Land Cruising from Bahía de Caráquez

One of the joys of having your boat in a safe place like Bahía is that you are able to leave it for an extended period of land cruising and so get to see inland Ecuador. The following describes our round trip from Bahía to Otavalo, Quito, Latacunga, Baños, Cuenca and return via Guayaquil. Allow 14 days to do justice to the incredible scenery and travel time necessary to enjoy the trip.

There is a day and a night bus from Bahía to Quito but you should do all your travel in the day time to see the fantastic scenery. Reina del Camino leaves at 9am, $9.00, and goes the most direct route. If you want a view of the bay sit on the left. It reaches Clone by around 10.15am and has a 15 minute stop so you can buy food and drink. Do so as the official lunch stop is not until about 1.45pm and is at a place that has the worst food and highest prices in Ecuador. $3.50 for a tasteless, tepid and tough offering.

Some words on the bus. It does have a toilet but this is absolutely only for ladies, “Ásolomente por urinale” and only available if they can find the key! They could not on our bus! Reina del Camino is one of the most comfortable buses you will use on your journey so make the most of it. The roads in Ecuador are often narrow, winding and steep with no barriers leading to precipitous drop-offs. Sit a little back from the front so that you do not see the driver pull out to pass on a steep section of road with double yellow lines and a corner approaching. Be thankful you are in a bus and not a tiny rental car. Concentrate on the view! 

Depending on traffic and the mist on the high pass about an hour south of Quito, you should arrive at the terminal Terrestre around 5.10pm. You need to hustle as the bus to Otavalo leaves from the downstairs part of the terminal at 5.15pm. Go direct to Otavalo on your first day. It is only a 2.5 hour bus ride, $2.00, and then you can relax in what we consider to be one of the highlights of Ecuador. The bus terminal in Quito is away form the old town and it is not sensible to travel twice from it in the polluted city. You can stop on the way back when you have had a chance to acclimatize to the altitude a little more gradually. So, grab your bags, go down to the lower floor, have 25 centavos ready to get out the door, and ask where is the bus to Otavalo.

Otavalo

The market at Otavalo is a must see so time your trip to coincide with the weekend. We left Bahía on the Friday and had no trouble getting a room despite the guide book warning that it is difficult the night before the market. There are several places to stay and after an unfortunate start at El Valle de Amanecar, we would recommend Hostal Santa Fe on Calle Roca 7-34 near G Mareno.  Tel (062) 923 640. Hot water, TV, big rooms and only $7.00 per person. No breakfast but there are plenty of options near by. On that subject, and because we like our coffee, we recommend Cafeteria Bogota Plaza, a pie shop, on Sucre 12-03 near Morales. Run by Colombians the coffee is of course great and they have a fruit and muesli breakfast which makes a change from the usual Americano of fried eggs. They offer that too!  Just around the corner in C. Mareno is a great pizza restaurant – with real mozzarella! Say hello to Aida, the owner for us.

Taxis in Otavalo are $1.

Otavalo, after Bahía, is our most favorite place in Ecuador. The Otavalans are very friendly folk, the indigenous people are beautifully dressed in their traditional clothing, and the market has a wonderful display of beautiful handcrafted woolen goods, weavings, wooden crafts and art work. In fact we saw a far better collection of contemporary and traditional painting in Otavalo than in any other place including Cuenca. If you did not live on a boat you would be loaded down in half a day with items you could not turn down. You will easily use 2 days just looking at the hundreds of stalls, and of course tasting the various foods on offer.

We spent 4 nights in Otavalo and did not want to leave. We were lucky to be taken on a day trip to the nearby town of Cotacachi, and on to Laguna de Cuicocha which is in the bowl of a crater. This is a beautiful area at 3350m and there is a hostel there for those that may want to spend a tranquil night or two. Condors can be seen in the morning and there is a well maintained walking circuit that takes in the hundreds of botanical plants as well as views of the looming Volcano Cotacachi,4940m, and the lake. On a clear day you can see 8 of Ecuador's volcanoes from this spot. (www.lospinosdecuicocha.com or email Jorge@lospinosdecuicocha.com, tel 593-9-9001516).

