Activities for Pululahua Crater Ecuador

Ecuador has hidden treasures and Pululahua Crater is one of them!

Imagine to be inside of a volcano crater and have no contact with the outside world, yet, you are just minutes away from the closest town.

Pululahua was a volcano that erupted and as a result, it left a magical valley in its crater. 
After many years, this crater has become home of many people that have taken advantage of the rich soil the eruption left. However, now is a  place where just  a few families live,  and where you will fall in love immediately.

Pululahua has been declared a geobotanical reserve and as such, this place remains untouched.

This magical place is located one hour outside of Quito and you can either do a day visit or stay overnight in one of the hostels that are found here. For more adventurous travellers, there is also the option for camping.

The weather is great!
The valley is surrounded by mountains and this makes a very special weather with warm and sunny days with cooler afternoons and nights.

This green valley will take your breath away as you descend through the narrow road that leads you to the great flat land.

The nature surrounding this area is magical! There are many bird species to spot and also different varieties of orchids.

It is a great environment to relax, do some hiking, horseback riding, biking or just sitting around with a great book and enjoy the sound of the wind and animals around.

This place is ideal to visit  with children, leave them free in the countryside to explore.

HOW TO GET THERE 

The best way is to hire a private transportation that will take you straight to the crater,  you can stay at one of the hostels and hire activities such us horseback riding, biking  or hiking. There are different trails through the forest that range from easy to moderate.
Lunch can be taken at the hostels and then you can return to Quito in the afternoon.

If you wish to stay longer, you can overnight there and enjoy this wonderful place a little more.
On your return to Quito, you can do a short stop at the Equator Monument and/or Intiñan museum for a very special experience of being on the two hemispheres at once.

ACTIVITIES
This valley offers wonderful adventure activities, which do not require any experience.  

There are options to go through the forest or just through flat land to enjoy of this wonderful place.
Horseback riding - Can be hired from one to four hours to explore the area with a local guide.
Hiking- There are several trails from easy to moderate that can be done for one or more hours.
Biking -The flat land offers a good option for a easy to moderate biking experience. Bikes can be hired at the hostels or you can take your own.
Swimming - There is a small place with thermal springs.

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Taking our kids to the Amazon, tips and more

The Amazon of Ecuador is a great idea for traveling with children.

We have planned our small holiday to visit the Amazon with our little ones and it went perfectly well!

The decision we took was to do a slow travel, and plan our own activities. So we found
a hotel in Tena city, which was small property, including breakfast, with a swimming pool and comfortable room.

There are many options to travel in the Amazon, you can find all inclusive hotels that will take care of everything and you just follow the tour guide.  Or you can find other options that will include only accommodation and breakfast, so you can choose what to do, where to eat and plan your journey.

We decided to travel around the area, visiting the butterfly house at Punta Ahuano, visiting the local zoo and finally, taking some time to visit the riverside with the locals.

It went well to do this trip like this, as we had some time to rest and spend time at the hotel, with the swimming pool. Our little ones had the time to nap, after a long day, eating small meals with room service or at the restaurant.

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Here below, you will find some tips for planning a great trip to the Amazon with small children, in local hotels, with only breakfast included:

PICK YOUR HOTEL OPTION: 

Pick a hotel that will include breakfast and that will have an open restaurant for dinners. Sometimes kids are very tired after the long day, and taking them out for dinner could only make them grumpy and dinner will be just as stressful for parents.

RENT A CAR OR HIRE A PRIVATE TRANSPORTATION IN QUITO: 

There are many places to rent a car. Please rent a big 4x4 so it can be easy to access dirt roads.

The road to Tena city is in very good conditions and traffic is not heavy, however, be careful when it rains, because you may find some land slides that will close the road for a few hours.
In case this is more difficult, you can always hire a private driver with a comfortable SUV or Van who will take you to Tena. Once there, you can use the same transportation whilst your stay or take taxis (pick up trucks) who will be taking you to the local sites.

BRING YOUR OWN RUBBER BOOTS: 
Before you go, make sure you take appropriate rubber boots for your children. All inclusive hotels provide boots, however, it may hurt your child's feet, so it is better to bring their own rubber boots. In case you don't have them, don't worry! Tena has a local market that sells them for very low price.

RAIN COATS ARE NEEDED:
The Amazon is a place where weather is unpredictable, actually, it is predictable: It will rain at any time or moment, so bring always a rain coat and additional clothing.

ACTIVITIES IF RAINING: 
Do not worry about rain! 
It will go away after a few hours, and we suggest to take the tour to the butterfly house when this happens. It is a good option to learn about their reproduction cycle and playing with the flying butterflies. 

Here you can spend up to one hour. For this trip, you will need to go to Ahuano river shore, park your car and then pay the river motor canoe to cross the river. 
Once there, hire a taxi pick up to take you to the butterfly greenhouse and ask him to wait for you, otherwise you may needs to walk to the river shore, which is quite close but sometimes children get a little fussy and then the walk may not be such a good idea...specially if it rains...

VISITING THE LOCAL ZOO: 
This is a nice family trip. The zoo is outside Tena city. Here you can find endemic and native species, you will learn about their habitat and how they live. The highlight on this zoo are the monkeys, birds and the anacondas!

BATHING AT THE RIVER: 
There are many places around Tena and Misahualli where locals go to the river for a nice refreshing time. You can find the options once there and the information  can be given by the hotel's staff.

Here you have the chance to bath and children will enjoy of the sand and rocks! They can play for hours!!

