XO have you ever been to Ecuador?

[Christians4LessGvt]

[Xavier_Onassis]

Yes, I was in Ecuador in 2012 for three weeks. I spent all my time in the Andes, which are spectacular. I stayed in a hostel in Quito for a week and took a trip to the Indian crafts market in Otavalo. It is a beautiful country, prices are in dollars and reasonable. Then I traveled by bus from Quito to Cuenca, then on to Loja and Vilcabamba. The people are friendly, I had no real difficulty other than getting used to the altitude io  Quito, which is 10,000 feet or so above sea level. The museums have a lot of Inca and pre-Inca items, and there are also colonial and art museums.

Ecuador has a lot of oil, and gas and Diesel prices are low. Bus travel will cost you about a dollar per hour. The mountains are spectacular. There are several places where they have steam baths with mineral water heated by volcanic activity. I found this a good way to relax. Mineral steam baths are something I only tried once before, in Mexico, but those in Cuenca were really great.

There are four regions in Ecuador: the Andes, some of which are volcanoes up to 18,000 feet high, The coast, where the largest city Guayaquil is, along with a huge banana industry and some nice beach towns, The Amazon rain forest, and the Galapagos Islands, about an hour and a half flight out in the Pacific.

It is the most religious country in South America, there are a lot of really ornate churches, monasteries and convents. The culture is rather prudish compared with Mexico, Central America and the RD. People are very friendly and cheerful. You can see that the oil money has been spent a lot on roads and bridges and affordable housing for the poor.  Quito and Cuenca have a cheap trolley system that is very efficient. There are also city buses and perhaps 25 different intercity bus lines. The buses are at least as comfortable as US Greyhounds, but not as cushy as Argentine and Uruguayan buses, because the buses are narrower, due to the narrow highways.  It is not easy to keep all the roads open as landslides are frequent.  Ecuador has an excellent public TV station, something like PBS, that runs a lot of programs informing you about each of the 24 provincias, its people and wildlife. Some cities are mostly Indian, and the Indians speak Indian languages as well as Spanish. There are a couple of provinces in the North where most of the people are Black. Most Ecuadorians are part Indian and part Spanish. There are some very traditional Indian tribes in the Amazon region.

Ecuadoreans like to talk to foreigners (in Spanish, mostly) and there is no sign that anyone feels repressed in any way. Rafael Correa is the only president in the country's history to stay in power for a full term. He is also the only one to be reelected. His father was jailed in the US for smuggling cocaine and he is not always on good terms with the US State Department. Americans and foreigners are treated very well in Ecuador.

Hostels are great, you meet a lot of interesting people in them and they all have internet. Hotels tend to be stuffy and less friendly, more expensive and lack Internet.

If you like being pampered, it is not really the sort of place you'd like, though. Try the all inclusive gated  places in Mexico and the RD if that is your thing. Ecuador is more of an adventure travel place.

Get a good guidebook before you go.  The ones that do not include hostels are for fatcats and tend to suck.

There are excellent dentists in Cuenca and Quito that charge a fraction of what US dentists charge. Many speak English.

[Christians4LessGvt]

Thanks XO. A friend I work with is thinking about going down there next year to visit some friends. He says there is a train that provides a tour of the different areas. He knows an American couple that moved there. They have $5000 a month in retirement income and he says they live quite well down there on that. It looks like a really beautiful country. I probably won't go, but am considering it. Yes I like pampering, but also I have a very "weak stomach"....I got deathly ill in Jamaica.....I joke with friends that I get stomach issues even if I travel to places like Austin from Dallas....lol. Not really, but I don't want to be sick outside the US.

[Xavier_Onassis]

There used to be an extensive railroad system in Ecuador, but several earthquakes have rendered most of the rail network unusable. They are working to restore the Nariz del Diablo (Devils' Nose) segment to service. What does exist are some railroad tours designed for tourists and priced accordingly. The scenery is guaranteed to be magnificent.

