Tour: The Worlds of Ecuador Destination: Quito, Mindo, Cotopaxi & Baños, Ecuador Specialization: Ecology, Earth Science, Animal Science, Agriculture, Geography & Culture Itinerary: 8-days / 7-nights in destination Availability: Year-round Worlds of Ecuador - Sample Itinerary Day Morning Afternoon Evening 1 Travel to Quito, Ecuador; transfer to Hotel 2 Breakfast Welcome Meeting Equator Line Ethnic-Scientific Museum Quito Historical Center Dinner 3 Breakfast Travel to Mindo Cloud Forest & Butterfly Farm Dinner & Canopy Camp 4 Breakfast Chocolate Factory Orchid Farm Excursion Volunteer Activity Tubing on Mindo River Dinner 5 Breakfast Travel to Cotopaxi Cotopaxi Volcano Limpiopungo Lake Museum Hike & Salasaca Market Dinner 6 Breakfast Travel to Baños Water Falls & Cable Car Ride Animal Rescue Center Dinner Free Time 7 Breakfast Mountain Biking or Hiking Transfer to Quito Farewell Dinner 8 Breakfast Transfer to Airport; Fly Home In this ‘adventure of a lifetime’, Visions partners with a local South American company dedicated to sharing the culture, traditions, and language of Ecuador whilst discovering this beautiful and magnificent country. As with all sample itineraries, please be aware that this is an “example” of a schedule and that the activities included may be variable dependent upon dates, weather, special requests and other factors. Itineraries will be confirmed prior to travel. 1 Kaleidoscope Adventures | 800-774-7337 www.kaleidoscopeadventures.com | [email protected] Day 1 Meals in flight Travel to Quito, Ecuador via air, arriving in the evening hours or an overnight flight arriving in the morning. (If travelling overnight, this will add an extended day to your itinerary .) After boarding your transportation, your school will be swiftly transferred to your hotel located approximately a 1-hour drive from the airport. Quito… Quito is one of the most compelling cities in Ecuador. Nestled in a long, narrow valley in the Andes, between the Volcano Pichincha to the west and the Machángara River Canyon to the east, Quito enjoys a spectacular natural setting. The Ecuadorian capital city's mix of colonial and modern architecture creates a fascinating built environment. In addition to being the site of the Ecuadorian government, Quito is also the nation's cultural capital, with an impressive selection of museums, festivals, and nightlife. Quito is the perfect place to begin exploring Ecuador with its myriad hotels and hostels. See the historic sites of Quito's Old Town and the city's dozens of museums and other attractions; visit its hundreds of shops, cafes, and restaurants; and take advantage of the plethora of day trips, hikes and climbs in the surrounding area. Quito's central location makes it a perfect base from which to visit other regions of the country as well. Quito's history is very much linked to general Ecuadorian history. During the pre-Columbian era, several indigenous groups inhabited present-day Quito including the Quitus from whom the city took its name. In the beginning of the 16 th century, whilst the Incas controlled Ecuador, Quito served as the capital of the northern half of the Incan Empire. In 1533, the Inca General Rumiñahui destroyed Quito so that it would not fall into the hands of the advancing conquistadors. Just a year later, after the Spanish conquered the Inca, the Spanish Lieutenant Sebastián de Benalcázar began rebuilding Quito from the rubble the Rumiñahui left behind. Ecuador was part of the Viceroyalty of Peru from 1544 until 1720, when it joined the newly created Viceroyalty of Nueva Granada. In 1563, however, Quito became a Royal Audiencia of Spain, thus permitting it to deal directly with Madrid on certain matters instead of going through Lima. The name ‘Quito Audencia’ is misleading because it suggests that the territory under the jurisdiction of Quito was comparable to the limits of the city of Quito today. In truth, the territory of the Quito Audencia greatly exceeded that of present-day Ecuador, encompassing the north of Peru, the city of Cali in the south of Colombia, and much of the Amazon River Basin east of Ecuador. Modern Quito is a city of two halves, Old and New. The Old City remains much the same as it did at the end of the colonial period but the New City bears no marks whatsoever of its colonial past. Whilst the New City does not benefit from the area's brilliant history, it shines in its own right. Take the time to explore both "Cities", neither will disappoint you. Did you know? • Ecuador was colonized by the Spanish in 1563. Independence was gained from Spain in 1822 after defeating the Spanish Royalist forces and from Gran Colombia in 1830. This makes it one of the only countries to celebrate two independence days. 2 Kaleidoscope Adventures | 800-774-7337 www.kaleidoscopeadventures.com | [email protected] • There