Recently, my brother and I took a vacation to Ecuador. Neither of us had been there before and our goal was to see the exciting and beautiful sites of Ecuador, but also to become familiar with the different peoples and customs of Ecuador and to observe their everyday lives and routines as they went about their daily activities. We wanted to see how it would be to live in Ecuador as a resident of the country.
While planning the trip, my brother happened across the website of Francisco Guayasamin, a professional tour guide in Quito, Ecuador. He emailed the site and found Francisco to be very friendly. After several discussions, we decided that a guide would be very helpful if we were to experience as much as we would like during the 2 weeks that we had for our trip. After email discussions with Francisco to express what we wanted to do on our trip, he submitted a proposal for a trip itinerary, which we discussed and modified several times until we finally developed the actual trip itinerary.
We arrived at the Quito airport around 9:30 pm. Francisco met us at the airport and accompanied us to our hotel which he had arranged for us. Our Spanish is very minimal, and from the time we hailed a taxi to take us to the airport, Francisco, who speaks English quite well, was our interpreter. That skill was extremely valuable to us during the entire trip. It also gave us the opportunity to practice our limited Spanish speaking abilities while being secure that Francisco would keep us out of trouble if we said something wrong, which I did frequently. Of course, we understood even less than we spoke, so Francisco’s help with language was a major benefit to having him as our guide.
From the day we arrived, Francisco was with us every day. He had made arrangements for activities, accommodations, and travel needs. We followed our itinerary, but also made small adjustments as we felt like doing so. We traveled from Quito through the high country to Banos, Alausi, and Cuenca, including smaller towns in between. We took some back roads which offered many interesting sites including volcanic lava flows, absolutely beautiful scenery of the Andes mountains, waterfalls, and rivers, as well as views of the rural life of farmers and residents outside the cities. We also traveled on nice newer highways, through the valleys, and in the clouds. The roads are sometimes rough, but always winding. I was glad that Francisco had arranged for a driver and vehicle for us so we did not have to drive. Having the driver allowed us to concentrate on seeing the sites, and our luggage was secure while we traveled from hotel to hotel. The driver was also very friendly and we enjoyed the company as we rolled down the road. We asked every question that came to mind, and Francisco answered them all. We found him to be very knowledgeable about any aspect of his country. We discussed the many indigenous peoples of Ecuador, the history from the time the Spaniards arrived in the 1500’s, the current government, and the many influences of the Catholic Church, and of course toured many beautiful cathedrals built under the guidance of the Church and architects brought from Europe. Francisco knows all regions of the country and can educate you about them all. We did not visit the Amazon region because of time constraints, but did get a very good tour of the highlands and coastal regions.
After leaving Cuenca, we drove to Guayaquil, and then up the coast the Puerto Lopez and towns in-between. We passed banana plantation, coffee plantations, cocoa plantations, and of course saw beautiful beaches. We stopped anywhere along the way we chose, and enjoyed the flexibility we had by having a dedicated driver and vehicle. A day on the beach at Puerto Lopez was relaxing and beautiful. We toured other towns along the beach after leaving Puerto Lopez and enjoyed the sites and activities in each. Even with various changes my brother and I made to the itinerary, Francisco altered hotel arrangements as needed and kept us on schedule to be back in Quito the day before we returned to the U.S.A. We relaxed the last day in Quito, visited some craft shops that Francisco told us about in Quito, had a leisurely meal at a very modern shopping mall in Quito, and visited the botanical gardens.
Our trip to Ecuador accomplished everything we expected and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. Francisco was very instrumental in making our trip successful. He is honest, friendly, extremely knowledgeable about every aspect of Ecuador, and fun to travel with. I highly recommend him as a guide if you are taking a trip to Ecuador. He is very flexible and will spend as much time with you as you want, from 1 day to your entire trip if you desire. You may contact him through his website. He is NOT a high pressure salesman and he will respond to your email in a friendly and courteous manner.
I hope you have a nice vacation to Ecuador.
Rick Bettes
Texas, U.S.A
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