After over a week in Salento, we spent our last night in Colombia in a Bogota airport hotel, waiting for our morning flight to Quito, Ecuador. We were heading to Ecuador to meet Sarah’s mum, Cheryl, where we would spend 2 weeks travelling with her. The flight was quick and direct, and it took less than 2 hours before we were flying over the incredible mountains surrounding Quito.
We had booked this portion of our trip a few months prior, but just over a month before arriving, there had been a notorious drug kingpin who had escaped prison and was wrecking havoc on the country. We had seen plenty of articles warning of the violence happening in Ecuador, so we were a little bit apprehensive entering.
However, we had been in constant communication with our Galapagos Airbnb host, Jennifer, a Canadian who had married an Ecuadorian man and been living in the Galapagos for the past 20+ years. She assured us that Quito and the Galapagos were safe, and while certain areas of Ecuador should definitely be avoided, the areas we were heading to were definitely okay to travel.
We were sitting in row 6 on the airplane so we were incredibly quick off the plane and one of the first through immigration. We were outside waiting for our Uber less than 20 minutes after landing in Quito. Our Uber arrived and drove us towards the accomodation Cheryl had organised through Home Exchange.
Home Exchange is a program similar to Airbnb, but you don’t pay money for accomodation, you earn points by listing your own home when you’re away, and use those points to book other accomodations. Our Home Exchange was in a quiet suburb of Quito called Nayon, nestled in the foothills of the surrounding mountains. We pulled up to the property and were greeted by Scott, the host & owner of the property. He was an American man who had been a professor of environmental studies at a university in Quito, and had lived in Ecuador for many years. As we rounded the corner to our accomodation, we were absolutely blown away. It was a massive palace, brand new, 3 stories high with beautiful glass bay windows looking out into the valley below. The garden was filled with colourful flowers, fruit trees, and birds. Scott gave us a quick tour and left us to settle in. We headed down to the local shop to pick up some essentials for dinner, and Cheryl arrived later that evening. It had been a long travel day for all of us, so we tucked in for an early night.
The next day, we decided to explore Centro Historico in Quito. We had lunch at a restaurant downtown called Vista Hermosa, which had a 360 panoramic view of the entire city. The food was delicious, which was much needed after weeks of extremely bland Colombian food. After lunch, we walked to the main square, Plaza Grande. The architecture was gorgeous, and it was super lively and bustling. We spent the afternoon wandering the streets of Centro Historico, until the skies opened up and started pouring on us!
We popped into one of the storefronts, and found ourselves in a beautiful restaurant collective called Palacio Arzobispal. It had balconies overlooking the centre, and glass ceilings where we could hear and see the rain patter down. When the rain subsided, we walked up the road towards the giant church perched on top of the big hill.
Along the way, we passed by a travel agency company and decided to pop in to look at some tours and activities that Quito had to offer. The owner, Gabby, was incredibly helpful and gave us tons of recommendations on what to do, see, and experience while in the area. We decided to book a hiking excursion to Cotopaxi National Park with her for the following day.
We continued up the hill until we arrived at Basílica del Voto Nacional church. The grounds were gorgeous with amazing views of the surrounding city. There was an entrance fee required to go inside, but we opted to just explore the outside grounds for free. The church grounds closed shortly after, so we walked to a nearby grocery store to get some snacks for our adventure to Cotopaxi the next day, and then took an Uber home.
The next morning, we woke up bright and early for our 7 am pickup. It was a very overcast and rainy morning, so we were hoping the weather would clear up before our big hike. Our driver introduced himself as Johnny, and told us it would be about a 2 hour drive to the entrance of Cotopaxi National Park. As we drove further and further south of the city, the rain and clouds started to subside and we were met with nice blue skies. We arrived at the entrance of the park and met our park ranger, Luis. We hopped into his 4×4 vehicle and started driving towards our trailhead, for the hike up Volcan Cotopaxi.
Luis was born and raised in the areas surrounding the national park, so he was incredibly knowledgable about the flora and fauna. Along the way, we stopped at a little cafe in the park to drink a mug of coca tea, which is good for altitude sickness. Even the basecamp of Cotopaxi was over 4800 metres and it was quite chilly in the early morning, so we were grateful for the chance to warm up with a hot tea… until Luis dropped the bomb that coca tea was technically illegal in Ecuador and had to be illegally imported in from Peru. Whoops!
We hopped back into the car and started driving up the utility road through the park. Along the way, we pulled over many times to check out the different animals and plants, including wild horses, deer, birds, and lots of different flowers.
