Change of plans...

On Sunday, we did a day trip to the Giron Waterfall.

Again, this is Carnival in Ecuador, and so we're avoiding the central area of Cuenca. We're quickly learning that people here go a little crazy with the water and spray foam during this holiday long weekend that lasts until Wednesday. 

We can understand the attraction with the Cuenca area...

Things sure are green.

But that's because it's currently rainy season here.

Interesting town church.

El Chorro de Giron Waterfall.

Kevin, Michel, Ruth, Louise.

You get wet from the spray from the waterfall.

It's just crashing down at this time of year.

There is a suspension bridge you can walk across.

Or you can take a bike across.

Ruth and Kevin.

Llamas!

Various carnival celebrations.

This is a big problem in the entire area during rainy season.

Yikes!

This is the biggest one we have seen, but roads are often closed due to landslides.

View from the restaurant where we had lunch.

Interesting caterpillar.

Grilled shrimp and plantains for lunch.

Ruth had the ceviche.

Kevin, Mike, and Ruth.

So, a good day out and about despite the rain and clouds. We are actually here in the height of rainy season, but it doesn't rain all day. Apparently the best time of year to visit Ecuador is October through December. June through October can be nice as well, but August can the coldest month.

And, a little change of plans. Our flight arrived into Manta, but only because the price was cheap. Still, we got to see the area and now know that we don't need to go back to Manta. And, we took the bus to Guayaquil, and now we know we don't ever need to go back there again either! And then we took the bus to Cuenca. The problem is, we weren't really looking forward to having to retrace our path on those two long bus rides (and possible road closures!) to get back to Manta for our return to Mexico City.

They have some relatively cheap in country flights, however nobody flies direct back to Manta. You can only fly from Cuenca to Quito, then Quito to Manta. So that seemed attractive because it would allow  us to see Quito and we wouldn't need to return to any of the cities when we come back to Ecuador in a van.

I even checked into changing our Manta departure flight to one leaving from Quito instead, but there was a change fee plus the difference in fare and it was going to cost more than flying back to Manta. Oh well.

So, we are going to fly Cuenca to Quito on the 23rd. I've booked us two nights in a Quito hotel, and then we have an early morning flight to Manta on the 25th, and evening flights that day to Panama City and then Mexico City.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Outlet deals at Amazon.com

And in Canada...

Check out the deals at Amazon.ca.