1. April is the most rainy month of a year in most part of Ecuador. June to September and Christmas, Easter is high season.
2. US$, US outlet.
3. Gasoline is $2/gl or less. ~$1 each hour of bus trip. $0.25 local buses.
4. Better roads, not as much trash as in Peru.
5. Every good size town has an iTur office, offering maps and local info. They are not nearly as nice as iPeru offices.
2012/4/23 Monday. Sunny.
Transporte Loja (9:30am, 9pm) S28/$10 from Piura to Loja Columbia. Crossed the border at midnight. 2 queues at the Peru side, 1 in Ecuador. Took almost an hour. Loud music all night long.
2012/4/24-26 Cuenca
4/24 Tuesday. Overcast.Arrived in Loja shortly after 6am. There's an information booth that gives a colored brochure if the area. Seems that I've missed a fantasy castle El Cisne in Catamayo. Departure tax $0.1, toilet $0.1. I got on a Cuenca bus at 7am (~every hour, $7.5, Viajeros). More passengers than seats. They got off at villages along the way. Most got off at Saraguro (a long stopover, departed at 8:45). Green hills, cooler temperature (a light jacket is needed). Pleasant. At Cuenca's bus terminal, the girl at the information gave me a map and recommended Hostal Santa Fe 1 and the streets with many hotels. I took a short taxi ride to that area $2.
Cuenca has a beautiful historic center. UNESCO listed.
The cathedral is massive, red granite. 2 other most imposing buildings close to Parque Calderon, the main plaza, are the provincial court and Galeria de la Alcaldia (contemporary exhibition. Free.). Some music event was going on this afternoon in the plaza. I limped about the town (my left calf had some muscle strain for unknown reason). Didn't go too far. Bought a stamp at the post office. $2 for a postcard to North America. More to other locations! Shipping $31 per kilo! Bought some fruits in the market 3. Good market.4/25 Wednesday. Overcast.
Walked quite a bit today. My leg was almost back to normal. First the museo del Banco Central. Free. Ethnology and archeology. One floor was dedicated to money of Ecuador, but all in Spanish. Behind the modern bank is the Inca ruin of Tomebamba. The birthplace of Wayna-Kapac (Atahualpa's father), the capital of Tawantinsuyu empire. But it was already abandoned when the conquistadors came in 1557, because of the infight between Atawallpa and Huascar. The local Cañari sided with the Huasca. Ruins on a hill. A nice big garden bellow with a pond, Inca aqueduct, lots of trees and medicinal plants with educational panels. Many benches, ducks and hummingbirds. An aviary with Amazon macaws, toucans. Only one exit. 
Walked along the Tomebamba river on the south side. Fast running water. Pleasant enough, not touristy. At the cross with Av. Fray Vicente Solano, bought some drink to break my notes. $0.25 for the bus. Exact change only. This Turi bus runs to and back from Mirador Turi. Had to wait a bit. The view up at the Turi overlook is very nice. The whole town and the surrounding hills. Back to town, I continued west along the river, passing the university. Then crossed the river to the modern art museum. Small, free, some interesting but weird drawing. 2 courtyards, clean toilet. Bought some food at the market before hotel. Dropped a postcard to dad, and visited the old cathedral. $2. Not worth it. Small, no stainless window, some restored fresco that looks too new, 2 sets of 18th century wood sculpture: Last Supper and Piedra.
4/26 Thursday. Cloudy - fog - rain.
Caught bus 19 3 on Calle Larga, to Terminal Terrestre, for the 9am bus ($2.5) to Ingapirca. Company Cañar. $0.1 departure fee. 2 gringos were waiting in the office when I was buying the ticket. I got seat #3. When we got on the bus, only 3 of us. 2 minutes before 9, locals filed in. The bus also picks up passengers along the road. 30 minutes later, half got off at the big terminal of Azogues. At ~10:45, El Tambo, where I'll have to catch a bus north. The next 8-10km road needs repair.
~11:10 arrive at the ticket office of Ingapirca. At ~3160m, it's cooler here.
