My family and I just returned from Ecuador. We flew to Quito and then took a four day tour across the Andes to the jungle in Tena and then to the coast in Canoa. I had been to Ecuador before and one of my brother's acutally lives there. We rented a vehicle the last time and drove across the Andes to the coast. This time, for just a few more dollars per day than a taxi (and much less expensive than a rental car), we had a guide in a very comfortable vehicle drive us to all of our destinations. Since our guide knew the places to go and (more importantly) not to go, we were saved from any wasted time and money. We went white-water rafting in Tena with a rafting company that was excpetional. Our guide took care of all reservations and all we did was sit back and enjoy the trip. It was also very flexible. If we changed our minds about a destination or the length of a stay at one place, it was not a problem. Our guide was Joe Fallowfield with ola-adventures.com. He was a great driver (which is hard to find) and was so accomodating and knowledgeable that it was truly one of the best trips I have ever taken. It was so much better than the time we tried to do it on our own. I cannot express how much better it was to have the guide. I would highly recommend it to anyone.
I would also recommend visiting the hot springs in Papallacta. They were great! And if you get to Canoa take a tandem flight with Greg at flycanoa.com!
Thanks!
This is really helpful information. My husband, our 8 year old son and I will be traveling in July. We want to explore the Quilotoa Loop and perhaps a cloudforest over several days. Would the guide/driver be willing to spend a week with us? About how much would that cost? Would it make more sense to arrange for a driver for the different parts of the journey?
Thanks for the additional info!
I know that you can get ola-adventures.com to spend a week with you. I would email Joe at ola-adventures.com and he will let you know what it will cost as well as some ideas for the best places to go. Or, just check out their website which has tour ideas and prices on it. Just remember, you don't have to do the exact tour described. You can taylor it to whatever you want to do, we did. Then I would compare prices. Personally, if it were me, I would get the one driver/guide to stay with you for the week. This is probably because we were so impressed with Joe and we felt like he was part of the family after just a few hours. I am sure there are other good guides, but I think we would have been disappointed if we had changed after having Joe with us. If you get a chance to go to Papallacta, (the hot springs in the Andes) I would stop for at least a few hours. I loved it.
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