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  • Sean Plamondon

Ecuador

A 17-day adventure by Sean Read more
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  • Trip start
    January 14, 2020
    Sean PlamondonEcuadorSean Plamondon

    26 days to go

    December 23, 2019 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 0 °C

    Beaches, mountains, llamas, colonial cities, volcanos and hopefully new friends

  • Sean PlamondonEcuadorSean Plamondon
    1

    In Transit

    January 14, 2020 in Panama ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Nothing like a 14 hour travel day to suck out the excitement of a new adventure. Doesn't help that i was out the night before until midnight for a friend's birthday and still hadn't packed yet when i got home :)

    But my day was pretty fun. On my flight to washington, the lady next to me is the mother-in-law of former Senators goalie Mike Bales (?) and she had some interesting stories.

    Then met Tyler from Atlanta at a Dulles airport pub who i shared a few drinks with.

    Longest leg was to Panama. Upon arrival, I found my gate and then grabbed a beer at a nearby magazine stand and started to catch up on my messages, when i hear my name announced over the intercom to urgently come to the gate. It was still 45 minutes to departure. So i ran to the gate and the attendant said i was the last to board. I was really puzzled but when i got on board, it made a bit more sense... as there are only 10 other people on this huge plane. Weird! I can't help but think about the opening scenes of "Knight and Day"... hopefully this is will involve less hand-to-hand combat :) Next stop, Quito!    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonEcuadorSean Plamondon
    1
    1

    Quito - Day 1

    January 15, 2020 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Today i went full tourist. My lonely planet book had a self guided walking tour route, so i followed to a 't' all through quito's gorgeous old town snapping pictures with map always in hand.

    I wandered in and out of countless cathedrals, monestaries and palaces, shuffling across pretty plazas with ornately restored colonial buildings on all sides. Ambling down narrow cobblestone streets enjoying all the warm, smiling ecuadorian faces. A police officer approached me, and my guard went up.. uh oh! And then she handed me a map of quito and smiled. That pretty much sums up how people here are. Very warm and eager to help.

    The highlight of my afternoon was at the massive basilica. In addition to its impressive size and architecture, there are steps (and i use that term generously!) to the top of the bell tower and its not for the faint of heart. I got to the top but I admit it was scary!! Haha. Gave me a lot of second thoughts about my plans to repel a waterfall in banos later this trip. Yikes.

    And its possible i enjoyed a few craft beers between cathedrals too....    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonEcuadorSean Plamondon
    1
    11At global positioning 0" 0" 0"

    Quito / Mindo

    January 16, 2020 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Today i decided to get out of the bustle of Quito and check out Mindo, which is in the middle of a jungle / rain forest. Getting there is a bit of a pain, so i opted to get a 3 hour Uber there for $50, saving me the trouble of getting to the far away bus station and potentionally sitting around there for hours waiting to leave.

    My driver, Edgar, didn't speak any english but we were able to communicate with the incredibly useful offline translator apps we both had on our phones. A few minutes into our drive he asked me if i minded if we picked up his wife for the drive to mindo. I said "sure!", and now we were three. I thought it was adorable he wanted to capitalize on his forced trip to mindo and make it a nice day excursion as a couple (plus one very smiley canadian).

    On the way to Mindo, we stopped at La Mitad Del Mundo which is at the equator, "middle of the earth".. so i took a quick picture with myself at the global positioning of 0" 0" 0" ! I am told toilets flush different directions on the two sides of the equator. But i didn't need to evacuate anything from my body, and we were running late so i didn't test the theory.

    Upon arrival in mindo, i told edgar i needed 3 hours for the waterfalls hike i planned to do, which starts with a very rustic, open air cable car ride across the huge cloud forest valley. I told edgar he and his wife had come all this way, they should take the cable car ride with me, and i happily paid their way. Surprisingly, they even hiked down to the first waterfall with me - down the muddy, steep trail in their street shoes.

    They left me to hike the next two hours alone to 5 more waterfalls while they headed back to the cantina, exhausted. The trail to the other waterfalls was in dense, wet jungle. It put such a smile on my face to be scrambling up and down steep trails and being rewarded with a series of gorgeous waterfalls and swimming holes.

