Ecuador's Uncrowded Trails
By Robert and Daisy Kunstaetter
Ecuador receives its share of visitors-approximately 500,000 a year-but as yet relatively few people come to trek. Unlike well-known
trekking venues such as Nepal and the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, trails in Ecuador are never crowded and offer virtually unlimited scope for exploration.
Trekking in Ecuador is easily combined with a visit to the country's more traditional destinations: the Galápagos Islands, colorful indigenous markets,
Amazon jungle lodges, or Pacific coast beaches. [Editor's Note: Visits to any of these sites can also be combined with a language course, such as the one
my wife and I describe in the May/June 1999 issue.]
Ecuador's special appeal to nature lovers can be summed up in one word: accessibility-an outstanding variety of splendid natural
experiences within easy reach.
Trekking options in Ecuador are as diverse as the country's natural areas. With altitudes ranging from sea level to more than
6,000 meters (20,000 feet), there are tropical rainforests, cloud forests, high moorlands known as páramos, and rocky ridges right up to the snowline.
The highlands offer the greatest number of trekking opportunities, and the Andes provide the perfect backdrop-with magnificent scenery and an incomparable
top-of-the-world feeling. Trekkers often find themselves literally above the clouds! |
