After hiking the waterfalls in the morning, Jenny, Maic, Thalles and I then doubled up and went canyoning in the afternoon. We decided to do the canyoning trip that included 3 waterfalls, rather than the one that just included a single, larger waterfall. My thinking was that the first decent would get us…
Mindo is a small chilled-out town in the middle of a high-biodiversity cloud forest about an hour and a half north-west of Quito. There are lots of things to do there, but because I was feeling like some down-time, I only managed to do two things in 3 days. I could easily have stayed a few more!…
Another great idea from Ecuador — easy to understand Nutrition Labels! These are labels for Coke Zero and Ecuadorian Chocolate.
Another of the awesome initiatives in Quito is the Ciclopaseo. Basically, the city shuts down 30km of one of its main North-South arteries (Avenida Amazonas) to traffic each Sunday between 8am and 2pm (Quito is a long, narrow city oriented North-South), to encourage everyone to get out on their bikes. And its incredible how many people take advantage…
Latin american countries have some pretty nifty ideas! In Quito, they have these mobile health stations set up in the main plaza as well as several of the large parks that can be found near the centre of the city (at least). They measure height and weight, blood pressure, glucose levels and offer nutritional…
My foodie journey through Ecuador started in Quito with the Quito Culinary Tour and Cooking Class from Quito Urban Adventures. I was again the only person on the tour (I’m starting to get a complex!) and had a great time chatting with Pablo, who not only talked about Ecuadorian food, but also how Ecuadorian history…
What is the most obvious thing to do when you’ve spent 1 day at altitude in the last 18 months, haven’t been on a pushbike at all for about 9 years and have never mountain biked? Do a 3-day mountain bike tour of the Ecuadorian altiplano with the Biking Dutchman of course! I came across…
I spent a total of almost 6 days in La Habana but didn’t really get up to very much. These were my highlights. Doing nothing: I spent a lot of time sitting on the balcony of the Casa Particular where I was staying, watching the view and listening to Maroon 5 and The Cat…
There is a lot of propaganda about Fidel, Che and the revolution in Cuba – some of it really quite artistic. Because Fidel and Raul are still alive, the propaganda featuring them tends to be on billboard along the highways (the only type of advertising along the highways in Cuba). It is Che and…
Not often you see traffic signs like these … But they are everywhere in Cuba – reflecting the more traditional modes of transport that many Cubans use.