    FYI, Mindo is especially famous for its birds. It typically has over 400 different species of birds, capturing the title for most on the planet 6 times in the last 20 years. Yes, there is a competition for everything.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonEcuadorSean Plamondon
    The old town is that hill of colorful houses in the background

    Guayaquil

    January 17, 2020 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Edgar picked me up a bit after 8am to bring me to the airport. While saying good bye, he made it very clear to contact him for *anything* if i run into problems on the rest of my trip and passed on warm regards from his wife too. Sweet guy.

    Flight was only an hour to guayaquil which is about an hour drive from the ocean, so wanted to spend a day here before exploring the coast. Being close to sea level makes a world of difference. Its stinking hot and humid, but I'm not complaining - bring on the heat! But i have to be careful. The sun is ridiculous here. 15 mins without sunscreen will scorch the skin.

    Spent my day popping in and out of all the downtown cathedrals and strolling along the massive waterfront boardwalk (malecon) which is littered with amusement park rides, restaurants and kids play areas.

    The old town is a really cute hilltop area next to downtown with narrow cobblestone lanes and restaurants and tiny hotels around every corner. Reminds me tons of a hilly greek island village but with vibrant colours instead of white and blue. There are 444 steps to reach the top. I started counting, but then noticed around step #20 that each step had an engraved plaque.

    The heat and humidity here is on another level. All you do here is sweat. I could have used an ocean to jump into. Hopefully Tomorrow!    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonEcuadorSean Plamondon
    Something to my left distracted me lol

    Playas

    January 18, 2020 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    The temperatures here are ridiculous. 35C at 9am.. and rising fast! Decided a beach day was in order and headed to the closest beach about an hour away to a verrrrry aptly named town called "playas" which translates to "beaches". Surely it had sun and sand!

    Had an awesome day kicking back in my lounging chair and hopping over some pretty big waves. There were no surfers here, so am excited to see what kind of waves world-renowned surf towns montanita and olon have in store. I will hopefully find out in the coming days.

    Feasted on some delicious ceviche. I had an amazing stew type shrimp and crab ceviche in quito that was perhaps the best thing i have ever tasted. This one was shrimp and octopus. More soupy and far less creamy, but very yummy too. I am not sure why ceviche back home is so different, all i know is we are doing it wrong! Really wrong. I might eat this everyday :)    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonEcuadorSean Plamondon

    Montanita - Day 1

    January 19, 2020 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Decided to rent a car and cruise through all the western coastal towns to montanita. Far more expensive but the flexibility was very appealing. I was told there are so many awesome beach towns, i felt it hopefully was an investment worth making.

    But driving out of guayaquil had me worried. People in the city drive like they are being chased by hitmen. Despite most roads having marked lanes, everyone drives like its a nascar track. And seem completely unaware there is a blindspot. Stop signs are optional. Pedestrians are collateral damage. And cutting off others is sport.

    Anyways it went fine, probably aided greatly by being a sunday. Once i hit the western coast, it was one gorgeous beach town after another. So amazing. I very quickly felt that the 4 days i earmarked for the rental was too short. Its flexibility suddenly felt like a handicap. Ironic.

    On arrival to montanita, i had three goals. Find accomodations, sign up with a surfing school, and find a place to watch the nfl playoffs. The latter became priority number 1.. by a lot heh.

    Montanita has a gorgeous beach and amazing vibe in the streets. Endless restaurants and quaint thatch hut accomodations and other nightlife spots. Plus street craft vendors everywhere. Charm oozing all over.

    I found a place for the football games, then walked across the street and paid for a tiki hut room and booked my surf school for the morning - all without moving more than 30 meters. Oh yes, ceviche for both lunch and supper :) life is good.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonEcuadorSean Plamondon
    My hotel on the left
    Not meLove the surf culture hereSome hard earned beers were consumed afterwards1My surf instructor, ricky

    Montanita - Day 2

    January 20, 2020 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Today is the first day of the rest of my life. Okay I'm being dramatic but lets just say my first crack at surfing was amazing.

    My teacher is a ridiculously fit guy and i can see why. All my upper body muscles are killing me right now. We started with lots of stretches on the beach, then some practicing in the sand going from a pushup and popping up with *arm strength only* into a sideways standing position. Add a tipsy board and the ocean and you can imagine its not easy. Plus your feet need to wind up in the right spots or it all goes sideways fast. Sometimes literally.

