ITINERARY

The Cotopaxi is a volcanic peak, in the Cordillera Central of the Andes, central Ecuador. Rising to 19,393 feet (5,911 metres), it is among the world’s highest volcanoes. Cotopaxi has an almost perfectly symmetrical cone, interrupted only by one minor cone—the Cabeza del Inca (“Inca’s Head”). The mountain has a long record of violent eruption. The largest historical eruptions took place in 1744, 1768, 1877, and 1904. The eruption of 1877 was known for its lahars (volcanic mudflows) that traveled more than 60 miles (100 km) to meet the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Amazon River basin to the east.

The Cotopaxi Volcano National Park is located south of Quito, and in it we can find volcanoes as the Cotopaxi Volcano 5 897 meters and the Sincholagua 4 893 meters and mountains as the Rumiñahui 4712 meters and Morurco 4 840 meters. Among these mountains there are numerous valleys, lakes and rivers over 3 500 meters above sea level. To entry the Cotopaxi Volcano National Park you must go in a 4×4 jeep so you will be able to get to the refuge.

Papallacta is a very small town tucked away into the Andes Mountains with little to do besides visit the legendary Papallacta Hotspring . Hot water naturally flows from the mountains and several hotels chanel it into pools of varying temperatures where guests can bask, day and night. The climate in Papallacta is generally cold and rainy, so it’s lovely to spend a day or two in the natural hotsprings and appreciating the cold but beautiful surrounding landscape.

Baños  is famous for some of them are fed by thermal springs from the base of the active Tungurahua volcano. Baños’ elevation gives it an agreeable climate, and the surroundings are green and attractive. For a while there, the attraction of watching the erupting Tungurahua practically dwarfed the baths. Although not as dramatic as it was, the volcano still puffs smoke and ash. Ironically, the crater cannot be seen from the town itself, but all the tour companies will take you to good vantage spots, or you can walk to ones nearby. “Banios” is also the gateway town into the jungle via Puyo and Misahualli. East of Baños, the road drops spectacularly, and there are exceptional views of the upper Amazon Basin stretching before you. In the town itself, there are more attractions: an interesting Basilica, a small museum, a little nightlife and restaurants with local cuisine.

Ingapirca is the largest and best preserved archaeological site in Ecuador, is located 80 km from the city of Cuenca, in the province of Canar. Its construction combines Adobe coppery brown used by the Canarian culture with bluish green andesite stones brought later by the Incas. It was built with millions of hewn stone in the middle of the eighteenth century.

According to the evidence from the complex, all buildings had walls of cut stone, completed the upper part of adobe, its gabled roof with a heavy fall, had a structure of wood, bamboo, tied with twine and covered with straw moor.

The ruins of Ingapirca was an important religious, political, scientific, military and administrative and is comprised of a cemetery, solar observatory, a temple, tanks, chambers of priests, a ceremonial plaza and cobblestone streets.

Ingapirca means “Inca Wall” and is divided into three parts or departments.

Cajas National Park is made, the vast majority, Sub-Alpine Rainforest, commonly known as moor. The Banks provide about 60% of drinking water for the city of Cuenca. Two of the four rivers of Cuenca originate in the boxes, rivers Tomebamba Yanuncay and guidelines, which eventually flow into the Amazon.

Cajas National Park and Reserve is clearly a beautiful desert valleys, lakes, vistas and rock formations high moor. The floor of encuebtra moor covered with a layer of straw and a wide variety of plants in a pad, that constitute true reservoirs of water in the soil. There are also a number of species of small shrubs.

Near the Cajas National Park can find a wide variety of animals, among which stand out are the Andean condor, the partridge, the hummingbird, the cuchipau, the curiquingues, the chaupau, blackbird and guan. There are also white-tailed deer, spectacled bear, puma, deer of the moor, heath rabbit, curiquingues, tapir, Andean gulls and other birds of the moor. The avifauna is composed of 157 species of birds.