Down to earth holidays

Description

This wonderful Ecuador adventure holiday is a combination of our Andean Life & Nature holiday plus our Taste of the Amazon ... but with an bonus day exploring Cotopaxi National Park.

It is an excellent adventure holiday which captures the essence of mainland Ecuador. It is a great combination of exploring the Andes around Quito, Otavalo, and Cotopaxi, plus the cloudforest and the Amazon rainforest.

For a full description and photos of each section please see the separate trips (click links above), however you will find a detailed itinerary here on the next tab, and of course prices too.

Why not add on a trip to the Galapagos to complete the fabulous highlights of Ecuador? 

Detailed Itinerary

1. DAY 1: Arrive in Quito. You will be met on arrival and transferred to your guest house. Free afternoon to recover from the flight and get used to the altitude.
2. DAY 2: This morning you join a shared Quito city tour, which will include taking you to the old town, to see the cathedral, and up to El Panecillo look-out point. Your afternoon is free so you can explore other sights you’re interested in, perhaps a museum, or just enjoy the shops. B
3. DAY 3: Your private driver/guide will pick you up from your hotel after breakfast. It is about a 2 hour drive direct to Otavalo. You can choose how to spend your time today and your guide will help you decide by suggesting different sights and activities you can do today. You could take the journey more slowly and include small villages such as Calderon where they make dough crafts, or you could go straight up to Otavalo and enjoy exploring the Andean villages in the this area, or even go for walks in the mountains here. Your day, your choice! Your guest house tonight is outside of Otavalo, and is a lovely small Andean guest house. B,D
4. DAY 4: Today is a free day to enjoy the surroundings, and you’ll probably not want to miss the famous Otavalo market. It is on each day, but the main market day is a Saturday. On this day there is also a livestock market and all the local traders sell fruits, vegetables and other produce, as well as there being the craft market. B,D
5. DAY 5: Your driver will collect you and take you back to Quito in the afternoon, so you have another morning to enjoy mountain walks or and local sights. B
6. DAY S 6-7: Your shared transfer to your cloudforest lodge leaves Quito at 0830 and arrives about 2 hours later. Your stay at the lodge includes daily guided walks through the forest with emphasis on birds, botany or natural history. There are many types of hummingbird here, and lots of nature trails, waterfalls. It is a beautiful natural sanctuary, and the lodge is rustic but comfortable.  FB
7. DAY 8: You will be transferred back to Quito today (shared). Rest of the day free. B
8. DAY 9: Today you can enjoy a shared day trip to Cotopaxi National Park. B,L
9. DAY 10: This morning you will be taken to the airport for your 30 minute flight to Coca. From here there is a 2½ hour boat ride along the Rio Napo to Yachana Lodge. FB.
10. DAYS 11-13: Your time at Yachana Lodge will be spent enjoying a whole range of rainforest activities. The types of activities on offer include:  visiting a traditional healer for a cleansing ceremony; guided rainforest hikes to discover native plants and wildlife; birdwatching; visiting the Protected Forest; night hikes to see the nocturnal life of the forest; swimming in the river; taking dugout canoe rides; relaxing in your hammock; making a pottery bowl; weaving a basket; visiting the butterfly house; touring the organic farm, the health clinic and the school; trying your hand at panning for gold; taking jungle cooking lesson. FB.
11. DAY 14: Boat and flight back to Quito, where this trip ends. (Please ask for any extra services you require depending on what else you’d like to do, or when your flight home departs).B.

Is it for you?

This holiday is suitable for all ages and levels of fitness. Adults and children alike should really enjoy the variety this trip offers. All the accommodation is small, clean, comfortable and friendly. The Amazon rainforest section offers diverse activities and you’ll come away with a love of and appreciation for the jungle. Children are welcome too, but bear in mind that whilst this is classed as a low risk area, it is still a malarial area.

Best times to go

This trip can be arranged at any time to suit you. It is best to begin day one on a Wednesday so that you are at Otavalo market on Saturday, the main market day. Yachana's rainy season is July/August. The driest season for the Andean regions is from about late May to early October.

