Product Description

Climb the snow-capped peak of Volcán Chimborazo, the most distant point from the center of the Earth. Get up close and personal with capuchin monkeys in the central plaza of Misahuallí. Step back in time at Ingapirca, Ecuador's finest example of Inca architecture. Take in the surf scene on the south coast. Sophisticated cities, glaciated volcanoes, the lush Amazon Basin - our inimitable guide gives you access to all the treasures of exotic Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands

o GO WILD - special chapter on Galápagos wildlife by noted nature writer David Andrew helps you identify the many species unique to the islands
o VENTURE OUT - expanded focus on activities, adventure and ecotravel, plus a dedicated Itineraries chapter to help you explore this compact yet varied country
o GET SMART - comprehensive History and Culture chapters provide insight into Ecuador's volatile political landscape and vital indigenous communities
o WALK THE WALK - discover the colonial charms of Quito and Cuenca with our detailed maps and walking tour

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #375400 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 440 pages

Review
For sheer global reach and dogged research, attention must be paid to Lonely Planet…' --Los Angeles Times, February 2, 2003

From the Publisher
Who We Are
At Lonely Planet, we see our job as inspiring and enabling travellers to connect with the world for their own benefit and for the benefit of the world at large.

What We Do
* We offer travellers the world's richest travel advice, informed by the collective wisdom of over 350 Lonely Planet authors living in 37 countries and fluent in 70 languages.
* We are relentless in finding the special, the unique and the different for travellers wherever they are.
* When we update our guidebooks, we check every listing, in person, every time.
* We always offer the trusted filter for those who are curious, open minded and independent.
* We challenge our growing community of travellers; leading debate and discussion about travel and the world.
* We tell it like it is without fear or favor in service of the travellers; not clouded by any other motive.

What We Believe
We believe that travel leads to a deeper cultural understanding and compassion and therefore a better world.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Fabulous things come in small packages. Ecuador is the most diminutive of the Andean countries, yet it offers more physical and cultural diversity than almost any country on the planet. Add to that an extensive user-friendly bus system and you end up with a country that is both exciting and easy to travel in.

The beautifully preserved colonial capital of Quito is a World Heritage site brimming with amazing architecture. Perched in the highlands at 2850m above sea level, it enjoys a refreshing climate year-round and attracts many visitors seeking the Spanish-language courses that are offered in scores of schools. From the capital you can travel by frequent buses to Andean Indian markets, remote jungle towns and warm Pacific beaches. In fact, starting from Quito, you can get to most points in this tropical country in less than a day by public transportation.

Any journey in the highlands is dominated by magnificent glacier-clad volcanoes, including Cotopaxi, which at 5897m is one of the highest active volcanoes in the world. Climbers from all over the world get all worked up at the opportunity to set personal altitude records on this and many other peaks. Further south, hiking around the country's highest peak, Chimborazo (6310m), gives you the chance to chat with the incredibly tough children who spend their days herding a handful of sheep in the paramo (Andean grasslands). Wildlife enthusiasts can spend time trekking in Cajas National Park, with its unique high-altitude forests full of strange fungi, abundant flowers and rare endemic birds. There is even a section of Inca Trail to be hiked here, attesting to the huge extent of the Inca empire, descendants of which still live in lonely Andean hamlets where even the ubiquitous Coca Cola isn't available.

The highlands have many colorful Indian markets - some are world famous and deservedly so, others are rarely visited by foreigners but are no less interesting. Shoppers and seekers of handicrafts and curios will find delightful selections of ponchos and panama hats, woodcarvings and weavings, and distinctive ornaments carved from the ivory-hard seed of the native tagua palm.

Jungle travel in Ecuador is easier than in most countries because the distance between jungle sites and cities is far less - you can be in the jungle after only a day's bus travel from Quito. There are many exciting opportunities to hire local guides or to strike out on your own from jungle towns such as Tena, Macas, or Coca, which is on Rio Napo, Ecuador's main tributary of the Amazon. Bird-watchers will love the colorful birds which inhabit both the Amazon lowlands and the coastal lowlands west of the Andes, which has unique rainforest and cloud forest habitats that are found nowhere else on earth. With over 1500 species of birds, tiny Ecuador is home to about one-sixth of all the bird species on the planet.

The coast, too, has much to offer. You can visit a picturesque fishing village and watch the fishers expertly return their traditional balsa-wood rafts through the ocean breakers to the sandy shore, or help them pull in their nets in return for some of the catch. You can surf some of the most exciting waves in the world or, if this just seems too strenuous, you can laze on the beach in the equatorial sun, swim in the warm seas and, in the evening, listen to salsa music in a local bar.

The Galapagos Islands, 1000km off the coast of Ecuador, are high on the list of destinations for travelers interested in wildlife. Here you can swim with penguins and sea lions or walk along beaches while pelicans flap by and huge iguanas scurry around your feet. The animals are so unafraid of humans that at times it's difficult to avoid stepping on them. Travel around the islands is by small ships and boats outfitted with cabins and everything else necessary for a marvelous maritime adventure.