    Shockingly i got up on my very first try (and bailed hard seconds later). My teacher was impressed. On my 4th try i rode the wave all the way in. Once my teacher stopped holding the board for me before the wave arrived and not giving me instructions on when to paddle and when to pop up, it got a lot harder. Reading the waves is an acquired skill in itself. And timing is huge. So is stamina. A number of times my pop ups were a bit lazy and didn't work out so great.

    Eventually he left me to take what he taught me and to fend for myself. Sometimes i would be too far back on the board and the front would pop out of the water and I'd fall backward into the ocean. Other times i would be too on top of the wave and the front tip would dive as i went down the wave and it would go under the water like a submarine and I'd go barrelling forward over the board.

    And of course every now and then i would do everything just right and ride it until the end. I imagine my smile was ear to ear in those moments. Spent a few hours afterwards over a few beers thinking about every attempt and what i did wrong, what i did right and what the result was. Like golf, you need to be doing 20 different things correctly at once. I can't wait to try again. Is it tomorrow yet?    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonEcuadorSean Plamondon
    1

    Montanita - Day 3

    January 21, 2020 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Lets start with last night. I *wanted* to sleep, but there was a loud private party of 10 at the establishment next door, so I figured it made more sense to check out montanita's nightlife than be annoyed in my room.

    Found a club that has a permanent resident cat on the bar every night. Then destroyed some local guys in a game of pool. And then some beer on the beach out with one of them. Got in at 4am and the private party next door was still going strong argh! Now i know why there are earplugs in my bathroom.

    Next morning i took my second stab at surfing. Dear diary, surfing is hard! The end. Lol

    I can't pinpoint exactly what went wrong.. i had an 8 foot board today instead of a 12 foot board.. which was less forgiving. But when i caught a wave, i was able to zigzag all over with it. Felt amazing. The downside is not being as easy to get up. Plus all my muscles were tight and sore.. so i felt less energetic and a bit lazy with my pop ups. Timing was poor too. So hard. I can do better.

    After surfing, tried a bunch of awesome craft beers at the place next door to the surf school. Paul from alaska eventually joined me and we did our best to provide the restaurant with some valuable empties for the recycling depot. IPAs were an endangered species by the time we left haha. Off now to see if that club cat is still sleeping on the bar.........    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonEcuadorSean Plamondon
    Nicolas and David

    Montanita -Day 4

    January 22, 2020 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Last night i went back to the place with the pool table and played against a bunch of locals for hours, including David who i hung out on the beach with the night before and also became buddies with Nicolas originally from Peru. Starting to get to know the staff at certain restaurants here and a bunch of locals. Its nice to walk around town and hear my name called out or being greeted with huge smiles and fist bumps. A bit sad its my last day here. And i am casually curious about looking into properties here too.

    Woke up today incredibly sore all over. This surfing experience is having a serious physical impact. I actually feel 48 for a change haha. And no matter how much sun screen i put on, my nose gets redder and redder. I was very close to not surfing today but i don't know when my next opportunity will be, so it was time to suck it up and get back out there and enjoy the moment.

    Today went worse than yesterday. My timing was awful. Balance sucked. I read the waves poorly. And my pop ups were lazy, often going to one knee before standing up. I'm worn out and it shows. I really should go back to the 12 foot board until i get better.

    Three hour drive tomorrow morning to get the rental car back to guayaquil, so made it an early night. One thing i won't miss is all the mosquitos. My legs are covered in bites. Chao montanita.

    Edit: surfing pics are me    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonEcuadorSean Plamondon

    Cuenca - Day 1

    January 23, 2020 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Today was mostly a travel day. Drove the rental car back to guayaquil in 2.5 hours. Then got in a commuter van for 3.5 hours to cuenca. That was a pretty crazy drive through the mountains on super windy roads. I slept through most of it, but at one point i opened my eyes to see we were driving through a cloud and the driver had maybe 20 feet of visibility! I decided this was an experience i didn't need to witness and went back to sleep.

    Woke up as we were being dropped off in some outskirt area of town. No hotel booked yet. I needed to find a restaurant to get wifi and figure things out, but nothing like that around. So i asked a taxi to take me to the cathedral... and from there parked my backpack in a cool restaurant, ordered a beer and started figuring out where to stay.

