Galapagos

[Doug Yarn]

Hello, I am Doug Yarn and will be arriving in Guayaquil on Thursday 5th to explore Ecuador. I would like to know how things are on the ground these days.. My reading has led me to feel good about staying for a week and exploring Guayaquil, Salinas and coast, as well as Cuenca. I would also like to know the best option to see Galapagos while there. I am choosing the option to stay in AirBnB. Please help me have the best experience if you will?

newby,
Doug

[Country Expert Jim Santos]

Hi Doug –

I live in Salinas on the coast, and I would be happy to answer any questions you have. You can reach me directly at salinas@internationalliving.com . I’ve also traveled around the country a fair amount – in fact, we are taking family on a tour of the Andes starting this weekend, they’re arriving in GYE a day behind you – so I can answer general questions as well.

I have not been to the Galapagos yet, I will probably be going either this December or next May. But there are a lot of tips and suggestions at https://members.internationalliving.com/country_clubs/ecuador/travellers-ecuador/ . The site covers several possible tours, you’ll have to scroll down a bit for the Galapagos section.

For the best Cuenca information, email cuenca@internationalliving.com to reach Cuenca resident Donna.

Let me say first of all that exploring Guayaquil, Galapagos, the coast, Salinas, and Cuenca all in one week is a pretty ambitious goal. For example, if you are driving, Cuenca is about 4 hours away from GYE, and the coast begins about 2 hours away from GYE in the opposite direction. To drive the coast from say Salinas north to Manta or Crucita is about 4 hours. A trip to the Galapagos normally is 3-4 days, unless you want to just fly out and see one or two islands and fly back. It is possible to fly between GYE and Cuenca, about a 45 minute flight.

So, to really enjoy the visit and not just be on the move every day, you may want to consider trimming the itinerary a bit, depending on what interests you the most on this visit. A trip to Galapagos for you would begin and end in GYE, so you could do that either at the start or end of your visit, then choose either the coast or Cuenca for your second goal, for example.

Hope I haven’t just confused you more! Feel free to email me or respond here with any other questions.

-jim

[Donna Stiteler]

Hi Doug. You will be pleasantly surprised by how cosmopolitan Cuenca is, and if you are considering retiring in Ecuador, it’s worth putting it into your plans. I agree with Jim, that your calendar is ambitious, and to really get the feel of Cuenca would take several days. In Cuenca, you can quickly get to know expats especially on Tuesday (playing trivia at the Vegetable Bar and see one of the expat enclaves) and Thursdays/Saturdays (great breakfasts at Sunrise Cafe and play some cribbage) — where locals are happy to chat and give you information. By reading Gringopost.com, you can get a feel of activities going on. Sunday things tend to close as this is a largely catholic society. The things to put on a priority is to ride the double decker to see the town (it only takes a few hours), spend time at Parque de Calderon – the bustling centerpiece of the historic downtown, and spend times walking down the colonial streets admiring the 16th and 17th century Spanish-Colonial and French Republic architecture which made Cuenca a World Heritage Site. Cuenca’s El Centro is filled with cafes and bars some with music as it is a the cultural center of Ecuador with many art studios, symphonies and operas, and street musicians. Visit uptown (within walking distance of 20 minutes) and see the Super-maxi (one of many located around town and compares to upscale American grocers) and tree-lined neighborhoods around Solano with American-like homes, Gringolandia to see modern condos housing expats, and familiarize with places you may like to settle. Cuenca has a urban population of around 700,000 filled with cultural and architectural nuances. Not too small, not too big, just right. And springlike temperatures everyday. And the locals and expats are very friendly. Obviously I’m smitten – with all of Ecuador.
Feel free to contact me at cuenca@internationalliving.com.

[Doug Yarn]

Thank you for the valuable info. I will scale down my aspirations. Galapagos is off the table. Perhaps, two nights in Guayaquil, four nights in Salinas, and three nights in Cuenca would suffice. We mostly want to experience the coast. Please, tell me more about the 45 minute flights from GYE to Cuenca.

Doug

[Country Expert Jim Santos]

I just took a look on Expedia, and it looks like you can no longer get direct flights. Tame, Latam, and Avianca fly there, but they all stop in Quito first.

-jim

[Donna Stiteler]

Hi Doug. I would try reaching out directly to airlines as sometimes they have tickets left. If for some reason you can not get a flight, you can always take a 3 hour van ride through the mountains from Guayquil to Cuenca. Across from the airport in Guayquil is around 4 – 5 companies with vans that make regular runs to Cuenca.

You are welcome to contact me at cuenca@internationalliving.com for questions. I am not sure what your budget is, but there are many hotels downtown to stay in — I’ve stayed at http://www.hotelcasaordonez.com/ in downtown’s El Centro. But there are plenty of places around downtown as well.

Have a good journey and I’m happy to help!
donna

[Doug Yarn]

Thanks guys,

I feel so good about this decision to join this forum, I gonna get brave and find out more about social media and blogging.
We want to explore the coast and would like to know more about which option would give us a better chance of swimming in the ocean and living comfortably with wifi. Any suggestions on what accommodations I can book in Salinas, Manta or elsewhere, please?

Doug

[Country Expert Jim Santos]

Hi Doug,

Both Manta and Salinas have a lot of hotels and hostals listed in sites like expedia.com and booking.com . Either of those locations offer ocean beaches and good wifi and other infrastructure, and really, most of the coast between the two has at least decent internet. It all comes down to what type of things are important to you. Manta is a working city that has beaches, while Salinas is a beach resort town. In between you will find villages from 100 to 14,000 people, so there is a lot of variety.

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