A great walk from Otavalo is to Peguche Cascade which rates highly on the waterfall interest scale. Head out of town in a N/NE direction and veer to the right after you pass the bus terminal so that you are walking with the gum tree hill to your right. You will eventually see the old railway track which you will walk on until it veers sharply left through the corn fields. Walk up the hill and where it T’s turn right towards a German sponsored school and follow the track to the waterfall. It is quite spectacular. When you come back walk up the road for about 45 minutes for a great view of the valley and Otavalo. Ok, so you may think you need oxygen but the exercise is great and makes up for all the sitting around in buses.

There are numerous buses from Otavalo to Quito and you will see the views better from the right side of the bus. Quito is at 2850m/9200feet and by now you will be acclimatized to the altitude but will not enjoy the pollution from the thousands of buses that belch black fumes. A $3-4 taxi ride will take you from the terminal to Hostal Amazonas Inn, $20 for two, at Joaquin Pinto 471 y Amazonas, tel (593-2) 2225-723. Hot water, TV, hard beds, cafeteria and relatively handy to old town although you are better to take a taxi. At the desk they have a small guide book to Ecuador that includes a walking tour of the main attractions in old town – or take a taxi for an hour! By the way if you need any guide book in any language for Galapagos, Ecuador or South America just walk down the side street to find Libri Mundi on the right. No they don’t have Cruising World, The Economist or Yachting World but you will find Newsweek.

We are not much into huge cities so left the next day for Latacunga. There is a market at Saquisili on Thursdays. We stayed only a short while as it did not have anywhere near the interest of the market at Otavalo. It is mostly for the local people and had junky clothing from Asia and very few crafts of any quality. Other cruisers had highly recommended the Quilotoa circuit, 4010m, for the spectacular scenery and walks. You head west in a bus from Latacunga to Zumbahua and then onto Quilatoa. Cabanas Quilatoa was recommended and at Chugchilan, Hostal Mama Hilda. However not even the more commercial Black Sheep Inn (which has an excellent web site in several languages) has private bathrooms so we moved onto Baños.

Baños

The bus ride to Baños is another spectacular event so have your camera ready and make sure you have a seat with a window that opens. The town is at the base of surrounding very steep mountains and if the weather is clear you will enjoy great walks. The info office has a map of the town and if you go upstairs a man who speaks English will draw in the walking tracks. Take a stick as parts are steep and slippery, but are doable even for older folk. There are hundreds of places to stay so take your pick. Hosp. Santa Cruz was nice at $14 but we were there over Easter and every teenager in the region was in Baños to party so we vacated to the much quieter and nicer Hotel Santa Clara at $36/night. Just down the road is a great Argentinian restaurant whose house wine is in fact from Argentina and very drinkable! Called Quilombo it is on the corner of Av Montalvo and 12 de Noviembre. Sit near the kitchen as the chef uses a wood stove and lots of alcohol so the flames make quite a spectacle. Order a steak, it is incredible.

If you want to visit the Amazon region Baños is a good place to do it from as it is close by. There are numerous companies that offer trips of about 3 days duration but as we did not do this we have no recommendations. Ask around.

Cuenca 

The bus ride from Baños to Cuenca takes almost a full day so leave by 8.30am. You will first go to Riobamba and you need to be there by 11am to change buses to Cuenca. Sit on the right if your nerves can take the spectacular drop-offs.

