Joanna Booth gets a warm welcome in equatorial Ecuador
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I don’t often feel as if the Queen and I have much in common.
No crown, no corgis, and – usually – no one waving in excitement as I pass. My trip to Ecuador didn’t do much to address the first two, but boy, were people excited to see me.
It may not have been me, technically. But they were lining the streets to greet the sleek, red carriages of the Tren Crucero, so I waved back regally through the wide picture windows. And while there was a little less waving when the train wasn’t around, the welcome was equally warm all over the country.
For many years, travellers have tended to bypass Ecuador’s mainland, and pair its hugely popular Galapagos Islands with Peru.
Those who do are missing out – pint-sized Ecuador packs a hefty punch. Visitors find huge diversity, from sandy beaches and steamy Amazon rainforest to snow-capped Andean volcanoes, all within a country only a sliver larger than the UK.
Quito
I first visited Ecuador’s capital in 1999. The intervening years have been far kinder to Quito than to me. The city, tucked 2,800 metres above sea level in a nook of the Andes, has had an extraordinary facelift. The once grubby central bus terminal is now a sports and cultural centre. The hordes of street vendors have been relocated to permanent retail spaces. And the historic old town – the largest in the Americas – has been beautifully renovated.
The Spanish conquered by the sword but subdued by religion, so in just 1.2sq miles, you will find 40 churches, 16 monasteries and three nunneries. By far the most bling is La Compañía de Jesús, a veritable Jesuit jewel with every wall coated in gold.
Designed in Rome but built by Quiteños, Italianate swirls sit alongside the Andean cross, a pre-Incan symbol reflecting movements of the sun, rather than the Son. Creativity dating far back before the conquistadores is showcased at the beautifully designed Casa del Alabado Pre-Columbian art museum. Pieces date back to 11,000BC, although some look contemporary in their clean-lined simplicity.
To see something more current, take the Live Quito Like a Local tour (from $210, including lunch) from Metropolitan Touring – an inbound operator and hotelier with 60 years’ experience. It works with many UK travel firms, including Cox & Kings and Journey Latin America. Visiting the neighbourhood of San Roque, we dropped in on several local artisans: Luis, whose family have been making traditional ‘colaciones’ sweets for four generations; Gonzalo, who meticulously repairs the religious statues Quiteños keep in their homes; and not least Rosita, who balances the mental equilibrium of the area with her ‘limpia’ herbal treatments.
The process starts with a rub down with a bunch of nettles, which makes me secretly glad that we run out of time to have one before dashing off to learn all about the chocolate-making process – and try some – at Swiss-Ecuadorian family business, Chez Tiff.
Hotels worthy of this newly polished Quito have opened too, with the pick of the bunch undoubtedly Casa Gangotena. A remodelled 1920s mansion on the Plaza de San Francisco, this exquisite 31-room boutique retains original art deco and art nouveau touches including intricately moulded ceilings, painted friezes and wood panelling, and updates the look with some contemporary furniture and sumptuous fixtures and fittings.
The food is incredible – we made certain to be back from sightseeing by 5.30pm to sample the complimentary afternoon tea, which combines the best of Britain and Ecuador, with both scones and empanadas.
Cloud forest
Mashpi Lodge is only 80 miles from Quito, but such is the windiness of the road that the journey takes three-and-a-half hours. This place is remote – a modern glass-and-steel lodge sitting in its own 1,300 hectare private reserve, within a 33,000-hectare area protected by the government. It sounds large, but most tracts of this primary Choco cloud forest have been felled, so this bio-diverse spot is environmentally significant.
Packages work like jungle-based safaris, with guests staying on a full-board basis with activities included – everything from treks through the cloud forest spotting birdlife and butterflies to ‘sky biking’ 60 metres up in the canopy. Suspended from a wire, we pedalled gently among the leaves, marvelling at brightly coloured orchids and bromeliads growing so far from the ground.
Our guides were a study in expertise and service. Oscar, who has worked with David Attenborough, organised a cheese and wine picnic by a waterfall for a guest’s birthday, while Anderson, just 18 and hailing from Mashpi village, poked around in the undergrowth to scare a tarantula into showing itself.
Andes
Ecuador’s Andes mountains are extraordinary. Cotopaxi is the tallest active volcano in the world. Chimborazo, the highest mountain in the country, is the closest point on Earth to the sun. And Cayambe is the only place where the equator passes through a glacier.
Access is easy. Drive for a couple of hours from Quito and clients can be hiking in the wilderness of Cotopaxi National Park. A great spot for lunch, or an overnight stay, is the 10-room Hacienda San Agustin de Callo. With Inca bones, a colonial skin and 20th-century history in the shape of the Plaza family – current owner Mignon’s uncle was Ecuador’s president and her father a bull-fighting political advisor – this venerable yet luxurious former farmhouse is charmingly unconventional.
Our room, Geodesico, features a menagerie of Ecuadorian fauna scampering over the walls in mural form, plus wood fires in both the bedroom and en suite. There is even a herd of pet llamas, which can be summoned by a hand clap to eat carrots in the courtyard.
The alternative to touring the Andes by car is to take the train. The Tren Crucero tourist service started plying the newly reopened 280-mile route from Quito to Guayaquil on the coast last June, rising to 3,600 metres before dropping down to sea level.
Locals are still truly excited when the train passes – children shout, dogs bark and chase it, and we were even pursued by a minibus full of nuns, all waving wildly. A highlight of the four-day journey is the Devil’s Nose, a vertiginous set of switchbacks that bring the train down 1,000 metres over just eight miles. We also enjoyed excursions, from visiting a rose farm to hearing about the last ‘ice man’ of Chimborazo – a 70-year-old who still treks up the mountain to harvest ice from the glacier.
Those who don’t want to take the train the whole way – packages are pricey, and, although the train itself is beautiful, the included hotels aren’t always up to scratch – can ride the Devil’s Nose section for just $25.
Sample Product
Cox & Kings offers tailor-made holidays to Ecuador. A nine-day trip staying at Casa Gangotena and Hacienda San Agustin on a B&B basis, and full-board at Mashpi Lodge, starts at £2,995. A seven-day, six-night itinerary with two nights in Quito and four days on the Tren Crucero starts at £2,295. Both packages include KLM flights.
KLM flies daily to Quito from Heathrow via Amsterdam. Return flights start at £672. Connections are available from 17 airports in the UK and Ireland.
