Arriving in Puerto Lopez, the area seems more like a town under construction than a popular whale spotting destination. The bus station is fairly crowded and is situated opposite the only ATM in the town. This road is the main street and is part of the Route del Sol, named Machalilla. It is about a 10 minute walk to the beach side road, Melecon Julio Izurieta, which runs parallel to the high street, however, if ...

Situated about 25km north of Quito, near Mitad del Mundo, Pululahua is the largest and only inhabited crater in South America. Created when a massive blast of magma burst through the walls of the volcano, Pululahua Crater is 2500 years old and is the only one in the world with agricultural production. The crater is protected as a National Park, the first to be created in Ecuador, and has since been declared a geobotanical reserve ...

It’s a rare warm and sunny weekend in Quito, the kind of day that refuses to let you sit indoors, especially when it’s only your fourth in the capital city of one of South America’s most interesting countries. So I decide to visit “El Centro,” as the locals call it, “Old Town” to tourists. After a few hours of walking around staring at churches, monuments, and tiny stores, I figure the time has ...

24th of June, 2007. Just another Sunday in Quito. Luckily, Quito is never a boring place, it certainly is one of those big cities that never sleeps.


I'm personally a big fan of Parque Itchimbia, near the neighborhood of El Dorado in Quito. This park is dominated by the Palacio de Cristal (Cristal Palace). The glass building has been put in the middle of a big green lawn, with one of the best views of the ...

Deserved or not Quito’s reputation as an increasingly dangerous latin city and the scaremongering reports of certain guidebooks has left many of the more weary urban travellers ill disposed towards Ecuador’s capital, anxious to beat a hasty retreat after the prerequisite whilstle stop visit around the UNESCO heritage site of the old town. Amid the bustle, constant stream of people and often chaotic day to day life of down town Quito (which in some cases ...

Any independent traveller has been there. Having to spend the night at some huge airport, but not finding a decent place to sleep. Struggling with the terribly uncomfortable chairs and there annoying armrests.


It has happened to me a few times. I never had the 'pleasure' of sleeping in Quito airport (or any other Ecuadorean one for that matter), but I too have struggled with the armrests while trying to ignore the terrible music coming ...

Any independent traveller has been there. Having to spend the night
at some huge airport, but not finding a decent place to sleep.
Struggling with the terribly uncomfortable chairs and there annoying
armrests.


It has happened to me a few times. I never had the ‘pleasure’ of
sleeping in Quito airport (or any other Ecuadorean one for that
matter), but I too have struggled with the armrests while trying to
ignore the terrible music coming from the speakers.


The ones that I still ...

The national government has drawn up legislation to change the law enforcing street vendors to pay tax. Under the current law, street vendors, including the 'Chiclets' sellers, are tax exempt. This has been conceived as unfair, as every other worker has to pay the 12% IVA.

Vendors will now have to apply for work contracts, which include the price of tax. The new legislation is striving for a more equal system. There are hopes that ...

Imagine beautiful coastal scenery, awe inspiring landscapes and open windows accompanied with a salsa soundtrack; then team this with deep pot holed roads, 1970's tin toaster like buses prone to spontaneous combustion and a seemingly sporadic timetable and you have all the fun of a theme park ride clevery disguised as the Route Del Sol.
Being a gringa in Ecuador is at its most useful in bus stations on the coast. Laden with bags and surounded ...

Perhaps I should have expected this sooner or later. As a journalist and writer, my job is to go into the deepest regions of Ecuador and discover the reality of how people live.


It is needless to say a hunger I have for the world around me. One certainty that has been with me for a very long time and one that will be present indefinately.