The site is small. You can see the whole thing and take decent photos without getting inside the fence. $6 foreigner. Free English guide. I was allowed to leave my backpack there. For smaller bags, there are many lockers. Needs ID to get a key. A small museum with photos of reconstruction and a few objects found there. Incas stayed here for less than 100 years. Cañari lived here for 1000 years, until united with Inca through marriage. Because Incas were great builders, not much of Cañani structures left except for the moon temple. Ingapirca means "wall of the Inca". It's in the shape of a puma, on a hill over river Cañar. Built by Wayna-Kapac. At the fall of the Inca empire, people took the stones to build their own houses. In 1960-70, restoration took place. There are still some random Inca stones collected in the area, and no one knows where they belonged. The only original standing structure is the elliptical sun castle wall. Perfectly padded andesite rocks, superimposed on a ceremonial Canari rock. The entire site has the shape of a puma. With 2 semi circular walls, it looks very pretty. This is supposed to be the best Inca site in Ecuador. I guess others are not worth going.
On exiting, I walked up to Baño de Inca and Silla de Inca. Not really worth the effort. But it's a short walk. When I returned to the ticket office, I ran into Gaby and David who I met 2 weeks ago in Cajamarca and again in Chachapoyas. We chatted for quite a bit.Took the very same bus @13:10 back to Cuenca. I got off at El Tambo. $0.5. Waited on the road for north bound bus (not fun, misty and chilly). At 2:20 got on a Quito bus. $4 to Alausí (less than 2 hours). But the bus did not go into the town. I had to walk down from the highway for 10-15 minutes in rain. Train station's ticket office was already closed. Settled in Hostal San Pedro 4, because it was mention in some online review. The Riobamba bus terminal is just next door. I bought some bread for tomorrow.
Around Alausi
4/27 Friday. Sunny - rain.Walked to the train station at 7am for the 8am train. Blue sky! Had to wait for 10+ minutes for them to get ready. Train via Nariz del Diablo, from 2300m to Sibambe @1800m. 12km 45 minutes down, 30 minutes up. RT + a small sandwich of one slice of ham, one piece of lettuce and 2 slices of tomato, a 250ml drink + a one room museum + 5 Nizag men and 5 Nizag women dance whenever tourists are there. $25! The cafe and museum is on a small hill next to the station, operated by Nizag. Clean toilet with everything. Good view. One French made head wagon, 3 Spanish passenger wagons (all very new, AC, LCD screen), 2 seats on the right, 1 on the left. One bilingual guide speaks into a cordless micro. My 8am train was half empty. So can easily move between left and right.
Pleasant scenery, but nothing exceptional. Green hills (not as pretty in dry season), narrow valley of Rio Alausí, which joins Rio Guasuntos at our destination and forms Rio Chanchán. Its claim to fame is the difficulty at the time (not only the topography, but also the lack of labor and the rainy weather). Failed to coerce the indigenous to work (including kidnapping on Sundays. But the weather wasn't always good on Sundays), 4000 Jamaican and others from English colonies in Caribbean (believed to be resistant to tropic climate and disease) were lured here by the promise of a better life. Over 2000 died during construction. 1900, train arrived at Sibambe and 1902, train arrived at Alausí, 1908 it reached Quito. Of course, the track we were on was completely redone last year after some fatal accidents earlier. The native name of the area is Condor Pununa. But all condors were killed during the construction.In my opinion, not worth the money or time (1 day). Some of the road journey is equally if not more scenic. In my eyes of 100 years later, this track doesn't look difficult or dangerous. But a relaxing 2.5 hours to learn a bit of Ecuador history.
