Germany |
Period: 2015-05-17 | 2015-06-01
Program: Travelling Classroom

First time alone in ecuador – fascinating trip in traveling classroom

I stayed in Ecuador from 17/05 until 01/06/2015 and spent 12 days on a traveling classroom with Vanessa (Spanish teacher). (Un)fortunately I was the only person who booked this group travel but this turned out to be a very intensive Spanish course for myself – and I liked it a lot!

After arrival I was welcomed cordially by Washington who drove me to my hostal in the Mariscal district of Quito. He already gave me interesting information about the city and if I would have had more time he would have shown me the Mitad del Mundo. But my Spanish course already began the following day.

Vanessa and me got friends very soon so that we always found themes to talk about and the time passed thus very quickly. I am especially grateful for the amount of background information concerning cultural or ethical points. Vanessa is a very kind, gracious, optimistic and vivid person with whom I experienced a really good time! As I came on my own the first time to Ecuador I was a bit nervous in the beginning oncerning safety, public bus transportation and nutrition. This immediately changed after one day with Vanessa. She always informed me in any case if vigilance was necessary. She always accompanied me and gave advice what and where to eat so that I did not have any problems at all during the whole trip.

The travelling program of “walking through the andes” from Otavalo to Cuenca was very well balanced between course time an exciting adventures. I really loved the horse ride at the Laguna Quilotoa and the canopying in Banos – I am sure that I will never forget these experiences! Due to the distances between the sites we had to spend several hours in public busses so that by now my life-quantity should be achieved ☺ – but I tried to use the hours to get into contact with locals and to experience my Spanish.

As the historic train from Alausi was in maintenance we had to change the program a bit. Thus I was able to spend a day in the Cayas nature park which was amazing due to the very impressive landscape. The guide of the travel agency was indeed very well informed not only about nature but historic facts too.

In the last days of my time in Ecuador I was able to see Guayaquil and Salinas on the coast as I had some friends living there. Thus I added to my days in the andes also an impression of the other face of Ecuador.

As a summery I am very happy with my days in Ecuador and the program was perfect for me to get in touch with the country and its inhabitants. However 16 days are not a lot so that I only got an overview of a very beautiful country which is really rich in variety. One day I will certainly come back – not only to see the Galapagos Islands!