Ecuador

Go back to South America.

Capac Nan

Capac Nan.

Cojitambo

Cojitambo.

Although our initial perception of Ecuador was that it did not have the critical mass of stuff we enjoy (longish, moderate rock lines), a bit of bumbling around the interwebs quickly changed that notion. We started out by purchasing Felipe Proano’s very nicely done, two-volume climbing guidebook (check Amazon) to the country. We then found some clips online of climbers enjoying mid-sized routes on the pretty faces of Cojitambo in the south of the country. More searching around brought us to the publisher of the guidebook to the area (Andes Vertical on Facebook) who was kind enough to sell and ship us a copy. With this quiver of beta, we decided that we had enough for a weeklong climbing outing. But of course Ecuador also means Galapagos, one of those non-climbing things that has been on our lists since childhoods; and so the trip idea morphed into a two week stint with the latter half being dedicated to animal encounters.

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Top Ten

Top Ten.

Ecuador

What kind of dog is this?

We pinged Felipe with the usual request of arranging all the logistics for us short of dragging the rope up. He was game and the trip was on. Spending a week traveling the country with him, a North Face sponsored climber with some impressive feats in his resume (not to mention, some great stories) would turn out to be one of the highlights of our Ecuador time. The climbing in Cojitambo was a lot of fun but we found shitty weather at the other planned venues later in the week.

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Galapagos

A nazca booby.

Galapagos

Bartolome Island.

For Galapagos, we booked a 4-day cruise on a small catamaran (about 15 passengers in total). This was a pretty mind-blowing experience, despite the surface appearance of a “tourist-trap package”. Also, this was our first time on a multi-day “cruise” and a second wildlife safari I think.

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Quito

Old Town Quito (July 2021).

Galapagos

Another booby .

We unfortunately had to spend 2 full days in Quito at the end to get our fucking PCR test done for the trip home – vaccine cards good enough for Ecuador but not for going home. Nothing wrong with the city but, like all cities we have visited, it starts to bore us after about 4 hours of sightseeing.

Details

Cuenca

Lunch.

Simiatug

Cocha Colorada by Simiatug.

  • Cojitambo
  • More Cojitambo
  • Rainy Simiatug
  • Quilotoa Lake
  • Galapagos – First Day And A Half
  • Galapagos – Second Day And A Half
  • Quito
  • Videos

    Galapagos

    A turtle.

    Galapagos

    And a tortoise.

  • “Simiatug Weather”
  • “Sea Lions Of Mosquera Island”
  • “Whitetip Sharks By Bartholome Island”
  • “Turtles Of Santiago Island”
  • “More Turtles Of Santiago Island”
  • “Penguins Shagging” (he then looked at me and said: “Throw me a cig, cabron!”)
  • “Penguins Diving”
  • “Giant Tortoises In Action”
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    Galapagos

    Bartolome Island (July 2021).

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    Go to Cojitambo.
    Go back to South America.