Ecuador was interesting...

We had been wanting to visit Ecuador for a long time. We tried to go in November of 2019, but there was an uprising in Quito and we had to cancel a day before the trip. We ended up going to Peru instead.

But this time, we made it! Ecuador was country #74 for us. So, what did we think?

One of the reasons we wanted to visit Ecuador is because it is a popular expat destination for Americans, although there are some Canadians as well. Particularly the city of Cuenca. I find it interesting that Americans flock to Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Panama. I can only think it's because they don't have to think about currency exchange because those three countries all use the $USD. 

The beach at the coastal city of Manta, Ecuador.

We arrived in Manta, a coastal city of about 260,000. Reading about Manta ahead of time, I knew it wasn't a place we would normally choose to visit. But our flight was reasonably cheap, and that's where it arrived. So we spent two days there before moving on to the big city of Guayaquil. We have no need to ever return to Manta.

The big city of Guayaquil.

Guayaquil (population around 3 million) was interesting enough in the tourist areas. It's well policed, especially the nice malecon walking area. But outside of that area is sketchy. And really, there's not that much to see or do in Guayaquil. Two days was enough, and we have no need to return there either.

From there, we took a shared taxi to Cuenca. Guayaquil is at sea level, and Cuenca is at 8,400' (2,560 meters). So the drive itself was interesting doing that climb, and of course we love the mountains so it was much more interesting for us. 

Scenery around Cuenca.

Cuenca (population 500,000) itself was also nice, and we can understand the attraction for the expat population. The low cost of living, combined with what is described as "eternal spring" weather would make this a good choice for many people.

For us, we found Cuenca to be a couple of degrees too cool in temperature. The highs range from 18C to 22C which is totally comfortable for hiking. But that means it's chilly in the shade, and when you're out in the open sun the UV index is really high. You burn easily in the Cuenca sunshine! We like the weather here in Valle better, especially in the November through April time period.

We admit that it doesn't help our opinion that we were in Cuenca during their rainy season, so we didn't see very much sunshine overall.

Interesting that Cuenca's airport is very close to the center of the city. It's a shame that you can only fly locally from Cuenca, although there is talk of some international flights happening soon.

Cuenca is overall the "safer" city out of the major Ecuador cities, although there are still some bad areas. Of course that is typical of most cities.

Also, a big difference for us is the food. We LOVE Mexican food, and there are very few similarities to typical Ecuadorian food. For us, Mexico wins hands down on this important comparison. 

Street in Quito, with the basilica in the distance.

Our next stop was Quito. This was a last minute change for us as we didn't originally intend to go there this trip. We actually enjoyed our two days in Quito, but it's definitely not somewhere we would live. Too spread out, and the airport is too far from the center of the city.

Our next trip to Ecuador will be by RV! And now that we have been to the major cities, we don't need to return to them, although we will likely head back to do some of the many hiking opportunities around the Cuenca area. Overall, we enjoyed the trip and look forward to seeing more of the countryside and smaller towns when we return.

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