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Nature & Culture |
DAY
TRIPS
Ecuador offers you a wide range of natural
and cultural attractions, which we visit and experience in those daytrips programs. Ecuador,
although a small South American country, is a land of an
enormously rich biodiversity with many different ecosystems with
their special and distinct flora and fauna. Other natural phenomena
to be found and visited on those trips are active volcanoes, hot springs,
cloudforest reserves and paramo ecosystems.
Apart from nature, it also has to offer you many monuments, historical sites and art
treasures dating back thousands of years. Indian artwork, Inca
ruins, colonial churches and buildings, Indian markets and
modern-day monuments
do exist for your enjoyment and exploration.
We offer you 14 daytrips and on those excursions we visit
those sites of Ecuador which
distinguish themselves for their natural, cultural and historical settings (click for pictures) and are close
to Quito, where all the tours start in the morning and end there
later in the afternoon.
Our first trip takes place in
Quito itself, the capital of Ecuador, which was the first town in the
world to be declared in 1978 a cultural world heritage site because of
its well preserved colonial center. On our
Colonial Quito trip we get to
know the old squares, churches and museums of the city. Our next daytrip,
Mitad del Mundo leads us to the outskirts of the capital with the famous
Equator Line Monument as its main attraction but also we get to know a
huge volcanic caldera, Pululahua and Rumicucho
Inca fortress, which are close by. Another archaeological site is
visited in our trip to Cochasqui,
some two hours north of Quito, located at the foot of Mojanda mountain.
Our trip to
Guayllabamba takes us to the valleys and small towns surrounding
the capital with a visit to the zoological gardens to get to know
Ecuador's animals.
We have also three trips to Indian markets in our program. Ecuador's most famous one
is in Otavalo, where the main market
is on Saturday but it offers a tourist market, where you can buy
textiles, alpaca sweaters and other articles every day. Apart from the market, we also visit the crater lake of Cuicocha and Cotacachi, town famous for its leather ware. The other
two
markets are located some two hours south of Quito, one in Saquisali on Thursday
and the other in Pujili on Sunday.
Those markets are not so touristy and more authentic, ideal for people
who like to experience a tradional one.
Three of our daytrips
lead to nearby
cloudforest reserves, which are rich in fauna and flora, especially
birds, orchids and bromeliads.
Pahuma is a small reserve some one hour
and half from Quito, with an altitudinal range of 2000m to 3000m. It
offers an orchid garden and pleasant hikes to small waterfalls.
A little farther on and at a lower altitude, is the small town of Mindo, where also an orchid garden and a butterfly breeding
facility
awaits us. Another reserve is on the southern side of Pichincha volcano
and called
Toaza - Blanco. On an easy hike down to the Rio Blanco, a small
mountain stream, we get to know many plants and insects along the way.
Our last four daytrips
lead us to the higher mountain regions of the country.
Papallacta is a small town located in
the Eastern Cordilleras and famous for its hot springs.
Pichincha is an active volcano, which can be easily visited and
apart from a huge crater, from where fumaroles escape, offers a
wonderful paramo or high alpine region. Another paramo region with its
many distinct plants can be seen at Cotopaxi
National Park, which is dominated by the active volcano of the same name. The private reserve of Pasochoa
is located at a lower altitude and offers thus also a mountain
forest.
Another interesting region for daytrips with the opportunity of
horseback riding is the Pululahua crater, near Mitad del Mundo. You can
look this region and our programs up in our
Finca
Colibri
section.
In the price of the trips are included transport and guiding
by an English speaking driver / guide and involve no major physical activities on
your part. Not included are
breakfast, lunch or dinner, the entrance fees to parks, museums,
monuments and hot springs.
NOTE: All those trips are up to changes on your part. You may
change
certain aspects of the proposed trip, like length of stay at certain
attractions
or substituting one with another if it is in its vicinity.
You may also consider combining some daytrips to arrive at one
several-day excursion, which suits you best.
If it is possible, all your interests and wishes will be taken into
account to arrive at a pleasant and satisfying trip for you.
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PICTURES
D1
Colonial Quito
D2 Mitad del Mundo
D3 Cochasqui
D4 Otavalo
D5
Pahuma
D6 Papallacta
D7
Pujili
Day
Trips
D8 Saquisali
D9
Toaza - Blanco
D10 Guayllabamba
D11 Pichincha
D12 Pasochoa
D13 Cotopaxi
D14
Mindo
PICTURES |
