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Nicole's
Travelogues and Budget Travel Tips..
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QUITO DAY TRIPS, ECUADORThere are tons of things you can do from Quito - here's a sampling. Cotopaxi National Park Cotopaxi (19,345 feet) is 35 miles from Quito and is supposed to be the highest active volcano in the world. Cotopoxi means 'neck of the moon" in Quichua. It’s perfectly shaped snow-tipped cone makes for gorgeous pictures - though you will be lucky to catch a glimpse of it on a clear day, as it is usually smothered by low clouds. The Cotopaxi National Park surrounds the volcano and is a nice excursion if you don’t want to climb Cotopaxi. The park has many deer, wild horses, puma, Andean condors, and llamas. You can hike around the small lake (Lago Limpiopungo) that sits at 12,465 feet or visit the small museum. Official Cotopaxi Web Site
Pululahua Crater About 3 miles from the equator monument along the road to Calacali is a 6 1/2 mile wide crater. The scenery is beautiful and there's usually an eerie mist covering the crater. Tours and buses leave from Mitad del Mundo's Calacali Ave. You can hike the rim of the crater by foot and hike down the trail to the center of the crater where there's a village and campsites. If you don't want hours of exercise, you can rent horses from the Green Horse Ranch. There is a restaurant called El Crater which is on the edge of the crater near the viewpoint - the panoramic window is better than the food. The Green Horse Ranch (phone (593) 2 52 38 56) leads horseback riding tours to the crater.  Mitad del Mundo
Mitad del Mundo (The Middle of the World) is a monument that marks the spot where in 1736 Charles-Marie de la Condamine's scientific expedition made measurements that verified the location of the equator. From Quito, I caught a bus on America Calle to Mitad del Mundo for 1,700 sucres (1 hour). The equator monument is a globe on top of a pedestal sitting on the equator with a museum inside. The equator is marked by a bright yellow painted line. Tourists on either side of the line shake hands, kiss, hug, and dance for pictures. It's pretty funny to just sit and watch the picture taking. There are guys walking around with cameras that will take your picture for a fee and there are a number of gift shops, restaurants, a post office, and EMETEL in the area. But don't count on spending the whole day here - most of the gift shops are overpriced and the restaurant isn't that good (2-3 hours is sufficient). In the village of San Antonio de Pichincha (a couple of minutes south of the equator monument), there is a solar museum. |
Bellavista Reserve The Bellavista Reserve is about 2 hours north of Quito. Here you stay in a 4-story glass geodesic dome looking out over 1,500 acres of gorgeous cloud forest. You have a 360 degree view from the dome in which you can see Pichincha and Cotacachi in the distance. There are 2 single rooms, 5 double rooms with private baths and balconies, and dormitory-style accommodations with a shared bath and large balcony. There are also cheaper campsites available. Safari Tours (in Quito at Calama 380 y Juan Leon Mera) also arranges 2 day trips for $75 including transport. Thermal Springs If you aren't planning to go to Banos, you can still experience thermal baths near Quito. The Los Chillos and Tumbaco valleys are between the Ilalo volcano, and are well known for their thermal baths. It's a big attraction for Ecuadorians and tourist and is busy on the weekends. The famous Papallacta baths(5160 feet) are located about 2 hours east of Quito halfway to Baeza in the Oriente. The baths are open daily from 5am to 10pm and are $3. From Quito, catch a bus to the Amazon and tell the driver to drop you off at Los Baños Termales de Papallacta. Fresh trout, from the nearby trout farm, is the specialty here and is in the restaurants and outdoor stands. There is a hostal nearby called La Posada Hostal de Montana which offers rooms with shared baths for $12.50. |
A ticket to the museum costs 5,000 sucres and is pretty interesting. When I was there, it wasn't open on Mondays - so plan to go Tues. through Sun. (10am to 4 or 5pm).
