Ecuador 25 Day Road Trip | Cayambe

Feb 19

From Tulcan we headed back south to visit Cayambe. When taking road trips, there never fails to be road construction and traffic delays, no matter what country you are in. One thing I love about Ecuador is there are always vendors available to sell you drinks and snacks while you wait.

Obo fruit – bought from a vendor while stuck in traffic – sort of like a big grape (or plum) with a seed in the middle.

Traffic delays are quite common, but there’s always someone coming along offering to sell snacks and drinks.

Our next stop was the real Equator. Yes, I was at another location on the equator a few days ago, but this one claims to be the “real” equator. This archaeological site is located exactly on the equator, showing verification with satellite technology, GPS and Google Earth. Not sure what’s true, but it was very interesting to see facts of how they have found evidence that the Quitu-Caranqui Indians before the conquest of the Incas, could get to the exact positioning of the equator in this archaeological site.

We spent the next two nights at Guachalá Hacienda. This is the oldest Hacienda in Ecuador, and the oldest building dates from 1580. I loved the beauty and history of this place! It was so much fun to walk around, looking in all the nooks and crannies imagining what it must have been like back in it’s heyday.

A beautiful old chapel on the grounds at Guachalá Hacienda

The pool area was a warm and inviting place to read in the hammock, but very cold water for swimming.

My room was toasty warm as long as I kept the fire burning all night.

After a cozy night’s sleep by the fire we made a visit to Cayambe volcano, an amazing 4WD up rocky roads with long drop offs to the side of the road. While making a tight turn in the road our vehicle stalled and after several tries, we realized it was not going to start back up.

Yep, we stalled right here, no help in sight.

Looking back at the long windy road we had just ascended, there wasn’t a car in sight and of course there was no cell service. Fortunately, it was a weekend and after a short wait, a couple of vehicles started making their way toward us. After much discussion, and hand waving amongst the guys all working on the vehicle ~ success! We were back in business and heading the rest of the way up the mountain. I learned from this situation that tour guides like David have a lot of hats to wear – including auto repairs!

Once we reached the parking area, we took a short hike up to a place where you were able to touch the glacier just a few years ago, but now it has melted back enough that we were not able to actually touch it.