This book covers everything you'll need to know about traveling through this enchanting country, including the most interesting sights and the best-value hotels and restaurants, as well as practical advice on all forms of public transportation, from air flights to dugout canoes. All this - set off by a host of background details on the country, its people and its culture - will make this guide an indispensable part of your trip.

Customer Reviews

Great All Around Source Book for Travel in Ecuador
If you have used some of the more popular travel guides like Frommers or Fodors, you will be pleasantly surprised by the depth and coverage of Lonely Planet. Lonely Planet guides are marketed for backpackers, but my wife and I spent two weeks traveling throughout Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, and this book served us well. We stayed in Quito in both a hotel and hostel, ate in some of the classiest restaurants and some of the best value restaurants, and traveled to several towns and cities. We had a fantastic time, due in large part to the planning we were able to conduct from this book.

For example, while on a four-day cruise of the Galapagos, we were able to use the book's Galapagos wildlife section to identify many of the birds and other animals we spotted. With full color photos and short descriptions of each species, we could catalog all of our sightings on the handy checklist provided. Given that my wife is an avid bird watcher, the book did not have the same level of detail as a standard birding guide. However, considering that this is a travel guide, we were glad that we didn't need to carry several books to identify animals, as well as find our way around some of the more obscure places in Ecuador.

Because of the tips included in the book, we enjoyed many of the nuances of the country. For instance, the author recommended that it was cheaper to rent a taxi for a day to travel to surrounding markets, then to rent a car and drive. Driving risks accidents, getting lost, and incurring costs for fuel and insurance. As a result of the author's suggestion, we split the taxi fee for the day with a couple from Venezuela and traveled to the market in Otavalo, San Antonio de Ibarra (famous for wood carvings), and another small village that sold leather. My wife and I were able to get great quality leather jackets, a woodcarving, and some tapestries as part of a wonderful day of touring the country north of Quito. We would not have had as good of an understanding for what to do and see without this book.

If traveling to Ecuador or the famous Galapagos Islands, I highly recommend Lonely Planet. The book is specifically geared toward hikers and mountain climbers, but we found it extremely useful due to its depth and richness of ideas. Well worth the money.

Not as good as other Lonely Planet Guides
Having used Lonely Planet guides in Africa, Australia, South America, and Asia, I expect a fairly high level of quality within the confines of their "backpacker" emphasis. I was disappointed in the Ecuador guide; it seems not to be as in-depth or accurate as other Lonely Planet guides. For example, I noticed some street name misspellings--probably not disastrous--open hours incorrect, maps not quite right, etc. Not fatal, but enough to be annoying and to make me question the validity of all the rest of the information presented. (In contrast, the Lonely Planet guides for Chile and Bolivia seemed to be uniformly excellent.) This guide is still quite good--better than most of the competition, although I thought the Ecuador chapter in the South American Handbook (unwieldy to lug around if you are just going to Ecuador) was better and more consistently dependable. I give it four stars ONLY because of the dearth of good competing offerings for Ecuador.

New 7th Edition Offers Important Updated Information
I purchased the latest edition of this book shortly after it's release on November, 30 and was very impressed with it's significant improvements over the 6th edition. I bought the previous book 2 years ago and, even at that time, was struck by how out of date and inaccurate some of it's information was. My wife grew up in Ecuador, still has family living there and goes back every year to visit (I go there with her every 2 years). So we, especially she, have a pretty good idea about what is happening in the country in terms of politics, prices and other information relevant to travellers. But we were disappointed how the previous book barely mentioned the major impact of dollarization on the Ecuadorian economy and the substantial increase in prices it has caused. So much so that most Ecuadorian families now have at least one or more family members working overseas in order to send money home just so the family can survive.

Fortunately, the 7th edition provides much more up to date information on this subject and others. Of course, prices for travellers are also more accurate since this edition is "hot off the presses". The book does a good job of covering all regions of the country - the Andes mountains, the Pacific coast and the Amazon rainforest. Lonely Planet, as usual, includes not only the big cities and major tourist attractions. But also small towns and other "off the beaten path" places that may be of interest for those exploring the tremendous natural beauty and cultural diversity that Ecuador has to offer.

Lonely Planet is still among my favorite publisher of travel guides. But, this book, like many LP guides, seems to have moved away from the free-spirited, adventurous approach to travel that characterized it's early years. Nowadays, the guides seem much more inclined to politically correct lectures - no hitchhiking, no intoxicants, be a good little backpacker, blah, blah, blah. Of course, I understand the importance of being respectful towards the environment and local culture, making safe and responsible decisions, etc. But I also feel that LP's writers sometimes have their own political agenda to push and take an overly self-righteous tone that is more indicitative of Western values than Ecuadorian ones. Heck, I'm part of an Ecuadorian family myself now and I know that they would find alot of LP's advice and commentary about "how to behave" to be exaggerated and ridiculous. Ecuadorians are generally a very laid back and fun loving people. Of course, you should be respectful of Ecuador's beautiful nature and diverse cultures. But also relax, enjoy yourself and don't let LP's excessively "politically correct" attitude bog you down.

Still the 7th edition is a big improvement over the 6th and I recommend it for those travelling to Ecuador in the near future.