Hired a camioneta for Lagunas Ozogoche $30 (most likely I overpaid). Not worth the time or money. Nothing special. 2 bleak lakes set in steep hills that are not tall enough to have snow. But being the only one here has its appeal. A bit rain. Foggy on the way back. In September every year, flocks of migratory plover commit suicide here. No one knows why. There is a bus going to the village of Ozogoche, which is very close to the lake, but none coming back to Alausi today if I took the bus. Maybe there is bus going to Ambato. I should have asked more questions. 1.5 hour drive one way. But my driver is very slow, and loves to talk. He stopped twice to draw on a newspaper so I could understand that Peru robbed him a big chunk of territory. A proud Ecuadorian. To him, Ecuador has the best of everything, especially its Amazon region, which he emphasized many time to be the lung of the world.Around Riobamba
Took the 3:30pm bus to Riobamba (every half an hour, $1.9). Arrived ~5:30. Walked to town. Visited iTur office, got a map that's almost unusable (small print). Stayed in Hotel Rocia at the corner next to iTur. $15. Modern, clean, wifi. Very nice, but it's a small hotel: no common area. Walked back to the bus station and inquired about buses to Chimborazo. Had dinner next to the terminal. I could see Chimborazo and something smoky (Tungurahua?) from the city. $1.75 menu. Checked the weather of the mountain.4/28 Saturday. Cloudy - Sunny. Volcan Chimborazo.
I ignored my alarm at 6am for the 6:30 bus to Chimborazo. Arrived at the inter-provincial terminal at 7:20. Somehow in the confusion (the terminal was being reconstructed) missed the 7:30 10 Septiembre bus 5. Eventually got on a 2 Octubre bus to the community of Chimborazo in a different terminal. $0.5. 45 minutes. A bad idea: it's still 15km away, which I was told 5km. Walked along highway from sunshine into the clouds. Tried to hitch a ride and almost 10 vehicles passed me without stopping, including a bus.
Eventually I was picked up by a gentleman from Guaranda who had 2 ladies in his truck. By then, I was sweating wearing just 2 T-shirts. He dropped me off at the park entrance. As custom, I gave him $1. Registered at the office, was given a very nice park map with photos and animal list. It was completely foggy, cold. I couldn't see far, so I followed the 8km dirt road towards the refugios. I put on all my clothes. 30 minutes later, a family gave me a short ride to where the dad was working on his antenna. He refused to take my money. So I left some coins to his 2 little girls. Then I walked up, huffing and puffing, and peeling off some layers. Shortcut the zigzag of the road, missed 2 chances of ride. The last 2km, I rode with 2 nuns and a bunch of teenage girls. They refused my money. 
Clouds cleared a bit. The shape of Chimborazo reminds me of Rainier, but no trees, almost no grass either. Big, barren and cold. Not pretty. Vicunas! The girls an I headed to the second Refugio 200m higher @5000m. A bus load of tourists too. 
One of the 2 nuns gave up. At this altitude, even with Acetazolamida pills, I still had to walk very slowly. ~30 minutes to cover less than ~800m. The 2nd Refugio sells candies and hot drink, but its sleeping area and the toilet were closed. The girls walked further to play with the snow. When I was walking down, it started to rain/hail a bit. A bus load of bikers arrived and left.
I eventually came back to Riobamba with the catholic school van and left them the park map. One nun brought along a glass bottle of alcohol which she distributed in plastic cups in the refugio parking lot, including me. I got off when one nun got off, and walked to the direction they pointed me to. Without a city map, I wandered towards the center, passing many markets. Riobamba downtown is messy. Central plaza is nice, with a good looking but small and closed cathedral. The shops around the plaza were mostly closed. Just a block away are endless little stalls selling everyday wear in often rundown buildings. Saturday is supposed to be the big market day. But I couldn't tell. Mercado Alfonso had a whole row of women sitting on the floor selling potatoes and other produce. Maybe they are only here on Saturdays.Taxi to terminal orient, where buses to the east start. $1. The market next to the buses sells puppies, kittens, chickens, geese, guinea fowl. Bus to Baños leave every ~30 minutes. $2, 2 hours. I got on a Puyo bound bus at 4pm. Saw volcano Tungurahua 6 that Baños is proud of. During my stay in Baños, however, never saw the volcano. Arrived too late for the iTur office (closes at 5:30).
Baños seems to have an endless supply of hotels. Almost every block has 2 on each side. I checked 5+, and settled in Hostal D'Mathias. 7. So far my favorite accommodation. Food is a bit more expensive in Baños. Bustling at night (maybe only on Saturdays). The lit cathedral doesn't look sinister any more. Lots of paintings inside, not very old, no stainless glass. Internet $0.8/hour.4/29-5/1 Baňos
4/29 Sunday. Overcast.
