re: Recs for Ecuador?

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The local guides we know were the opposite - almost eager to take us to Guayaquil to prove it's mostly hype

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OK, but another source is a friend who is a professional bird guide who has been all over the world. We spent 3 weeks in Mexico traveling close to 3,000 miles, sometimes in places most Americans won't go. There was only one place he thought was too dangerous; that's where the gunfight with the Mexican helicopter was shown on YouTube shortly after. My friend has guided in Ecuador a number of times, including southern Ecuador out of Guayaquil last year. I was going to join him and another guy on the same trip this July. My friend cancelled the trip based on feedback from people he knows there. He is not by nature a cautious guy. It's very unusual for him to be unwilling to travel in a place. His parents were missionaries in third world countries with him along, and he knows what he is doing.

One other thought - the local guides you know may have connections with the local gangs and have some local protection. I've been to Colombia several times and usually there is a local guide along, more for the local knowledge than their birding ability. On the last trip our local guy who was very nice admitted that he'd been a part of the cartel and knew them and he was confident that we were safe. On another Colombia trip the national expert who was along said that mostly the cartels and local indigenous people wanted to know in advance what was going to happen, and to have their palms greased a bit to help smoothe things over. That said, things are just not calm at all between the gangs and the Ecuador government. I could easily see the gangs target tourists as a way to cause pain to the Ecuador government by crimping a large part of the economy. I don't mean to shite on your post, you are a good poster. But I'm waiting a bit for things to settle down.

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I don't mean to shite on your post

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No worries, I'm happy to defer to your observations. My main point was, after seeing what was portrayed in the media as basically a domestic war zone on a daily basis, we saw literally no evidence of such a thing - to the point of just forgetting about it all together.

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including southern Ecuador

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May I ask where you mean when you say this? Guayaquil is north(west) of Cuenca - and Cuenca is basically thought of as the very ideal of idyllic Ecuador. Also, my relative went all the way down to Loja for Mardi Gras last month (actually, even farther south than that) - that's only like 100 miles from Peru. From the reports/pics I saw, it was basically just semi-rural normalcy. I'm curious where you are referring to.

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One other thought - the local guides you know may have connections with the local gangs and have some local protection.

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This is a sobering thought.

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That said, things are just not calm at all between the gangs and the Ecuador government.

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Oh for sure, it's a big problem that has gotten way bigger in the past 5 years. My understanding is that Guayaquil is the clear epicenter.

I talked to a fair number of locals about the Correa administration's time in office. Not a lot of love lost! Do you have any understanding of what actually happened to the postal service there, supposedly due to him? It's like literally, people just claim they don't have mailing addresses now.

Before the current political instability, Ecuador was encouraging US retirees to move there. It's a nice country which uses the US dollar, low cost of living, easy air travel from US, etc. Unfortunately, there's a real chance that it will slide into being a narco state.

Tourists should have nothing to worry about, but watch the news and avoid demonstrations.

A worthwhile art/architectural experience is Chapel of Man by the artist Oswaldo Guayasamín.

Do your crafts/souvenirs shopping in Quito. The islands have little, and the Quito airport shops are overpriced and possibly closed at the hours you travel.

I'm told that seafood at ZFood_Pescaderia-Quito is still great.

About 6 years ago, we did the following:

2 days in Guayaquil which was about enough to see a few sites.

6 days, 5 nights in Galapagos.

5 days, 4 nights in Montanita which is a surfing town that at the time you could still get massages on the beach for 20 dollars...we hired a car from Guayaquil to Montanita and back.

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Most of the tours we have lined up and personal driver only accepts cash

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Eesh, really? That sounds at least slightly sketchy.

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I’m beginning to think that not enough…

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Yeah, just bring double whatever you think you need.

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canyoning,

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Looking forward to hearing about this.

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spa in Banos.

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Which one? We stayed at this one.

Samari Spa

ATM's in Quinto worked just as good as in US. So, I never had issues with carrying adequate cash. If you carry a lot, you have to worry about it. If you depend on ATMs you have to worry about them working.

My driver/guide there was pre-arranged by a travel agent, payment was cash at the end of a few days. At more expensive restaurants I used a card. With card swipe fees being so high now, I suspect more places want cash.

Another Quinto attraction: Casa Alabado is one of the best museums of pre-Columbian culture I've ever seen. It's smaller and displays are very well done... fantastic artifacts.

LINK

My caution about government instability isn't so much a concern for tourist safety, but about the wisdom of becoming a long-term expat there subject to changing property ownership and taxation policies.