A few pictures from our travels in Ecuador

Mike in Tulcan Ecuador

Tulcan Cemetary - known for its elaborate topiaries...think Edward Scissorhands

Laguna Yaruacocha, Ibarra Ecuador

Camped along side the lake that is just outside of the city. We asked at the toll booth on the way in if it was safe to camp overnight and were told yes, no problem. We were awakened at 2am by the police who were checking on us. Makes your heart pound when someone is knocking on the door in the middle of the night. Made Chettie bark like crazy, our alarm system. After explaining in sleepy spanish that we were told it was okay they left us alone.

Trish walking on the equator. We skipped the very touristy Mitad del Mundo and stopped instead at this smaller roadside acknowledgment of the crossing of the equator.

We didn't know it then, but because of our delay waiting for car parts we would cross the equator several times.

Latitude 0 0'0'' - cool

VW Love outside of Jamanco Hot Springs, Papallacta

Mike on the shores of Laguna Papallacta. This was our first time at the laguna and yes, it was very wet. Again, we didn't know it at the time but we would return here several times.

Trish at Laguna Papallacta. High in the paramo, this area is often shrouded in clouds. For many, this is the only view of the area they see. Our many return trips allowed us to see the area in many different conditions.

Mike in the sunshine at Laguna Papallacta

The Burly Beast on the shores of Laguna Papallacta

A funny sign on the way to Jamanco Hot Springs. "Siga" means follow and it's what is said when you enter a business or when getting directions. This sign was written backwards on the rock and was on the right side of the road.

Volcan Cotacachi from trail around Laguna Cuicocha

Volcan Imbabura from the trail around Laguna Cuicocha. These two volcanos flank the town of Otavalo and again are often cloaked in clouds. We saw many faces of these volcanos as we explored the area in and around Otavalo.

Laguna Cuicocha with the Burly Beast. We camped here one night and were the only ones here. A few days later, on a Saturday, we returned for another night to find thousands of indigenous people celebrating the festival of Inti Raymi. We stayed and observed the festival for a long while but did not camp here that night. We did not take pictures of the festival as it seemed very inappropriate.

Trish at Lagunas de Mojanda, about 10km outside of Otavalo. Again, we camped here and were the only ones on the lake.

Mike with Fuya Fuya near Lagunas de Mojanda

The Chetster at Lagunas de Mojanda. I'm happy to report that she is doing great. We took the opportunity to visit a vet while in Pifo and she got a clean bill of health. She is a great traveller and provides great companionship for us. Never one to complain, she is tickled when we find a place she can run free. Swimming is also high on her list of favorite activities. Laguna de Mojanda was very cold, but it didn't stop her from an afternoon of log retrieving.

Mike at the waterfall on the property we camped at in Mindo.

Mindo waterfall

Rafting on crafts made of inner tubes lashed together is very popular in Mindo

Loading up the innertubes. Of course, this sight reminded us of Salida.

There is a lot going on here. I took the picture because of the Burly Beast's reflection on the television set. Just at the moment I snapped the picture, Brazil scored a goal during a World Cup match. You can see the Brazilian players in yellow jerseys on the TV celebrating the goal and can see the joy on the face of the guy watching the match.

We travelled south along the Avenue of the Volcanos after leaving Lucho one last time. It was beautiful but very cold and wet because of the season and the altitude. Laguna Quilotoa (above) is known for its turquoise color....we only saw it in gray and it was incredibly cold and rainy while we were there. And after this we headed to Banos at a lower altitude to dry out and warm up.

Our camp site in Banos in the company of a big Mann vehicle owned by a very nice French couple, Sebastian and Sebrina (Seb & Sab). They were having some vehicle troubles and we took comfort in knowing others have dealt with mechanical issues. When we left, Seb had taken a bus into Ambato (the closest big city) to try and get the parts he needed. We only hope he wasn't told, 'Aqui no hay'.

Mike and Seb working on their respective vehicles. Sabrina and I took the time to share information on places we have stayed, as they are headed north and we are going south. Our location also allowed us to explore the town on foot and to hike directly into the surrounding hills. BTW, the hot springs at Banos are not nearly as nice as those in Papallacta even though this is what the town is known for.

Mike sharing a moment (and a carrot) with the horses on the property we camped at in Banos.

Late one rainy afternoon we asked at the Bomberos (fire station) where we could camp in their town. "Right here", they said and we camped at the station. Great guys, they loved the Burly Beast and and even shared their bathrooms and hot showers with us.

Hot and dry atop Tinajilla Pass. As we headed into southern Ecuador the landscape turned to desert and the weather began to warm up. We had spent a lot of time high in the Andes and the first few days of clear skies found us basking like lizards in the sunshine

Mike enjoying the warm dry weather in southern Ecuador

Though we see plenty of livestock, this was unusual as this pig passed through our camp site unaccompanied one afternoon, apparantly on his way home for dinner

...And with that we left Ecuador and headed into Peru

Lucho and Hacienda Sigsipamba

It happened like this:


We ordered car parts in Ibarra and set out to explore northern Ecuador while they were shipped via FedEx, when we ran out of LP gas for the stove in the van.