Walked up to the Cross (Mirador Bellavista). 1.2km. 30 min up, 20 down.Good view of the town, but too cloudy to see the active volcano. Other than many short and long hiking trails, Baños is where you can do rafting (class 3-4 ~25), bungee jumping (puenting ~$20), climbing down waterfalls (canyoning ~$20-25) for cheap. Even though I initially didn't plan to come here, I ended staying 3 nights. I was tempted to stay longer, going to thermal baths everyday (5 in town). A perfect place to recharge. Temperature 12-20°C all year round. Washing and updating my blog. Tried Pony Malta, a malt drink, nonalcoholic. Don't like it.
1:30, Chiva truck to visit waterfall route. Green steep hills, narrow river valley. This is a very picturesque region. Crops are planted on some slopes of more than 45°. Chiva is a brightly colored open truck with roof and loud music. $3 booked from hotels, $5 from travel agencies.
10:30, 1:30, 3:30. More than one truck going at the same time, each can fit ~30 tourists. Different bus stops at different waterfalls along the road to Puyo (east). My bus first stopped for a $1.5 cable car across the river to get closer to Agoyan falls. 2nd stop, $2.5 cable car for the double falls of Manto de la Novia. Last stop, a $1 entrance fee to the suspension bridge for El Pailon Del Diablo. All very nice waterfalls. The better way is to rent a bike so can stopped as you wish. There are plenty photo ops along the road. Got quite a few mosquito bits.After an early dinner, I walked to Terma de Virgen. $2 (5am-4pm), $3 (6-9pm). Walked up the few steps next to it under the waterfall. Gosh! Jam packed. Sunday night. May 1st long weekend? I decide not to enter.
4/30 Monday. Cloudy.
Terma Salado west of town in a river ravine. $3 (6am-4pm), $5 small warm pools of various temperature. 2 cold. 1.1-1.2m at one end, 0.8 or less at the other. Hard to swim when it's shallow and short. Dark change rooms with 2 big stalls for handicapped. Toilet and unisex shower. Free good size lockers. Ladies and men with long hair require to wear a shower cap, which is sold next door $0.3.To get here: walk, bus $0.25 (infrequent, not worth the 20 minutes I waited. Pay as you get off. The drive has change.), taxi $1. When I left, one bus just pulled over. After I got on, it went to San Marin zoo ($2) and aquarium/aviary ($1.5), before returning to Banos. There were only 6 on the bus. No wonder infrequent. Maybe that's the only bus doing this round.
Contemplated on cayoning. But I was told there were no one signed up this afternoon. Seems I was traveling in the wrong season all the time.
5/1-3 around Latacunga
2012/5/1 Tuesday. Rain. Laguna Quilotoa.Rain! 7am bus to Quito doesn't run. The next bus at 8:30 is too late for my Quilotoa bus. Got on an Ambato bus that was just pulling out. $0.8. Half empty. Needed to transfer to Latacunga. Had to ask a couple of people and walked a couple of blocks in drizzle to the correct spot to wait for a passing north bound bus. Didn't have to wait. I saw a Quito bus and ran! 8:10. $1. Again, no stopping at the terminal. Had to walk a couple of blocks. Got on a 10am Vivero bus at 9:15 to Quilotoa, already 3/4 full. I'm the only gringo. According to the lady who sat next to me, now there are buses every hour or two between Latacunga and Quilotoa throughout the day. No need to get up at 4am or try to ride the milk truck to Zumbahua (known for colorful Saturday market). My Quilotoa bus left at 9:50, with 8 people standing in the aisle. $2 for me, but the lady next to me paid $1.5. The road to Zumbahua is curvy, sometimes not paved (work was being done to the road), 2 hours. To Quilotoa is flat, then further up, good pavement. 30 minutes. A minute before the village gate (most passengers got off to their homes outside the gate), a guy came up the bus and sold us tickets: $2 for me, $1 for Ecuadorian. I checked in at 12:30 at Hostal Pachamama. Bad idea 8. Vivero bus returns at 1pm, and Illiniza bus at 2:30 (leaves from Latacunga @11:30). So it's possible to visit the lake in a day from Quito.