    Got in a bit late, so haven't seen much yet, but the little I've seen is gorgeous. Cobblestone streets and pretty much every single building is deserving of its own photography moment.

    Found my way down towards the lively area near the river and a very popular micro brewery where i met matias from Uruguay. Interesting guy who travels all over south America selling plumbing pieces he buys in china.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonEcuadorSean Plamondon

    Cuenca - Day 2

    January 24, 2020 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Last night ended up being a bit late and i got up today feeling tired and non social. Figured today would be a nice quiet one to myself. Wrong :)

    I had been recommended Los Tiestos for a meal in cuenca so i wandered around the cute colonial streets until i found it. The head chef Juan took my order so of course i asked him what he recommends. It was the best steak ever!!! When the waiter delivered it, he demonstrated how he could cut it with a spoon, and easily. Wow! Amazing.

    I asked the girl at the table behind me to take my picture and that snowballed into her and her husband (Lino and Vero) asking me to join their table, drink some of their wine bottle, eat some of their food, plus dessert. And as we chatted they offered to also take me some places when i return to Quito. So sweet. I was very quick to insist they stay with me if they visit Canada. Every single food item was incredible. This place is an absolute must-visit for any foodie. I told lino how ouzo turns cloudy white after adding water and he became obsessed ordering different anise type alcohols to reproduce the affect. Yikes, we were feeling good when we left

    I also got to know Juan the chef and another local, Ben who took me to his partially constructed food venue at the main plaza. I was being treated like long lost family. Even the couple, Lino and Vero invited me to a private function for later tonight. So touching how they all made me part of their circle. I am hugely touched.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonEcuadorSean Plamondon
    1

    Cuenca - Day 3

    January 25, 2020 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Until today, i had really good fortune with weather. It only rained while i was sleeping or while in transit. But it rained pretty much all day today. I also felt like i was coming down with a cold so it was the perfect day to be lazy in bed and catch up on some zzz's.

    But i did get to check out a really nice restaurant called el mercado that had been recommended to me. The food here in cuenca has been amazingly good.

    Otherwise, it was early to bed to rest up for a big travel day tomorrow. A 7 hour bus ride to banos.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonEcuadorSean Plamondon
    3 blocks from my hotel
    Back porch and garden behind my room11Volcano we drove around over an hour of the bus ride1

    Banos - Day 1

    January 26, 2020 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    The day started officially at 8:45 when the bus from Cuenca to Banos departed. Seven hours of following winding roads across mountain tops with spectacular views and hollywood movies dubbed with spanish voiceovers. And the odd local briefly hopping on the bus selling bags of fruits, peanuts and other stuff i cannot begin to identify.

    After finally descending the mountain tops into banos, i could see what the fuss was about. There's mountains on all sides of this tight valley and a massive volcano looming over the town. And a large waterfall literally 3 blocks from my hotel. Its a town that consists almost entirely of restaurants, hotels, shops and tour operators. I have 3 days booked here, but i think a week would have been ideal. There's so much to do.

    Booked my adventure for tomorrow, and then tracked down the town's brewpub as a well deserved reward from the very long, but picturesque bus ride. Really looking forward to tomorrow.. stay tuned :)    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonEcuadorSean Plamondon

    Banos - Day 2

    January 27, 2020 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    The plan was double the adventure today. Whitewater rafting in the morning and repelling down a waterfall in the afternoon.

    Took an hour to drive to the rafting location, 30 minutes of wet suit integration plus safety instructions on what to do if anyone should per chance get tossed from the raft. In the oft chance, but longshot of course 😉

    These rafts were much smaller than my previous experience and i immediately thought how we are going to get tossed around like rag dolls. I was sitting in the "captain" position in the front with an Irishman and we were taking class IV rapids head on. Total tidal wave experience lol.

    A huge frenchman decided he wanted to sit in the front with us and sure enough, we nearly capsized from the weight on the first major rapid, tossing both the irishman and the frechman. Our raft nearly folded in two and i somehow held on and kept the front from getting completely sucked down into the rapid. I hauled the huge Irishman back into the raft thanks to the pre launch lessons and the Frenchman got hauled in by the second raft in our group. A third raft nearby completely flipped. And a bit later, 5 people got tossed from the second raft. My eyes were wide open haha. This was new territory for me.

