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.
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| 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.
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| 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
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