Even though Ecuador is one of South America’s smallest countries, its portion of the Amazon rainforest is anything but insignificant, making Ecuador one of the best destinations to visit the Amazon.
Located in the state of Bolívar, in the southeast of my home country (Venezuela), the Canaima National Park is simply immense.
Covering an area of 30,000 square kilometres, The Canaima National Park is about the same size as Belgium!
Crazy enough, Canaima is only the second-largest national park in Venezuela, after Parima-Tapirapecó, and the sixth biggest in the world.
In recent years, San Francisco de Quito, the capital of Ecuador, has become one of the most important cities in all of Latin America in terms of tourism.
This city is one of the most beautiful and complete cities I have ever seen. Even being a small capital, (compared to the rest of the capitals in South America) it has the largest and best-preserved Historic Centre on the continent.
Only rarely will you find absolute solitude in breathtaking scenery like this:
The Andean moorlands, or Páramo, as it is called here, is an alpine tundra ecosystem above the continuous timberline, yet below the permanent snowline. A perfect landscape for vicuñas.
Located roughly between 2800m and 4700m, this wild and untamed stretch of land is, according to scientists, one of the fastest evolving regions on our blue planet.
The history of Atahualpa the entire Incan Empire spans over 3 centuries. During this time, and especially between 1438 to 1533, the Incas conquered a large portion of western South America, from the north of Ecuador down to the center of modern-day Chile.
They incorporated and subjugated other peoples, expanded and established their vast kingdom in the South American Andes and beyond. In their prime, several emperors ruled the most powerful kingdom the continent has ever seen.
The last one, in the end captured and executed by the Spanish crown, was Atahualpa!
It was the 12th of February 1949, a Saturday evening, and most of the citizens of Quito, back then a city of a quarter-million people, were in their homes, their radios turned on to Radio Quito. A concert was broadcast. Nobody was thinking about Aliens.
Suddenly, the regular program broke off, and radio announcers spread the news:
There are more than 70 volcanoes in around 300 km that make up the Avenue of the Volcanoes of Ecuador. The German geographer, naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt is the one responsible for this name.
Delayed or canceled flights are a huge hassle, and booking platforms and their terms & conditions and possible or impossible reimbursements can be confusing, time consuming and pretty stressful.
This guide will tell you a bit more about how to book the safest ways possible without putting your entire trip in jeopardy.
Since there are hundreds of thousands of islands around the globe,
the Galapagos archipelago is one of the most well-known, its name has a special sound to it and the islands are many travellers’ bucket list item number 1!
But why are they so special?
Ecuador has, despite being a relatively small country wedged between Colombia and Peru, a total of 48 volcanoes. 15 on the Galapagos Islands and the rest on the mainland.