Ecuador/Peru - Part I (Bellavista Cloud Forest)

Hello!

This series chronicles my trip to Ecuador and Peru back in March/April 2017 which includes a cruise of the Galapagos Islands and day trips to Quito, Machu Picchu and Cusco. The whole trip lasted over 2 weeks, and was by far, one of the most expensive trips we've ever taken. It's interesting to think that my husband and I took our first married trip together back in 2007, so it's only natural that we have a bit more financial stability for a larger trip 10 years later. The Galapagos cruise itself was a major portion of the cost. We actually used airline miles for our flights which was a major cost saver. Our airline miles were all through United Airlines, but we used our miles on their partner airlines. The only real negative to this was the difficulty of seat selection. At one point, I just called the actual airline, and they assisted me.

When choosing a Galapagos tour, there are a surprisingly large number of them. You can select the ridiculously expensive expedition with National Geographic, but there are both major and private boats that offer less expensive cruising adventures to the Galapagos Islands. We briefly considered going through one of the major cruise lines, but since we were traveling with a group of friend for this trip, we opted for a smaller cruise company that offered a more customized itinerary. This had both its benefits and its drawbacks which I'll explain in a later blog. We used a company called CNH Tours for the Galapagos portion only, and booked everything else ourselves.

We began our journey with a 7:30AM cab to the airport. Copa Airlines took our carryon bags and checked them (big frowny face if you know my travel style), so I was anxious the entire way to Quito about our bags making it safely. The first leg of our trip was from Dulles to Panama. About 2 hours into the 4.5 hour flight they served us a hot meal. Very strange. They usually try to bring you food/beverage services right away, but not this time. In fact, we were wondering if they would even serve us anything at all. They did, it just took them a while.

After a 45 min layover in Panama, we boarded a 1.5 hour flight to Quito, Ecuador. They fed us again on that flight (a warmed chicken and cheese sandwich with banana chips) which was another pleasant surprise.

We arrived in Quito, Ecuador one full day before our Galapagos flight just in case something went wrong and it took us longer to arrive. But, we got there with no issues. Everyone's bags arrived safely, and our hotel driver was waiting for us at the terminal to drive us to La Casa Hacienda La Jimenita. This hotel was significantly outside "downtown" Quito, but suited our purposes for the 2 nights we would stay there. The drive to get there took us through some less desirable parts of Quito, but the grounds of the hotel were absolutely stunning. The hotel itself was rustic but very charming and the rooms were huge! The travel agency had arranged a delivery of the most stunning roses for all of us which was a pleasant (if wasteful) surprise.

La Casa Hacienda La Jimenita - Quito, Ecuador

We ate dinner at the hotel which was a little pricy, but we couldn't complain about the sheer amount of food they gave us. The night itself was a little rough. Although the rooms were very spacious, they weren't temperature controlled, and we had a rather vocal cricket serenading us.

Since we arrived a full day before our cruise, we arranged for a day trip to a place called the Bellavista Cloud Forest (as if we weren't going to get enough nature in the Galapagos, haha!). (Side note: if you have more than a day, you can actually spend the night at Bellavista if you want to extend your cloud forest experience.) The mini-bus from the facility arrived a little after 6AM to drive us there. Unfortunately the estimated 1.5-2 hour ride took approximately 3 hours. Traffic and windy roads made for a long journey, and we hadn't eaten breakfast yet.

They served us breakfast promptly upon arrival which started out as fruit, granola, and bread, but then they brought around made to order eggs. After breakfast, we all got rubber boots and started our trek through the forest. They asked us which trail we wanted to take: the easy one or the more advanced one. Being a group in our early/mid 30s, we opted for the advanced one. Ha...little did we know. It was fun, but definitely an adventure.

It started off as a nice walk through a forest. The guide told us all about the local flora and fauna. We took pictures of strange plants and bizarre insects. We crossed some wet and muddy areas (glad for the rubber boots), and then we came to a very pretty waterfall. All of the sudden, the guide pointed to a rope on the side and indicated that we were all going to climb UP the waterfall. Have you ever climbed up a waterfall before?? Yeah... me either! Needless to say, the rubber boots only protect your feet from water when you submerse them, not when you have water cascading into them.

We certainly worked up an appetite for lunch and enjoyed trout with beans and rice. Then we all took turns holding a humming bird feeder. I absolutely adore humming birds, so this was definitely something I really loved! We could have stayed at Bellavista longer, but we were all pretty tired by that point and knew we had a long ride back. After another 3 bumpy, long hours, we made it back to our hotel.

Hummingbirds - Bellavista Cloud Forest - Ecuador

If you have the time, the hotel grounds has their own tunnels and ruins to explore. I'm almost sad we didn't have an extra day to spend just around the hotel, but our flight to Baltra the next morning wouldn't wait.

Join me next time as we leave the mainland, and head for the islands made famous by Charles Darwin.

Thanks for reading!

- Foxy the Traveler

Georgia on my mind - Part IV (Atlanta & Stone Mountain)

Hello! Welcome to my last post from my trip to Georgia. After a lovely visit to Savannah, we headed north toward Atlanta. We checked out of the historic 17hundred90 Inn, collected some mini cinnamon rolls and blueberry muffins for our 3.5 hour car ride.