Quilotoa seems to be shrouded in clouds constantly. But the crater was clear. Lake Quilotoa has a beautiful green. Walking down is 30 minutes. Coming back up took 50. The trail is very sandy, at times steep and badly eroded. Many horses and donkeys to carry you up for $8. At 1:30, it started to rain a bit, so I headed back up. It stopped soon. But at 3 it started to rain hard. Luckily I was back in the hostel, sitting next to the small wood stove. Tourists came for hot tea or coffee $1. Local ladies wear white knee high socks, black velvet skirts with colorful embroidery, black felt hat with a peacock-like feather, solid but bright colored sweaters. I was the only overnight guest on this May 1st holiday. Watched some kunfu DVD with the family. They retired at 8pm. No more wood in the stove. So I went to my icy room. Wet wipes instead of shower tonight. Odd, no more water later that night.5/2 Wednesday.
Agreed upon 7am, but still served at 7:30. Breakfast was good. Afterwards, i had to ask about water again. One of the boys went over and turned on a pump.
Hiked around the crater. 4.5 hours (could be 4). The trail is straight forward most places. Starts behind the restaurant with red tiled roof (the best looking building here). Good view on both sides, precipice on both sides too a better half the time. Up an down constantly. Steep and loose ground at times. I ran into a lady tying her 5 sheep, and 2 horses tied to some brush in the first 15 minutes. Then I was entirely alone. Flowers birds and wind. Very cloudy. All around the crater are villages and fields on slopes, some deeper ravines with no cultivation. The last peak, I took a wrong trail. Instead of heading straight up, I went around to the lake side. Ended up loosing too much elevation. I also met 2 ladies with their dogs. They insisted that I needed a guide, and led me further down to the lake. As soon as I saw a trail heading up, I left them, even they told me it was the wrong way. After I regained the elevating, I was in town 15 minutes later. I plugged the pump and washed a bit. Ate lunch.Took the 1pm Vivero bus back to Latacunga. When I was on the ridge hiking, I saw a bus stopping outside of the village gate at 8am. So there might be more buses. Stayed at Residencia Amazones 9 next to the giant plaza El Salto (under reconstruction now).
Latacunga has a nice plaza, park Vincent Leon, fenced. Municipal building looks nice but austere. Anyone can walk in. The provincial building doesn't look impressive. 
Cathedral was closed when I was there (~5pm), so are other churches I visited. La Merced looks better than others. There's a market next to it, but was also closed. The famous Cotopaxi is no where to be seen. I ate dinner (called merianda here) a block from my hotel. The cheapest meal I had in Ecuador: $1.25. Not bad at all. Bought fruit and bread. Unable to find battery for my styripen. Internet $0.4-0.6/hour.5/3 Thursday. Overcast.
Thursday market at Saquisili. Bus in the main terminal leaves every ~10 minutes. $0.30. Saquisili has more than one markets. The animal market outside of the town is more interesting. Most prominent is ginea pigs ~$3-5 each. A grown rabbit ~$15, a big goose sold for just $6. Chicks $2. Some rams, puppy, but not many. Lots of cocks. Truck loads of fruits. 25 oranges $1, 30-40 dragon fruits $1. I ate some corn pancakes in the market. I didn't like it. The main market sells grain, fruit, veggie, cheese, big wheels of brown cane sugar. Food and juice stalls. Next to the buses, one sells shoes only, one yarn only. Bus stop to come back is different from the arrival stop. I was back to hotel at 10am, consumed some of my purchase at the market. Visited Casa de Los Marqueses de Miraflores. A mall collection of furniture, paintings, 2 wagons of ~19th century. Free, but not interesting. Walked along calle Guayaquil, lots of tour operators advertising trips to Cotopaxi and Illinizai. The weather now is simply not good. Cannot see the mountains at all.5/4-5 around Otavalo
Got on Quito bus before I arrived at the terminal. They are supposed to be every 10 minutes. $2. 1.5 hours. Decided to go to Otavalo straight, instead of checking out the Guitig plant in Machachi (half way to Quito), or the Quitsato Equator monument and Cochasqui ruin near Cayambe (70 km north of Quito). Carrying a backpack isn't convenient to make any stops. Quito bus terminal is modern and big. I was pointed to a San Cristobal bus to Otavalo $2.55 + $0.2 terminal fee. Bad idea. It took 3 hours, and didn't go to Otavalo's terminal. I walked to down town, settled at Hostal Santa Fe 10 2 blocks awaybon Roca. The terminal is at the other end of the town. More accommodation there. Talked to a tour company. No customers. Local women wear white lacy embroidered shirt, dark long skirt, wide colorful waistband. Garbage truck in Otavalo sounds like ice-cream truck.5/4 Friday. Overcast.