We asked around in Ibarra but were told, ‘Aqui no hay’, literally, here there is no. We were directed to Quito for the nearest place to refill our tank. Early the next morning, off to Quito we went (a two hour drive).

After hunting around for the address in Quito we discovered this location was not the plant but rather a tank distribution center, and again we were told, ‘Aqui no hay’. We were directed to Guayaquil, a big port city at the southern end of the country. We were not going to Guayaquil, not for gas nor anything else.

Mikegyver had an idea: perhaps if he had the right adaptor he could rig the stove up to a gas canister we have for the Coleman lantern. This didn’t sound like a great idea to me, but he is Mikegyver after all and he certainly has had plenty of experience with gas piping. So of we set off looking for an adapter. A couple of ferreterias (hardware stores) later we were still empty handed, ‘Aqui no hay’.

Hmmmm…perhaps if we went back to the tank distribution center they’d have an adapter they could sell us. Found the place the second time easy enough, but, alas, ‘Aqui no hay’.

Fate intervened at this moment and a different guy told us there was an actual gas plant in Pifo, about an hour away.

So, with a hand-drawn map, off to Pifo we drove. Mike thought it might be yet another wild goose chase but I knew Pifo was on the road to Papallacta, an area known for hot springs, so I knew our efforts would not go unrewarded.

Unbelievably, we found the gas plant, just outside of Pifo. More unbelievably they told us they could fill the tank, but that we’d have to wait a half hour. No problem. We waited. More like an hour and a half. And then a guy came out and told us, ‘Aqui no hay’.


Our hearts sank until fate stepped in again and another man, perhaps el jefe, came out and said yes, it was possible. He told us to wait for a truck that had just been filled to come out of the plant and ask them to fill our tank. Super. We waited some more.

Indeed a truck came out and indeed he was able to fill our tank. Mission accomplished!

However, by now it was 5pm and starting to get dark and we were in an area well off the tourist trail. We headed back into Pifo proper, scouting for places to stay but didn’t come up with much.

We asked at a crummy hostal and were told we could stay there, but we’d have to rent a room and Chettie would have to stay in the van. We kept looking.


We asked at a vivero (plant nursery) but the guy there was not the owner and he wasn’t comfortable allowing us to park there overnight. He directed us to another road and said there was a place we could camp, but we didn’t quite understand the whole conversation (our Spanish/his manner of speech). Eventually we drove up the road to see what we might find.


We spied an old hacienda with lots of land and plenty of level ground for us to park on. Not the place the nursery man had sent us to and not in any way a lodging establishment, but a cool looking place. Given the hour I headed down the long drive to ask if we could park there for the night.

The long drive into to Hacienda Sigsipamba

As I walked towards the main building I began to hear Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson. Hmmm, this had promise. I explained to the guy at the end of the drive that we needed a place to park for the night. Didn’t need anything else. He said, ‘Ask Lucho.’

With that, the incredibly gregarious Lucho sticks his head out from the engine of a very, very large Mann vehicle and says ‘Si, claro!’ with a big grin. Yes, sure.


We parked the van and exhaled. We were tucked in for the night in what felt like a great place. We could not have guessed what role this place would play in our time in Ecuador.

Because of a classic ‘snafu’ in the shipping process it took nearly three weeks for us to retrieve the auto parts, though they were in Quito within a few days of ordering. We spent our time exploring the greater Quito area (including several trips to the hot springs at Papallacta) and northern Ecuador, returning to Lucho’s several times using it as a headquarters of sorts. Mike eventually did the auto mechanics there.

Hacienda Sigsipamba is a sprawling old hacienda. Though it needs a ton of work it exudes cool. Fabulous views of the valleys below and of Volcan Cotopaxi. One does not have to work hard to imagine the place in its former glory. Lucho was just as smitten with our van as we are, ‘Que hermoso carro’ and though we tried to trade the van for the hacienda, Lucho didn’t go for it.

Bird's eye view of Hacienda Sigsipamba

Volcan Cotopaxi from Hacienda Sigsipamba

Each time we returned we were greeted like favorite cousins not seen in a long time. We were the only gringos at Todo Terreno, a 4-wheel drive, motorcycle and bicycle competition held on the property while we were there. We met Lucho’s sister and little brother. We met his friends and his girlfriend. We met his dogs. Hey, we even met Superman.

Lucho serving up burgers at Todo Terrano

Lucho's dogs

Mike and Zeus

You know who this is...

Lucho defines joie de vivre. Had we not run out of LP gas, had we not returned to the gas plant to ask for an adaptor, had the nursery man said yes, and had a million other twists of fate not intervened we would not have landed at Hacienda Sigsipamba nor met our friend, Lucho.

Trish and Lucho

And as we said our last good-bye’s Mike said ‘He could have been a rock-star’.

Alive and Well

You´ve probably been thinking that Trish and I have broken down and are stuck on the side of the road somewhere. No, we are still heading South and are currently in Southern Peru on our way to Arequeipa after spending some time touring the desert coast. We will post a more detailed blog with pictures etc. when we get to Arequeipa.

Mike