    We got better at it as a team, with no one else getting tossed and hit huge rapids head on for sport the rest of the way. Hilarious fun. Unfortunately i couldn't bring my camera for pics and i wont receive pics from the tour company for two more days.. so all i have is a wetsuit pic for now.

    Didn't get back until 2:30pm, so walked over to the tour company and re-booked my waterfall repelling for the next morning. Took a nap from exhaustion, checked out the basilica, a market and some more brew pubs, an awesome supper, plus a cool bar/club with a huge bonfire in the middle. Sweet day. I love this town!    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonEcuadorSean Plamondon
    1
    Bottom right of image is the cliff ledge i had to cling to before descending. Freaky!

    Banos - Day 3

    January 28, 2020 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Canyoning is what i signed up for today. Which in pictures at the tour operator showed images of rappelling down a waterfall with ropes.

    It was a bit more involved than that heh. The entire excursion was making our way through a narrow canyon with fast moving waters gushing through it. Sometimes it involved swimming through sections, hopping over huge rocks amongst the whitewater, jumping off the top of small waterfalls into the pools below, shimmying across rock walls with ropes and of course rappelling down huge cliff walls alongside the waterfalls.

    One of the jumps was pretty intimidating. A 30 foot drop into the pool in front of where the waterfall splashed down with sheer rock walls on both sides and then needing to grab a rescue line that the tour guide would toss and hauling yourself in against a strong swirling current.

    We all had wetsuits for the cold waters, life jackets to not drown, and harnesses to rope ourselves in for all the shimmying and rappelling. Plus helmets.

    For the first rappelling, we had to climb up a rock wall and wait on a small ledge over top of a large waterfall while the guides set up the rope system. This really unnerved me. I was harnessed in, but i felt so exposed at the same time. And then to rappel down, you have to lean yourself backwards over the cliff and have your body perpendicular to the cliff, facing upwards to the sky. But its a lot easier than it sounds once you get past the initial fear of dying that your brain screams at you repeatedly haha.

    The rope goes through some tight loops in your harness, making it very easy to control your speed. You can slowly walk your way backwards down the cliff wall, or push off the rock wall with your feet and release a bit of rope at the same time to drop yourself downward in a hopping motion. Once i got past the first waterfall, i was excited to do the rest of them.

    Started at 9am and didn't finish until 4pm. Which was immediately followed by some survival celebration beers. What a day. Capped off the night at another brewpub i stumbled upon with some new friends.

    I couldn't bring my phone into the canyon today so i got a few images off the internet of the same falls we rappelled.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonEcuadorSean Plamondon

    Quito - Swan song

    January 29, 2020 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Took a 3.5 hour bus ride from Banos to Quito and booked the same hotel from my arrival. Rained all day which is too bad as i was hoping to get some good shots of massive, snow-capped Cotopaxi Mtn on the way.

    The couple i met in Cuenca (but live in quito) were very kind to invite me out for dinner, but are quite far from where i am staying (Cumbaya), so i opted to stay close by my hotel and keep it an early night. Splurged a bit at a large nearby market and then hit up a few microbrew locations that my american friend David in banos recommended, which was a nice finale. Bandidos brewery was pretty impressive.

    In 17 days, I saw so much of Ecuador but i really want to come back to see and do so many other things. Galapagos islands, Quilotoa crater, the amazon jungle, more Banos adventures, northern coast of esmeralda, Cotopaxi, and even peak one of towering mountains surrounding Quito. Would probably need at least another 17 days to do half of that. For a tiny country, it remarkably has a lot to offer.    Read more

  • Sean PlamondonEcuadorSean Plamondon
    1

    Heading Home

    January 30, 2020 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ -3 °C

    Contacted my driver Edgar from my initial visit to Quito who brought me to the airport again. Such a sweet guy. He was so happy to see me and wants me to keep in touch. Hope to see him again someday.

    Just about every asian at the Quito airport was wearing protective face masks from the coronavirus outbreak, plus some of the airport staff.

    ......

    The following is a complete transcript of my interaction with Toronto customs:
    Me: Hi !! 😁
    Customs: Have you been to China in the past 14 days?😐
    Me: No.😬
    Customs: Welcome back.😶    Read more

    Trip end
    January 30, 2020
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