Quito: Days 3 through 5 1/2
- tinygynie
- May 4, 2019
- 3 min read
Termas De Papallacta: It's Timmy's 9th bday and he decides his dream trip is to a spa in the mountains. I can totally handle that. Papallacta is a small town in the high Andes situated between 2 volcanoes, so of course, there are many thermal springs and interesting foliage/birds.
Termas de Papallacta boasts excellent hotel/cabin accomodations, both public and spa hot springs that are temperature controlled, and a full service spa with really reasonable prices. Example, you can get a massage and volcanic mud wrap for about $100. Try that in the US...it won't happen.
The kids had fun for a few hours, but given that it is a classy spa area, a few hours of soaking was enough for them. Still quite cool to do, and it is only about 1 hour outside of Quito.
That evening, we met our travel group for the islands! A lovely mix of people that you will hear more about on the trip.
Dinner: Miskay in Plaza Foch. The menu is an eclectic farm to table local masterpiece. We had a goat stew made with local fruits and herbs in the sauce, an empanada mix, and trio of ceviche to share. They also had a cuy stew. For those not in the know, that is guinea pig, and it is a delicacy in Ecuador. Here is a guide to the art of eating what we normally think is our cute pet named Bubbles or some nonsense .
I recommend to give it a go, not just for shock factor, but it actually kind of tastes like a pig roast.
Day 4: Return from the Islands (and Good Friday)
Semana Santa is a big deal all over Latin and South America...the whole week filled with parades and masses. We missed a good deal of that, including the Devil's Parade (my favorite). Creepy people who look like purple klansmen and whatnot is my kind of party.
The pageantry of all of it with the festivals, street food, parades, is really worth a visit in itself. Also completely worth it is Hotel Gangotena, even just for a beverage. A historic boutique hotel that runs about $500 a night, it is absolutely gorgeous, like a palace frozen in time. The best deal in the world for high tea can be found there every day. For $11 you 5 different sets of small bites and a hot beverage (booze is separate). It was a lovely and delicate spread of desserts, empanadas, croquetas, all for $11.
Day 5: Mindo Cloud Forest and Ziplining
Mindo Cloudforest is an enormous ecological reserve with just about anything you might desire to do with regards to the outdoors. Whitewater rafting, hiking, nature safari, ziplines, cable cars to the high reaches to the canopy, chocolate making, butterflies and hummingbirds, it really has everything.
Our day started off with going to the butterfly reserves and the hummingbird sanctuary. For kids, there are opportunities to learn about conservation and life cycles of all the Ecuadorian butterflies. In our case, we could, per usual, not get one of the two to listen to anything for more than 10 solid seconds, but the other seemed to enjoy it.
Next, hummingbirds! Ecuador is home to 6 different varieties that are all pretty spectucular. Unfortunately, even with my badass camera, it was hard to get more than these guys.
We also took the cable cars up to try to see some toucans, but that was not in the cards for the day. Beautiful ride regardless.
Then, ziplining! It started to downpour, but apparently in ecuador that does not mean you don't zipline. You just zip and get so soaked you assume you will never dry off...
Day 6: Easter Sunday
Ok, not a lot is open on Easter, but enough festivities are still happening to make the day worthwhile for exploring. We roamed around the markets, went to the Golden Church, and then found a gem of a view on the rooftop of an old building. ProTip: the parks have fruit vendors that will cut up enough mango for a family of 4 for $1. Em and I went for a walk to the Golden church by ourselves due to a crank attack on the part of her brother that required nap time.
Vista Hermosa is just on the edge of Old Town, and although it looks like it's been there for a century with great decor, 2005 was it's established date. Amazing views up there and the cocktails are good too. Also, the pork cracklings over buttery hominy are absurdly good.
Dinner: Mama Clorinda
If you want traditional rotisserie Cuy, here is the place. There is also a large menu of other non-pet options, but when in Rome...well, Tim and I had to share the pig.