Getting there

You will need to fly in and out of Quito. For the purposed of this tour, it has been assumed that you will get an afternoon flight out of Quito on the last day. Should this not be the case, we can arrange another night in Quito for you (about £50 pp). if you are combining this trip with the Galapagos Islands, you may prefer to fly to Guayaquil on one leg. Please ask for advice from us if you are unsure about this. We can book for your flights for you.

Responsible Travel

How your holiday helps:
The cloudforest lodge is a member of the Network of Private Protected Forests of Ecuador and works actively with local conservation organisations, working to preserve the cloudforest of northwestern Ecuador.
The guest house near Otavalo is locally-owned and run, and is a member of their local community network. For meals they use mostly organic produce from local gardens. They are proud to promote the local craftspeople and artisans of their area, and they try to encourage understanding and respect for the indigenous Andean communities.
Yachana Lodge has rightly won accolades from lots of prestigious associations and conservation organizations, including 2008 winner of the National Geographic & Ashoka Changemakers award; Smart Voyager certification (2007) for “protection of the environment, social mission, treatment of its employees and working with established procedures in management, safety and service”; the Tourism for Tomorrow Award (2006) for best ecotourism project investing in people, and the Skal Ecotourism Award (2007) for best tourism project working in education. The list goes on …
The profits from Yachana Lodge and Yachana Gourmet (fair trade rainforest chocolate products) go to the Yachana Foundation which is involved in geotourism, education (they run a rainforest high school teaching tourism, sustainable agriculture, forest and wildlife management and environmentally sustainable micro-enterprises), agriculture, health (a medical centre), income generation and technical assistance.
This is a lodge which really works – for the visitor, for the local people and for the flora and fauna of the region.

Carbon Offsetting :
For every client we take on holiday we plant 10 indigenous tree saplings. This is used as a poverty alleviation and biodiversity scheme as well as helping with carbon offsetting. Click for more details …

Giving to grassroots projects:
Our registered charity, The Tribes Foundation, is currently raising funds for a project in Ecuador. The kindness of strangers can make a big difference, so if you’re a travel philanthropist considering donating to a worthwhile charity, please consider backing this excellent community project.

Conservation in Action is an Ecuadorian charity which was set up with the aim of contributing to the protection of the threatened cultures and natural environment of the Amazon region. It supports those communities already working to defend their cultural and environmental integrity. They work towards this goal through political, technical and economic assistance designed to strengthen and demonstrate respect for indigenous culture, conserve biodiversity and contribute to community-managed sustainable development programs.

We will shortly have a page with photos of the school on www.the-tribes-foundation.org.

Shop ethically:
If you support buying fair trade, ethical and organic goods, please take a look at our online ethical shop for books, maps, travel gadgets, first aid kits etc before you travel. This is also a great place to find organic goodies and handmade crafts, many made in the countries and areas that we visit.

FOR MORE GENERAL DETAILS ABOUT OUR RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL PRINCIPLES, CLICK HERE.

Comments

Trip Code: EC5

Validity: 1-3-09 to 15-12-09

Individual Trip Dates & Prices

2+ people can take this holiday on most Wednesdays of the year, subject to availability. Please call us to check availability.

1 Feb to 15 December 09 : from £1535 pp for two travelling together.

• Prices are based on twin share, excluding flights.
• Please ask about child rates (if available) and single supplements.
• Exchange rate fluctuations may affect these prices (see our Booking Conditions).

Duration: 14 days

Included
Airport meet & greet,transfers to/from airport, 2 nights guest house near Otavalo with half board, 5 nights Quito guest house B&B, 2 nights cloudforest lodge full board, shared half day city tour, private driver/guide & transport for day 3, transfer to Quito on day 5, shared return transfer from Quito to cloudforest, shared day trip to Cotopaxi, 4 nights full board at Yachana, flight and transfers from Quito–Yachana-Quito, activites at Yachana.

Not Included
Flights, tips, insurance, visas, items of a personal nature, entrance fees, drinks.