are 24 provinces of Ecuador and each has a capital city. The largest city in Ecuador is Guayaquil with a population of about 3.7 million. The capital city is Quito with a population of about 2.7 million. • The official currency of Ecuador is the US dollar, which was adopted in 2000 after Ecuador suffered a financial crisis and defaulted on their external loans in 1999. The currency that was used before this was called the Ecuadorian Sucre. • The world famous Galapagos Islands were made a part of Ecuador in 1832. They lie over 950 km west of Ecuador. They are famous for the unique wildlife and as the location where Charles Darwin formed his theory of evolution. • The main exports of the country are oil, seafood, wood, gold and many agricultural products. • The main religion of Ecuador is Roman Catholic with 95% of the population professing this faith. • The official language is Spanish, but many people also speak native languages. • The country has many active and inactive volcanoes. Chimborazo is an inactive volcano that is the highest point in Ecuador. Due to its position near the Equator it is known as the closest point on Earth to the Sun. • The climate is varied because of the differences in elevation. The low lying areas are warm and humid and the highlands are cool and dry. • Ecuador is home to a wide variety of plants and animals. It has 4 UNESCO World Heritage Sites and 19% of the country is protected. • The flag of Ecuador represents the diversity of the country (yellow), sky and sea (blue) and blood of those who fought for independence (red). More Ecuador Trivia: http://www.funtrivia.com/en/Geography/Ecuador-9691.html Sample Hotel: Hotel Quito - When you stay at Hotel Quito, you will be welcomed by the hospitality that is a longstanding Quito tradition. You will feel very close to the sky because the hotel’s art deco building, whose construction dates back to the sixties, is located on top of a hill from which there is an exceptional 360º view of both the city and the neighbouring valley and the mountains surrounding Quito. Resort amenities include an outdoor swimming pool, garden spa and fitness centre, retail outlets, restaurant and meeting space. Room amenities include cable television, radio, wi-fi, safety deposit box and local newspaper delivery. Students and staff sleep in rooms with two or three single beds per room with each occupant in an individual bed. www.hotelquito.com Transportation : Each visiting school will be assigned an independent motorcoach to use for transportation whilst in Ecuador. Buses are fully equipped with seatbelts and a restroom on-board. Additionally, you will have one driver assigned to your school for the duration of the trip. Day 2 Breakfast * Lunch * Dinner Rise and shine Quito! Today we’re off to the middle of the earth – literally! We’ll travel to the Equator Line and brush up on our geography as we learn about the equator dividing our earth’s surface into the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. 3 Kaleidoscope Adventures | 800-774-7337 www.kaleidoscopeadventures.com | [email protected] In geography, the equator is an imaginary line drawn around a planet, halfway between the poles, where the surface of the roughly spherical planet is parallel to the axis of rotation. The latitude of the equator is 0 by definition. The length of Earth's equator is about 40,070 km. Some climatologists define the climate of a place as ‘equatorial’, rather than merely tropical, if the difference between the normal mean temperatures of the warmest and coldest months is 3°C or less. Climatologist Vladimir Köppen originally set a yearly temperature range of 5°C for equatorial climates and placed the letter 'i' after the applicable two-letter classification (Af, Am, Aw or As) for those climates meeting this standard, the threshold of which was later changed to 3°C, in part to make the 'equatorial' and 'tropical' areas more equal in terms of territory covered. If a place does not qualify for the letter 'i', no third letter is added to its climate designation. In addition to having a narrower range of annual temperatures than at the outer margins of the tropics, what seasonal thermal differences do exist very close to the equator do not necessarily "follow the sun"- that is to say, the warmest month will not necessarily occur at the time of highest sun and longest days, and the "coldest" month need not be at the time of lowest sun and shortest days. Often, the wettest time of year will be coolest, due to its having more cloud cover and hence receiving less direct sunlight (temperatures at higher latitudes within the tropics, by contrast, do rise and fall in concert with the astronomical seasons). Whilst here, we’ll visit the Inti Nan Museum. Inti Nan Museum - Here lays the real equator as measured by the Global Positioning System.