Laguna Cuicocha (bus to Cotacachi or Quiroga every 15 minutes). $0.25, 20 minutes to Quiroga's main plaza, with many stops. Hired a camioneta $8 RT, with 30 minutes wait. ~20 minutes to drive there. 16 coming back. Cuicocha lake is in a crater. 2 green island in the middle. ~3km in diameter, Up to 200m deep. On a clear day, Volcano Cotacachi's snowy peak is right at front (not today). There is a red roof boat that ferries tourists to the island in the lake and back, no landing. I walked up to the Mirador restaurant for a better view. 7 minutes to walk up. 4 minutes down.
Peguche waterfalls is a nice park not far from Otavalo. I took a wrong bus. Two girls on the bus lead me to the shopping area before the park entrance. They walk fast. I was sweating try to catch up. 
The "forest park" has a nice walkway, a pool for swimming (dirty water), a few trails, lookouts on both side of the falls. No one collected admission. The falls is not high, but nice enough. There's even a camping area, pit for fire, locked toilet, and 3 huts for rent. I did see one tent outside of the camping area. There's a small untended museum in indigenous signs and legend. Got a couple of mosquito bites. I walked back towards Otavalo. When the "cascada" bus passed by, I got on.Another place probably worth visiting is lagunas de Mojanda. But no public transportation. Need to hire a taxi. May run $25-30. Again, traveling alone sometimes has disadvantages.
5/5 Saturday. Cloudy with sun.
Famous Otavalo Saturday market. Not much more fruit. Animal market out of town is big. Lots of pigs, big and small. A whole lot of cattle/cow. Lots of chickens tightly packed in cages. Ginea pigs are mostly in sacks.saw some llamas and sheep, but not many. Didn't see fried bugs or strange food. From the main plaza all the way to the animal market on the west side of the river and Panamerica, peddlers are taking over, so are women selling more or less the same food. At least 10 sell sport socks 3 for $1. The so called artisan market in town is spreading everywhere. I got lost among the stalls. Had to ask direction to get back to hotel. Bought $20 of junk.Heading to Columbia! Bus to Ibarra runs every few minutes. $0.45. 35-40 minutes. Just stand at the end of the only queue in the terminal. Bought a $0.3 sorbet cone while waiting. A long line, but moves pretty quickly as each bus pulls over. My backpack shared the same luggage bin with some tied chickens:(
Ibarra terminal is quite modern and nice. $0.05 departure fee. A bit confusion. The schedule posted is for reference only. My Expreso Turismo bus pulled in and out right away, before 12:15 written on my ticket (different again from the posted schedule, which is just a printout). $2.5, 2:40 hours.
Ibarra area saw Simon Bolivar. La Esperanza in it's neighborhood used to be Bolivar's army hideout.
Topiary garden in Tulcan cemetery. It's very cute. Sculptured trees. I'd be happy to be buried here. Taxi from the terminal $1. 1.5 blocks way, a good size plaza has taxis and minibus to the border. $0.75. 7km. The minibus filled up quickly. It drove across the bridge to the big parking lot. I had to walk back to Ecuador to get my exit stamp. Not many people seem to be bothered with the formality.
If staying longer in Tulcan, Aqua Hedionda maybe a good outing. Hot thermal bath. A friend of mine recommends Hotel San Francisco. $5 single room with many windows.
Notes
