On May 4th (an easy one to remember), Mark, Maya, and I crossed the border from Colombia into Ecuador; a non-event that took about two hours and was much more relaxed than any Central American crossing we remember from 2006. Our visa stamp allows us to stay for 90 days.
Northern Ecuador Sights
Tulcán
Our first stop – after shopping for groceries and being pleasantly surprised to see dumpsters everywhere – was the topiary garden of the Tulcán cemetery. That first day in Ecuador, we also managed to get a SIM card and buy data and non-sweet bread, before settling at a great little spot by a pond.
(As always, click on or hover over photos in galleries to read their captions.)
San Gabriel
Laguna El Salado
If you’ve been reading my previous blog posts, it won’t come as a surprise that Colombia wore us out. Despite being enamored by its cute towns, beautiful scenery, and extremely friendly (and curious) people, the country is still rough around the edges and quite busy and loud. So when we stumbled across our first free boondocking (wild camping) spot and discovered it was quiet and attractive, we stayed for almost a week, catching up on sleep, work, and walks with Maya.
El Centro
Coming from Colombia, which has heaps of colorful, historic pueblos (towns), we knew not to expect much architectural eye candy in Ecuador. The center of San Gabriel was alright – tiendas (stores) and panaderias (bakeries) abound – and we learned that prime street parking spots (marked with blue lines) come with a fee.
Cascada de Paluz
Some locals had told us about this off-the-beaten-track waterfall, so we decided to check it out. After following a potholed dirt road for fifteen minutes, we reached this well-maintained and pretty park. The waterfall was impressive and overlooked by elves!