Ecuador is very mountainous and has lots of rivers wider than the Mississippi and more rapid than the Colorado. The railroads were mostly designed  by American engineers. There are few places on Earth less conducive to railroad building that Ecuador, though Bolivia and Chile are surely runners-up. 

You are really missing something by limiting your travels to this country. It is not that the US is boring, far from it: but it is not nearly so fascinating as even Mexico. As for getting sick, I have had several kinds of diarrhea, stomach parasites, and one night I was on a bus that flipped over on the way down a mountain near Orizaba, Veracruz. I woke up at 2:00 AM and the bus was on its side and lots of people were screaming. No one died, but the Cruz Verde ambulance made four trips to the Orizaba hospital before Omnibus de Mexico sent a bus to pick up those that were unharmed. I used my Boy Scout skills at tourniquets a couple of times.

Mexico is one of the most fascinating places on the planet, by the way. I used to make a few pesos by working as an unofficial guide in Mexico City, because I knew how to get a half dozen small but interesting museums opened with only small bribes and dinners with the curators. It was easy to find monolingual American in  the Alameda Park, arguing with taxi drivers. I was good at mediating between them. After that, I would get offers to serve as a guide. I was vague about my fees, I just said "pay me whatever you think it is worth", and I was never disappointed. Of course, there were some truly obnoxious Americanos I declined to show around.

Most trips were uneventful. I took the train all the way from Kansas City to Mexico City once. We changed from the Missouri Pacific Texas Eagle to the Nacionales de Mexico at Laredo and it took almost three days more to get to Mexico City, because there was an accident north of San Luis and the Aguila Azteca was rerouted through  Torreon and Durango: lok at a map, it was a huge detour.  Before we got to Mexico City, the AC was broken and they were out of food and even beer. After that, I took buses. Mexico has great bus service. Looking back on that trip and the misery all us passengers suffered made for some interesting memories. It is no longer possible to take the train from San Antonio to Laredo. This was before Amtrak, which was established in '71.

Despite all the problems, I would not trade my travels for a dozen Disneyland and/or Six Flags passes and a year at any Club Med. I am no fan of artificial travels like guided tours and cruises. I can meet American insurance salesmen and pharma reps in Miami Beach, if I so desire.

The scenery is always interesting if there are jungles and mountains, but the people I have met have always been the  most fun.  When I went to Ecuador, I had a nice long chat with a Miss Ecuador contestant between Cuenca and Quito. I think she was Miss Loja.  Really beautiful and smart.

The key to a great trip, of course, is speaking the language. 

The American community in Vilcabamba meets around the town square daily. They are untypical Americans, and have lots of interesting stories. They organize school trips and language classes  for the locals and are the nicest bunch of expats I have met anywhere. Vilcabamba (it means sacred valley) is one of those few places on Earth noted for the extreme longevity of the inhabitants. There are supposed to be five citizens over 105 there, but I did not meet any of them.  The hostel where I stayed had a spa and a swimming pool, a decent restaurant and a pool hall and cost I think $25 per day, including breakfast. There was TV and Internet.  Vilcabamba has the ideal climate, because of the altitude (1500 mts., 4950 ft) . The restaurant on the right side of the church always has a 50¢ meal to encourage the locals to visit: the owner is a woman who loves to invent different dishes. Prices on these were under $7.00 and you will not leave hungry.

 Ecuadoreans are very fond of lentils, and often one of the three vegetables on the comida especial is popcorn. Every meal includes rice. Ecuadorean rice is pretty much flavorless.  In Quito's Mariscal District (where the backpacker hostels are) they have mastered the hamburger. The schwarmas (sort of a Lebanese gyro) are also terrific. The best local dish, in my opinion is the  llapingacho.

http://laylita.com/recipes/2008/04/07/llapingachos-or-stuffed-potato-patties/

Ecuuadoreans could do great Mexican food if only they had some yellow cheddar cheese and pinto beans. Mozarella and black beans do not cut it.
 
Vilcabamba would be my favorite place if there were some Dominicanas about.  (one would be adequate.)  But alas, there are not.