Ecuador Explorer

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Hello and welcome to Ecuador Explorer. Here you will find information on the best places to visit in Ecuador and some pictures of the stunning landscape you can find here. From the peaceful Inca Pirca ruins to the rustic Amazon Rainforest. You can visit all over Ecuador without even leaving your seat. Let the adventure begin.

Quito

Quito is only the second biggest city but is the capital of Ecuador. Here the people are polite and reserved. They enjoy working hard and do not party quite as much. Quito is a lot like Cuenca but it is near beautiful collapsed volcanoes that have filled with water creating dazzling lakes. High up above sea level you can see farmers with their alpacas and women with their baskets of harvests scattered across the patchwork hills.

Quito is also the gateway to the Avenue of the Volcanoes, and the farrocaril (railroad) which brings excited tourists to the very top of a mountain and then plummets back down. I have not been on it but I have heard that the scenery is so majestic that even those afraid of hights cannot take their eyes off of it.

Quito is also surrounded by neat places which sell leather in every color and size. All in all Quito is a very important place for you to visit if you ever go to Ecuador.

Guayaquil

Guayaquil is the largest city as well as the most active. The people there are open to just about anything. They party in the clubs all night long and love foreigners. This port city, which is full of life and good will, has some lovely places to visit. The Iguana Park which has prehistoric creatures crawling around you is a time trip back to the time of the dinosaurs while the poetic hill of Saint Ana brings you back to the time of the Spanish colonists and pirates. This hill boasts over 300 steps leading to the top of a lighthouse where you can see the whole city for miles in each direction. Or you can visit the Parque Historico, which has a whole town built like it was 100 years ago, a walk through a Mangrove Forests and animals of every shape and size. Although Guayaquil is now heavily populated and even has several McDonalds, you can still find areas where Ecuador's natural landscape survives, from the hills to the iguanas to the mangroves.

Cuenca

Cuenca, the third largest city in Ecuador, is a gorgeous place filled with life and different cultures. Unlike Guayaquil, Cuenca has been able to preserve some of it's oldfashioned beauty. The stone passageways, cramped and curving roads, stone arches and gold trimmed churches make you feel as if you have gone back in time. The Cuencans still eat cuiy or roasted guinea pigs while they walk along, cuddled up in their Alpaca wraps. The women still wear long squirts, which come to life with hand embroidery. The children are still swaddled in a wrap on their mother's backs covered with their black hair in braids streaming down. The men still wear festive tops with back pants and the sun still glows down warming the tops of the brightly painted cathedrals. Far away from the bigger cities where foreigners travel, Cuenca is a perfect picture of how Ecuador used to be.

Near Cuenca are the Inca Pirca ruins. These ruins are in such perfect condition you don't even have to close your eyes to imagine the teetering towers and stone plate where sacrifices to the gods where made. And you can find seashells buried underground that the Incans traded against gold thinking them worth much more.

Ecuador Explorer

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

map of Ecuador and of Galapagos

Quito

Guayaquil

Cuenca

Quito and Amazon

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