FSTOPANDGO

It's my birthday!! ~ & I'm so happy to be spending it with Tim in Ecuador! It's truly a blessing and great privilege to be able to travel and explore new places. We were recommended by our friends to check out this town, Baños de Agua Santa. It is known for the beautiful nature scenery and its natural hot springs. Definitely the highlight and reason for us coming here after hiking 2 full days. Our bodies were ready to relax and enjoy some hot springs. We even had our first taste of cuy (guinea pig)  here in Ecuador. It wasn't what I expected. It tastes like chicken, but with lots of bones. I wasn't a fan...but glad we got to experience that. For my birthday, Tim asked me what I wanted to do. At first, I wasn't too sure...all I knew was I wanted to be in one place and not traveling to another destination. But as soon as we got into town, we noticed that this was definitely a tourist town with tons of tours and activities you can do. Plus, rentin

Hello friends, We are back from our 3-day hike of the Quilotoa Loop & it was one of the toughest hikes we've done by far. But it was totally worth it! If you're in Ecuador, it's a MUST-SEE on your list. This is definitely a hike that you can do on your own. But you can also a guide if you feel more comfortable with that. After doing some research online, we had two options: 4-day hike starting at Sigchos or 3-day hike starting in Isinliví. For tho se who are thinking about doing it, just do it! If you're nervous about the hike, you can also get to the laguna by car. (Not sure the cost because we did the 3-day hike, but we know people who have done it because of altitude sickness.) Flashback a little to how we started our first big hiking adventure. We stayed a night in Latacunga Canton, where we were able to leave our big luggage of things we didn't need for the hike (at no cost!) Thanks to our AirBnb host - if you need a place to stay, definitely chec

Before we headed out to the next city, we made one last stop to Ciudad Mitad del Mundo. It was pretty cool, they have a big monument with the globe and of course, there was the equator line. Be in two different hemispheres at once ✔ Later, we found out that the actual equator line was about 240 meters north of where we were at. (Oh well...)  It was still a cool once-in-a-lifetime visit. It was a successful morning of sightseeing! We headed back to Quito to catch the bus to Lantacunga Canton to stay the night there before we head out to Isinliví to start our trek to Quilotoa Loop. We will be off the grid for the next few days, thank you for reading!! Until next time... ~ Lynna

We are now in another big city, Quito in Ecuador. With all the traveling, sometimes Tim and I just want to relax and enjoy our downtime. Of course, though it's downtime we are still "working" or studying. One of our favorite things to do is go to cafes and work, and that's exactly what we did our first day here. We went to a cafe called Cafe Jaru near the main part of the city. I kid you not, when we walked in, there were only ASIANS in the cafe (specifically Koreans)! We were so surprised because we rarely see Asian people. This cafe was super cute and very modern. I loved all the decals and little details in their interior design. Reminds me of a Bible verse (Proverbs 14:13) Today, we decided to explore the surrounding small town, Otavalo - which is about an 2-hour motorbike ride from Quito. (If you need to rent a bike in Quito, you can go to Freedom Bike Rentals, it was a decent price to rent the bike for a day. Again, I'm sorry I don't rem

Never thought I'd be able to say that I walked across the border to another country...but I DID! Colombia, it's been really awesome and we enjoyed our stay here...but we are on our way to Ecuador! You may think it was a difficult process, but it was quite painless. All we had to do was go to the Colombian office and get our exit stamp, walk on the bridge to cross the "line" between Ecuador and Colombia, walk into the Ecuador office and get our entry stamp (state your name, occupation and reason for entering) and viola! You're in! Bienvenido! After doing the necessary paperwork, we found a taxi to take us into Tulcan and then from there, we took a bus to Quito (which is the main big city). I can't remember exactly how much and how long the ride was, but trust me it was dirt cheap for both of us and it wasn't a bad ride. The bus system here is actually really easy to navigate once you get the hang of it. You will even see some people hop

Yesterday, we got on the bus from Cali to our next destination, Ipiales (which is the border city between Colombia and Ecuador). After a 5-hour bus ride, we made it safely to Ipiales and headed to our hotel. We stayed at Hotel Avanty, which was a very nice and modern hotel. We arrived around 10pm and since we were only staying the night to visit the famous cathedral the next day, we went to bed to be able to wake up early the next day. If you happen to find yourself in Ipiales and getting ready to cross the border, you definitely have to stop by Las Lajas Sanctuary. It was a short 15-minute taxi ride there for a few dollars (it was super cheap) and then you walk down the hill to reach the cathedral.   Isn't it gorgeous?! I told him to smile for the camera 😊 Walking by the cathedral and up the hill to get a wider view, you'll pass vendors selling goods and food. We didn't try any of the food, but it looked really good! The street food in South America