Allow at least 3 nights in Cuenca which is a beautiful city and nice to walk around and visit the various places of interest. We stayed at hotel Atahualpa on Sucre 3-50 and Tomas Ordenez. Good hot water, quiet, TV, and big rooms and you just have to walk down Sucre to town. You will need to eat your main meal at lunch time as Cuenca closes down in the evenings and it is hard to find anything decent. At the bus station we talked to two men who were offering options in accommodation. Zambranos Hostal sounds great. It is new and offers all sorts of options like internet in room, an exercise area, own cooking. Prices while he gets established are very reasonable. It is at Mariscal Lamar 2197 and Luis Pauta tel 072-820435. Email zambranoshostel@hotmail.com. It is a nice walk or a short bus ride to the town center. Another English speaking option and a little more basic/cheaper is Pachamama Lodge at calle Larga 2-38 tel 2829465. Both men will collect you from the bus station.

There is a great walk up to El Turi church on a hill on the other side of the river. Cross the river and walk down the wide avenue Fray Vincente Solano. Depending on where you cross the river you will pass by the big stadium and may end up at a T intersection where there is a fire station. Turn right and follow the river and then cross over and go left for a while before you start the climb. If you keep to the road you will come to another T intersection  and again go right. You will soon see a house with about 12 yagi aerials and at this point can turn up a track opposite. Keep climbing, cross the road and walk up about 1000 steps to the view point! When you come down go up beside the house with 12 aerials and walk down through the new housing estate as it is a quicker way to return to town.

Guayaquil 

There are two options for the trip to Guayaquil. Take Alianza bus company (the bus is called something different) as they reputably have safer drivers and the route is another  of those ‘spectacular’ events. There are also two routes and you need the one via Puerto Inca as it is much more direct. Sit on the right for the full effect. It takes about 3.5 hours and you should leave on the 8.30 bus so that you can  transfer directly at the bus terminal to the direct bus to Manta which leaves at 1pm and costs $5. If you miss the 8.30 bus and catch the 9am when you get off leave the terminal and wait for the Reina del Camino Manta bus at the gate as it takes the bus about 10 minutes to get there. You will probably be sick of buses by the time you get to Manta but don’t stay there. It’s not a safe town. Take the short hop to Portoviejo and stay there so that you can arrive fresh and bright the next day in Bahía. Visit the church and El Paseo shopping center if you have any room left for items you need on arrival back.

What to take with you:

Travel light as you will be carrying your bags a lot and will collect on the way!

• A big plastic bag/sail bag for your back pack. There is little room inside the buses so if you want leg room you will need to store it in the locker underneath the bus. It will get dirty and/or wet.
• Ear plugs for the hotel rooms.
• A small plastic cup for your bottled water for use when cleaning teeth.
• A sick bag for the bus if you are a delicate traveler.
• Warm clothing but layer type as when the sun is out it is hot but if it clouds over and a wind comes up the Andes are cold. Beautiful Alpaca wool jerseys can be bought in Otavalo for $10, also scarves and hats, so leave room in your pack! You can also get beautiful bags for $5 – needed for those extra items you cannot resist.
• Boots are better than sneakers.
• Pharmacies can sell any medications without prescriptions. If you get an altitude headache try drinking coca tea and get Migra Dorixina from the pharmacy. Each pill has 1mg of Ergotamina Tartrato and it may help.
• Keep .25 and .10 centavos coins in your pocket to get out of the bus terminal to the bus, or to use the bano.
• There are plenty of laundry facilities and internet places on the route

This trip was taken April 2004 by Patricia and David on Chameleon. We hope that you enjoy the Andes of Ecuador as much as we did.

Here's a little 'After the trip' tidbit: 

Montechristi

By now you will know that the Panama hat originates in Ecuador and the name arises from the fact that they were first made for the workers digging the Panama Canal. The town of Montechristi, is one of the Panama hat making centers. It is a short hop from Manta so good to visit after you have done your immigration paperwork. Lots of buses pass by so get off on the main road and walk up to the church. On the way you will see all the hat shops with hats in various stages of production. If you are facing the church the street that runs parallel to the main street going up, on your right, has an artisans center where the prices for hats are a lot more reasonable than on the main street. Cruise ship prices are around $30 but at the artisans center a good hat can be bought for $6.