We stopped first at the Stately Oaks plantation house in Jonesboro where Margaret Mitchell spent her summers as a child and supposedly set the story of her famed novel, Gone with the Wind. The plantation home was surprisingly smaller than I would have imagined, or smaller than I always pictured Tara or Twelves Oaks being, but it was still really neat to visit a historic plantation from the Civil War era.

Stately Oaks Plantation - Jonesboro, Georgia

From Jonesboro, we drove just 30 minutes more to Atlanta. We didn't spend a lot of time in Atlanta. Major cities aren't really my thing, but we did make a point to visit the World of Coca-cola and the 1996 Olympic Park. If you ever get the chance, the coke museum is super fun. You can taste cokes from all over the world. Some of them are delicious, and other are super super gross!

Olympic Park - Atlanta, Georgia

The olympic park was neat, but it just reminded me of all the other forgotten olympic cities. When we were in Germany, we passed the site of a former olympic games, and there was hardly a marker commemorating it. Cities bid years in advance to host an olympic games, and then spend millions in preparation for it, only to have it practically forgotten just a few years later. I felt the same way when I visited Beijing. We stopped for a glance at the former Olympic park, and that was it.

Anyway, for dinner, we indulged in a some classic southern food. I got fried chicken, and my husband got catfish and grits.

After dinner, we left Atlanta for the Hampton Inn at Stone Mountain. The last day of our trip also happened to coincide with my birthday, so we planned a day at a place called Stone Mountain. Stone Mountain is kind of like the Mount Rushmore of the south. It's this giant stone carving that's really really far away. Stone Mountain (unlike Mt. Rushmore) is a carving of Confederate generals from the Civil War.

Stone Mountain - Georgia

We didn't bother walking across the grass to get a closer look. At Stone Mountain, they also have hiking and a high ropes course which we enjoyed, though it wasn't as challenging as I would have liked. It was definitely more geared for kids.

I enjoyed a birthday funnel cake and some mini golf complete with a hole in one! We went to a place called Aldo's Cafe for dinner, thinking it was ok to dress casually. It ended up being a much more upscale Italian eatery, so we felt very underdressed, but enjoyed a delicious meal nonetheless.

We flew home from the Atlanta airport the next morning and were home by dinner. I hope you enjoyed reading about the fun adventures you can have right here in the United States. Although I still think I prefer foreign travel, I really did enjoy this week and remember it fondly!

Thanks for reading!

- Foxy the Traveler

Georgia on my mind - Part III (Savannah)

Savannah is a beautiful place to visit, and I have very fond memories of the couple days we spent here, but we had a bit of a rough start getting there. I'm the first person to admit that sometimes despite the best planning, vacations don't always go your way. Maybe an entire vacation isn't awful, but I've definitely had bad moments on vacations even in the most beautiful or exotic places.

Tuesday, May 13 started out as planned. We enjoyed our final meal at the Greyfield Inn which included eggs, bacon, berry smoothies, and banana walnut pancakes. we departed the island at 10:45AM and were back on Amelia Island by 11:30. We got a quick ice cream fix at a local fudge shop in Fernandina Beach before getting in the car and heading north to Savannah.

The 1.5 hour drive went by pretty quickly as we took in the scenery around us and imagined living in a place like that. Our first stop in Savannah was Tybee Island (or Savannah Beach). I was hoping it would be a cute town like Fernandina, but it wasn't. It was literally nothing more than a beach, beach homes/rentals, and a couple of poorly placed junk shops. I was so disappointed. We planned on making this a beach day, but when we found the beach, it was crowded and not even terribly warm outside, so we just left. I guess having a private beach on Cumberland Island for the last 2 days really spoiled us, or maybe I was just over beaching it. I'm not a beach lover generally, but there was nothing in the town. Not even restaurants. Tybee Island - major disappointment.

So, we continued into "downtown" Savannah and checked into our hotel. I wanted to stay at a historic place without spending a fortune. There are a lot to choose from, but not many at the price point (and quality) I was looking for. I chose the 17Hundred90 Inn. Interestingly enough, my sister ended up staying at that exact inn almost exactly a week after I was there. Neither of us knew the other was even going to be in Savannah, let alone stay at inn, but we both had similarly delightful experiences.

After checking in, we found dinner at the Bier Haus before making our way to Forsyth Park and touring some of historic Savannah. What a beautiful place!

Unlike breakfast at the Greyfield Inn, breakfast at the 17Hundred90 Inn was VERY carb heavy. They had mini cinnamon rolls, donuts, danishes, croissants, mini muffins, etc. Delicious, but less than ideal.

After breakfast, we set out to explore this lovely southern city. We started by touring the home of Juliette Low who founded the Girl Scouts. We then visited the giant cathedral and got lunch at a local restaurant.

We spent the afternoon roaming the streets. We did some souvenir shopping and made our way to the waterfront. This really is just a beautiful place to get lost in. Let yourself wander. Take in the beauty of the old homes and the spanish moss.

We made a pit stop at Leopold's Ice Cream which ended up being dinner, but totally worth it. We got ourselves caught in a rain storm in the late afternoon, and then ended the day with a performance of Savannah Life at the historic Savannah Theater. The show was ok. It was pretty much just a 2-hour cabaret with classic and contemporary songs. Nothing too special, but entertaining enough.

I don't know that we needed anymore time than we had in Savannah, but I would have liked another day to explore more streets, more shops, and to relax, but instead we continued our tour through Georgia ending in Atlanta.

Thanks for reading!

- Foxy the Traveler