the argument that I take both tours with them (#whatlivingincolombiataughtme) I figured I had one more hour to finally get a breakfast and then start my first tour to the waterfalls. 

My breakfast was typical Ecuadorian: Fresh Mora (blackberry) juice, hot milk that I could either make myself a coffee with milk or a hot chocolate with, “full grain” (integral) bread with butter and jam and to round it up like in all northern south American countries: scrambled egg.

3 hour Waterfall tour:

At 10 a.m. I was ready to get on the Chiva – a common Ecuadorian and Colombian vehicle that is decorated from the outside and is normally known as a party bus kinda thing. In the last row I had a nice view to the back of the bus and I was accompanied by a very friendly elderly Ecuadorian couple.

Our first way went over a small bridge over the main river “Pastaza” which had a very impressive view. After we continued the trip by going through a tunnel that led us to a smaller waterfall that is supposed to make your hair grow faster – sadly the weather was not on my side - too cold - but once I want longer hair I definitely have to come back :D . Further down we encountered a rock that has the shape of Jesus’ face – when touching the wall they told us you can make three wishes and within the next years they will become true. 

Can you see Jesus?

On our way to the next waterfall we had the opportunity to do zip lining for $10 – even though I am like the most anxious person in the world I jumped over my shadow and did it. For around 20 seconds I hung on a string more than 100m above the ground. At first I was super scared but as the guy getting me ready really felt that he just send me off fast than I could think about it twice and in the end I LOVED IT!!!

I did it!!

 

El Manto de la Novia

Further on the way we saw a waterfall called El Manto de la Novia which is a waterfall of 60 meters height and which we could see a bit closer taking some sort of “cable car” which in the end was actually more scary than the real zip lining I had done before. 

  

After sufficient selfies from the cable car we went further on to the last and most famous waterfall called “Pailón del Diablo”, which until now is one of the biggest waterfalls I’ve seen in my life. All the scenery is very impressiveand beautiful, and with the stairs build right next to the waterfall it reminded me a lot on a Asian scenery. There you definitely will get wet – to my luck it also started raining when we were about to leave and as the car is open it was a rather cold experience. 

 

arrived and my hair was still dry at that point

...and here it wasn't dry anymore - Pailón del Diablo

Resume of the first tour: Damn why am I here just for one day?! There is a lot more I would like to do!

 

2 hour Casa del Árbol tour

My second tour as to the Casa del Árbol and its Columpio del Fin del Mundo (Swing at the end of the world) – one of the most known places in Ecuador. Passing by a view sport to see Baños from above we continued our trip to the Casa del Arbol. First thing to do there is of course to take one of the 4 swings you can find in the area. Even though the weather wasn’t the best with rain once in a while and many clouds I was able to take some nice pictures and enjoy the view. If you’re lucky arriving there with good weather you will also be able to see the volcano close to the spot.

THE foto from the Casa del Árbol

All in all, my so unexpected trip to Ecuador was a full success and I am keen to get back to it as soon as I can. If anyone thinks about a trip around South America I can tell you do not miss the spot.

That’s it for now – hopefully some clearup also for all following me on social media and who were wondering what I was doing in Ecuador after visiting so much of Colombia. In addition for sure I’ll write some posts about the different areas around Colombia I have visited before in the end of December and January. I hope you liked this rather long post. Let me know what you think about it.

Muchos Besos,

Leonie

Pre-Christmas time in Colombia

Living already almost four months here in Colombia showed me that many things here work a bit different. Already in the beginning of November it became clear to me that also the time before Christmas is lived in a different way than we do it in Germany. Of course I am currently really missing winter and Christmas markets and honestly I am a bit jealous that there is snow in Germany now. Anyways there is a lot in Colombia that is also amazing about the time just before Christmas:
 

- Christmas decoration wherever you look – private houses, companies and especially malls put a lot of effort to be decorated before the 1^st December. When speaking of Christmas lights it is impossible to not talk about the famous mountain Monserrate which lies on 3200m (Bogotá itself is on a hight of 2600m). During pre-Christmas time Monserrate is the tourist attraction even for locals as the city puts a lot of love into decorating every corner of the view spot that lets you see most of Bogotá. I say most of Bogotá, as Bogotá has a size that’s unimaginable. So for everyone who wanted to visit Colombia and Bogotá in December go and wait the 3hours to drive to the top in “Teleferico” (Cable car you might know from your last winter vacation) or “Funicular” (a train that goes up the hill – actually just a bigger version of the one in my hometown called “Turmbergbahn”). Here I let some pictures speak for itself. 

Canelazo - typical Colombian drink for cold Bogotá nights

Just a few (1000) people waiting to go up the hill

 

 

L O V E

Bogotá by night <3

Can you see how she's tanned and I am not :D

Santuario de Monserrate

Deep inside I am an angel

- As Colombia is a very catholic country, the pre-Christmas time is a very important one including very nice mangers to be found in every single church and other places like two in my university (the one in the congregation where we go is huge with streets of Jerusalem to be discovered) and traditionally the Advent wreath with one candle every Advent Sunday will be blessed by the father. 

- 8 ^th December: might seem like any other date in December to you, but here in Colombia it’s an official holiday. The night of the 7^th everybody celebrates “el día de los velitas” the day of the little candles. This is a holiday on the eve of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. Colombia around the world is the only country that holds up this tradition of lighting candles in name of the Holy Mary. With each candle people make a prayer for e.g. their family or to say thank you for the things they have received in life or wishes for the future. Next to candles they will also light fireworks, "Chispitas Mariposas"(sparklers or Wunderkerzen how we call it in German). It is a very calm and nice family night with actually all the neighborhood

 

 

Candles in all forms and decorations - loved this recycled one

 

- Las Novenas: nine days before Christmas eve (24^th  December) every night the family gets together and prays and sings for baby Jesus to arrive. Every day another person of the bible is addressed, so different days there is one special prayer for Maria, Joseph etc. It’s a really cute Christmas tradition that’s quite a bonding experience. 

- Christmas: Chirstmas is actually also celebrated on the 24^th at night similar to how we do it in Germany. Here there is, of course, also a mess we celebrated in a park near by as the church itself cannot handle if all the people come to the mass at the same time. After church everyone went home, us including my dear friend Laufey from Iceland who traveled almost all of South America and who finalizes her trip here in Colombia. Our Christmas food was Tamal – a very tipical food in general in Colombia. That is a corn mass including some veggies, chickpeas and a piece of chicken all evolved in banana leaves – super recommendable if you’re here once. And well with a full stomach, loud music and already tired feet from dancing at 12 everybody gets up, holds a glass of wine and counts down from 10 to 0, because 12 o’clock baby Jesus arrives and finally the presents can be shared. All in all it was really nice to share such a special holiday with my second family here in Colombia and with one of the most important people in my life. 

Anyhow have I been with my family in my thoughts and I cannot wait to share it at home next year, with Christmas markets, my loved ones, cold weather (yes Bogotá isn’t super warm but like 0-5 degrees I would actually appreciate, thanks to heatings in Germany haha) 

Muchos Besos,

Leonie