EN 
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DE 3 Days
Itinerary
Day 1: You will be picked up from your hotel in Quito and drive to Cotacachi in around 2 hours, where you will settle in with your host family from the Purinquichus Community Tourism Project. You will then take a tour with an English-speaking guide to the indigenous village communities of the region. You will see traditional looms, natural dyes and learn about Andean instruments from the well-known folklore group Ñanda Mañachi in Peguche, before taking a short hike through the eucalyptus forest to the waterfall.
Day 3: Early in the morning, you will head back into the mountains. Today you will take the old smuggler road to the mystical lagoons of Mojanda. Here you will hike to the summit of Fuya Fuya (4265 m) in about 2 hours. After an extensive rest with a fantastic view, you will begin the 1.5-hour descent back to the large lagoon. You will return to Otavalo and your accommodation. In the afternoon you will be brought back to Quito.
Day 2: After breakfast, you will drive to the Cotacachi Cayapas Nature Reserve, where you will hike with your guide around the Cuicocha “Guinea Pig Lagoon”. Along the way, you will see many flowers, including endemic orchids and bromeliads. You will need about 4 to 5 hours to cover the 12 kilometers. On the way back you will also visit the small town of Cotacachi, known for its leather goods.
Services included:
- Private transfer Quito – Cotacachi – Quito
- English-speaking guide x 3 days
- 3 box lunches / On days 1, 2 and 3.
- 2 nights accommodation with breakfast and dinner in a half double room at the Cabañas Purinquichus.
- Entrance fees: Peguche waterfall, Ñanda Mañachi Musical workshop, Cotacachi Cayapas Nature Reserve.
Services not included:
- Meals not mentioned
- Tips.
Day 1: You will be picked up at the hotel and driven to Cotundo on a fantastic 4-hour route into the Amazon region. After a delicious lunch, you and your English-speaking guide will take a hike through the forest to a waterfall where you can swim. After dinner at the lodge, you will learn how chocolate is made from cocoa beans.
Day 2: Today you and your guide will go on another 3-hour jungle hike. You will cross a cave and visit a beautiful waterfall. Your guide will explain the fantastic flora and fauna of this area. In the afternoon you will visit an indigenous Kichwa community where you will be shown how to make yuca beer and chicha. After dinner, take a short guided night hike to see frogs, bats, and glow-in-the-dark insects.
Day 3: After breakfast, you will leave the Amazon region and be driven back into the Andes. In the small village of Papallacta, you will stop for a long break and visit the Papallacta Hot Springs, where you will have about 90 minutes to bathe and relax. You will then continue to Quito where you will arrive at your hotel in the afternoon.
Services included:
- Private transfers Quito – Huasquila Lodge, and Huasquila Lodge – Papallacta Hot Springs – Quito.
- English-speaking guide x 2 days.
- 2 nights accommodation with breakfast, lunch, and dinner in a half double room in the Huasquila Lodge.
- Entrance fee to Papallacta Hot Springs.
Services not included:
- Meals not mentioned
- Tips.
- Lunch Day 3
Day 1: You will be picked up from your hotel in Quito and drive south along the “Avenue of the Volcanoes” for approximately 4 hours to Baños. After settling into your hotel, you will be picked up by your English-speaking guide and drive to Río Blanco. Here you will receive the technical instructions for an exciting canyoning adventure, during which you will rappel down 5 different waterfalls, the highest of which is 35 meters high. You will return to Baños in the late afternoon.
Day 2: Today you will visit the “Swing at the End of the World” at the famous Casa del Árbol. After the visit, you will get on your mountain bikes for an adventurous, mostly downhill bike ride to the waterfalls of the Pastaza Valley. You will be able to swim at the Ulba waterfall, take short hikes over adventurous suspension bridges, and take a cable car ride over the gorge at the “Manto de la Novia” and “Devil’s Cauldron” waterfalls. The rest of the afternoon is at your leisure in beautiful Baños. Relax in the hot springs of La Vírgen, next to the waterfall of the same name.
Day 3: Today you will head east from Baños to the Pastaza River. Depending on the water level, your English-speaking guide will decide where to put you on the river. Here you will don your wetsuits and helmets before embarking on a breathtaking white water rafting tour (level 3+ / 4). After this adrenaline-filled adventure, you will return to Baños from where you will be taken back to Quito in the afternoon.
Services included:
- Private transfers Quito – Baños – Quito (optional: without transfers).
- English-speaking guide x 3 days
- 2 lunches
- Canyoning tour in Río Blanco, incl. equipment.
- Bike tour to Río Verde, incl. bike, helmet.
- Rafting tour in Pastaza River, incl. equipment.
- 2 nights accommodation with breakfast, in a half double room at the Isla de Baños Hotel.
- Entrance fees: Casa del Árbol, Ulba Waterfall, “Manto de la Novia” Waterfall, “Devil’s Cauldron” Waterfall
- Cable car ride
Services not included:
- Meals not mentioned
- Tips.
Day 1: You will be picked up at your hotel in Quito by your English-speaking guide and drive south along the “Avenue of the Volcanoes” to Cotopaxi National Park. From the parking lot, you will hike up to the refuge at 4864m in about 45 minutes. After the descent, you will go to the Limpiopungo Lagoon, which you will walk around in about 90 minutes. After visiting the park’s interpretation center, you will continue to Chimborazo, where you will arrive at your lodge in the middle of the wildlife reserve in the late afternoon.
Day 2: After breakfast you will drive to the first refuge of the Chimborazo Wildlife Reserve and from there you will climb to the Condor Lagoon at almost 5100 meters. Chimborazo is not only the highest mountain in Ecuador at 6268 m, but also the place where the earth is closest to the sun. In the wildlife reserve, you will see many vicuñas that have been released into the wild here. Around noon you will leave Chimborazo and drive to the emerald green volcanic lake “Quilotoa” where a warm dinner awaits you.
Day 3: Today you and your guide will hike for almost 12 kilometers along the crater rim of the enchanted Quilotoa Lagoon. First, we descend to the Shalala viewpoint and then climb steadily to the highest point of the hike, Cerro Juyende (3930 m). In the early afternoon, after about 5 hours of hiking with breaks, you will be back in the village and then drive to your hotel in Quito, where you will arrive in the early evening.
Services included:
- Private English-speaking driver guide x 3 days
- 1-night accommodation with breakfast and dinner, in a half double room in the Chimborazo Lodge.
- 1-night accommodation with breakfast and dinner, in a half-double room at the Samay Kirutoa Hotel.
- Entrance fees: Cotopaxi National Park, Chimborazo Wildlife Reserve, Quilotoa Lagoon
Services not included:
- Meals not mentioned
- Tips.