It had started to drizzle part way up the drive, and the clouds seemed to be rolling back in. It took about an hour to reach the parking lot for the trailhead. The parking lot was at 4300 metres, so it was very cold at the trailhead. Luis warned us to take things slow at such high altitudes, so we started our trek very slow and steady. The hike itself wasn’t too steep, but there was a set of 6 or 7 switchbacks that we had to tackle. We took plenty of water breaks and watched the massive clouds roll in. It was a very misty day on top of the moutain, so we only got peeks of Volcan Cotopaxi, but it was an incredible sight when the clouds parted and revealed the massive, looming volcano in the distance.
It took almost exactly 1 hour for us to reach the lodge (Refugio Jose Rivas), which stood at 4864 metres. We rewarded ourselves with hot chocolate and ate our pre-packed sandwiches in the lodge to warm up.
We had told Luis that we were interested in continuing on the hike past the lodge to the glacier if weather permitted, and Luis let us know that it currently looked clear enough to continue onwards. We suited back up to brave the elements and followed Luis into the clouds once again. We had been hiking for about 15 minutes when it started to hail/snow!
It was gentle at first so we pushed on, but after another 5 minutes, bigger chunks of hail started to slam down (& the hail actually really hurt!). Most of the hike had been barren with nowhere to hide, but we were lucky enough to be near a big slanted rock that we could take refuge under and hide from the hail. It was a really cool experience, but absolutely freezing!
We waited under the rock for about 20-30 minutes waiting for the snow to let up… but then we heard a big big BOOM of thunder and Luis said it was no longer safe to continue. We waited for a break in the hail that never came, so we braved the torrential downpour and rushed back the way we came. We were able to circumvent the switchbacks on the way down and run/skate our way directly down the steep icy surface back to the parking lot in about 30 minutes.
Back in the car, we stripped off our wet layers and started the drive back to the lodge. We made a quick pit stop at Lake Limpiopungo. It was cold and raining so we only stayed for 10 minutes, took some pics and then headed back to the entry. Johnny was waiting for us to drive us back to Quito, but right as we were about to leave, we looked back and the clouds had finally cleared and Mt. Cotopaxi was in full (beautiful) view! It was an amazing end to an adventure filled day.
A huge thunderstorm rolled in the next morning, and it poured all day. We decided to have a relaxing day enjoying our beautiful glass home, watching the storm roll in. We had stocked up on groceries so we had some home cooked meals and enjoyed the stormy day.
Scott, our Home Exchange host, had recommended spending one day at a hot springs called Termas de Papallacta. The weather was looking much better, so we called an Uber to take us for a day at the hot springs. It took about 1.5 hours to drive there from our place in Quito, and the drive was gorgeous. The grounds were very beautifully maintained, with many different pools surrounded by trees and flowers. We got a hot springs pass, and each booked a spa treatment! Wini booked a 45 min back & shoulder massage, Saz got a Chocolate Wrap (supposed to be good for moisturizing the skin), and Cheryl got a Grape Wrap (good for anti-aging properties).
There was a restaurant on site where we had lunch, and then soaked in the different pools throughout the afternoon. There were lots of hummingbirds, butterflies, and even a bunny that hopped by. We headed for our spa treatment at 2 pm, and it was so amazing. The ambiance was really relaxing, and the treatments were next level. We both walked out feeling super refreshed, and Saz walked out smelling like she had just gone swimming in a huge vat of melted chocolate!
We spent the entire afternoon after our treatments relaxing in the various pools, and then arranged a cab to bring us home around sunset. The ride home was beautiful the mountains were backlit with the incredible sunset. We saw a gorgeous snow capped volcano, and just the whole drive was striking.
The next day was our last full day in Quito, so we decided to check out a nearby village called Otavalo, known for its indigenous market. We had lunch at an Amazonian restaurant right as we arrived, where we ate fish and chicken cooked in the indigenous Amazonian way, wrapped in a special type of leaf and cooked on the grill. The market was filled with various stalls selling everything from clothes to jewellery to home decor. It drizzled on and off as we browsed the various booths. Cheryl bought a hand woven blanket (we were jealous! If only we had space!), and some other hand crafted goods to bring home.
After the market, we took a taxi about 10 minutes down the road to Peguche Cascada, a big waterfall and park. The waterfall did not disappoint, at least 40 feet high and roaring. We spent about an hour exploring the park, strolling leisurely through the trees.
Around late afternoon, we took a taxi back to the Otavalo bus station and hopped on a local bus back to Quito. The bus ride was slow and it took over 2 hours to get back to town, with terrible Friday night rush hour traffic. But the bus was clean, comfortable, and cheap, so we didn’t mind.
We arrived back home after dark, made a quick dinner, and then started packing our bags for our next adventure – the Galapagos Islands.