RESTAURANTS: Tena city has several local restaurants where they offer menu lunch or "a la carte" dishes. Their specialty is sweet water fish called tilapia. You can find it cooked in different ways such as fried, steamed or the most typical will be wrapped in local leaves and grilled. Outside of Tena there is Misahualli town which is more touristic and there you can find also some restaurant options for your meals.

HOTELS: Tena city has a good hotel offer with different price range. I would suggest to take the middle to superior options for a better Amazon experience. 

Here below are the hotel options I suggest for a self planning trip:

Terraluna: Located 5 minutes from the center of Tena city, but far from any noise. It is a nice property with swimming pool and good service. You have the option to have a standard room or a suite. Restaurant is available for all meals, but request the service in advance.
El Abuelo: Located a few blocks away from the center of the town, it is a tourist class hotel, that offer breakfast only. Clean and cozy. Not many green areas for children.
Hamadryade Lodge: This lodge is a luxury option, outside of Tena city with top class service, restaurant and great views of the Amazon. They offer half day and full day tours with additional cost.

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Nono a small town near Quito

Nono village is located in the north west of Quito at the foothills of Pichincha Volcano.

Travelling there takes around one hour each way.
This Andean village is very cosy and friendly to visit. Surrounded by mountains and hills, you will find good trails to hike.

The hikes to waterfalls are moderate and trails are suitable for adventurous families with children.

You can have the option to do a full day or spend the night in this beautiful place.

Weather is nice but cool, sunny days may be perfect warm weather, with cooler afternoons and nights.

ACTIVITIES
Nono village has some good options to be in contact with nature:

Horseback riding - You can arrange an expedition through the different trails of the area for one or more hours.

Hiking - There are a few waterfalls near the village that have easy access and will take you to beautiful landscapes and hidden waterfalls. You have the option to do a picnic in this area.

Birdwatching - You will have good opportunity to spot several species of birds living in the area, specially hummingbirds. This village could be the beginning of a wonderful journey to Mindo Cloud Forest to spot different bird species located in the area near the reserve.

Biking - There are also wonderful trails for bikers!

Cheese factory visit  - There is a community cheese factory that you can visit to see the process for making cheese.

There is the option to stay for a full day or if you prefer,  you have  the option  to stay at one of the local home stays that are little ranches from the locals.

Families with little children -  Besides the mentioned activities, there is a big milking farm, called La Querencia, that is open for visitors, where you can do the tour to visit the cattle and the milking process, they also offer a short tour through their farm animals, such as hens, ducks, goats, llamas, among others. Also, they offer the opportunity to do horse riding through the fields of the farm.

There is also a small playground and a fast food restaurant.

The village offers restaurants that sell mainly meat and fish, but they will accommodate vegetarian dishes as well.

HOW TO GET THERE
Since Nono is just one hour away from Quito, you can hire private transportation to take you there. Once at the village, there is no need of a car. You can explore the village by foot and if you need to go further, you can hire a local taxi for a few dollars.

Nono can be combined  with a trip to Mi do and/ or the visit to Equator Monument and Itiñan museum.

Would you be visiting this?
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Beach options near Guayaquil

Ecuador has wonderful beaches, but sometimes, travelling with limited will make the trip shorter.

This post is to give you options near Guayaquil that you can either do it in one day or spend a few days around.

Salinas city is located 1.5 hours from Guayaquil and it is visited mostly by locals from Guayaquil. Hereunder, I tell you what we did as family for 4 days in Salinas:

We have decided to visit a Salinas city for a few days, to enjoy the sunny days of December and have a few days of relax. We arrive in a little hotel outside of the main streets of Salinas, in a small neighborhood called la Milina. This hotel is located in a dead end street facing the ocean with option to stay at the beach here when tide is low.

Since we do not like too much crowded beaches, we decided to visit the beaches near Salinas and did so tourist trip:

VALQUIRIA AQUARIUM:

We drove towards the north, for around an hour and arrive to a small aquarium that offers the option to watch special fish, penguins from the Antartica that have arrived with "El Niño" current, a sea lion, marine turtles and the great coast caiman. This is a nice option to see with children, they get amazed watching the animals living in the ocean.
The aquarium is free and they request a voluntary tip for maintenance
After this, you can enjoy of a great refreshing ice cream or water before heading to the beach!



PLAYA ROSADA / PINK BEACH:

After this nice visit, we drove back for 10 minutes on the road, we found a small dirt trail that took us to this wonderful semi-private beach that is just perfect for a day at the beach!
The entrance for this beach is USD 2.00, there is parking space, a restaurant, restrooms and showers (additional cost of USD 1.00) and umbrellas that you rent for the day (USD5.00). There is a few people and beach does not get crowded, the sand is a little ivory and pink, therefore the name of the beach: PINK BEACH.

We spend the entire day here, weather was great, children played with sand and bath in the ocean, water was cool, but refreshing!
Since we needed something to eat, we decided to eat at this local restaurant, they offer seafood, typical dishes with reasonable price. They take the food in big trays to your umbrella or you can eat at the restaurant. The dishes were ok, not the best, but tasty.
They close the beach at 18h00 when it is time to leave.

SALINAS BEACH - CHIPIPE:

In Salinas, you can also visit the beach, although most of the apartments are built in this area, is crowded but you have more options for restaurants and activities, such as jetski, banana riding among others.


We decided to visit this beach our last day, so we do not have our kids in the car for long periods of time and it was a nice experience.

Salinas also offers a very special place to visit, which is La Chocolatera, this place is located in the point of the province, and it has a wonderful viewpoint to enjoy of the ocean and its power when crash into the rocks.

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