January 31st, 2012 | 
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Ecuador is one of the best countries in the Andes mountain range if you like trekking and hiking. Many of the best treks in Ecuador require guides, donkeys and private transport but there are some great day hikes and independent treks you can do on your own
A great day trek for experienced and inexperienced trekkers alike is one to the cave, waterfalls, and abandoned hotsprings around the active Volcano Tungurahua . Here are the directions to get there with photos below:
- From the “Terminal Orient” in Riobamba catch the bus to Palitachwa (pronounced Palitawa)
- Get off at Palitachwa and follow the road down past the village and continue past the houses destroyed by the Volcano Tungurahua on the edge of a cliff above the River Patso
- The road will continue for about 45 minutes past farmland as you get closer and closer to Volcano Tungurahua until you reach a bridge. Cross the bridge and you will go past a cement gate over the road and then you will see a basketball court and the abandoned hotsprings facilities which you can enter and explore.
- From here there are two routes that you can take one to the beautiful view of several stunning waterfalls and the other to a cave inside the Volcano Tungurahua.
- The path to both these routes starts above the abandoned hot-springs, you will see a dirt track that goes to the left and the right but for both routes you want to go to the left and climb as the path to the right only leads to the river.
- Once you take the path to the right which climbs up the hill it will split in two again; to go to the waterfalls head to the right away from Tungurahua which follows the river and to see the cave head to the left..
- The right path to the waterfalls will climb for about two hours with multiple switchbacks and past a few remote indigenous farm-houses and plantations of Eucalyptus trees (the locals are super friendly so dont forget to say “hola!”) soon the path will curve North to the left which is where you will see many beautiful and very large waterfalls.
- The left path to the cave weaves and turns on the side of the mountain. Some parts of the trail were destroyed the last time the volcano erupted so you will need to do some path finding but there are old signs that point to another hotsprings higher up that have been destroyed.
- Once you get the hotsprings that have been destroyed, you will know because of the mangled cement and rocks, keep heading further up the source of the river and climb over the rocks. Then you will be inside the Corazon de Tungurahua (The Heart of Tungurahua) the giant cave with a beautiful waterfall above it.
I dont need to say that if the volcano is spewing lava this day trek is not the best idea. Ask the locals about the safety of the volcano, if its merely “fumando / smoking” the worst thing that will happen is a bit of ash will be in your lungs but when the volcano is very active this day trek can be dangerous.
Now youve had a taste of trekking in Ecuador and want to get off the beaten track then check out Ecuadors Best Treks
You wont regret it.
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Here is a hilarious cartoon that speaks volumes about the police and judicial corruption in Ecuador – and I bet it resonates not only with most other Latin American countries but the majority of the third world as well.
The Guardian in the UK recently ran an article called Could Ecuador be the most radical and exciting place on Earth? which talks about the enormous reforms the Correa government has undertaken since taking office in 2007.
Ive criticised Rafael Correa a little on here with regards to Freedom of Expression in Ecuador and the murky undercurrents of the Yasuni ITT deal. There is no doubt however that Rafael Correa is one of the best presidents Ecuador has ever had.
Not since Jaime Roldós (the Ecuadorian president who was allegedly assasinated in a plane crash near an American military base for taking on the foreign owned oil and gas industry) has Ecuador had a president that cared more about its people and not self-enrichment. Its the reason the government has lasted so long:
The government is now the most stable in recent times and will soon become the longest serving in Ecuador’s tumultuous history. The president’s approval ratings are well over 70%. All this is due to the reorientation of the government’s approach, made possible by a constitution remarkable for its recognition of human rights and the rights of nature, and its acceptance of plurality and cultural diversity.
The consequence of these economic reforms enacted by Correa to create a more just and equitable society is that they have made him some very powerful enemies in Ecuadors elite class. This resentment boiled over on the 31st of September last year when rogue police forces kidnapped the president in what the government believes was an attempted coup.
Fortunately it failed and Rafael Correa has continued to use his doctorate in Economics to turn this once Banana Republic into a strong and steady latin american economy that will benefit Ecuadorians for decades to come.
The world media are reporting that the government secured a $117 Million downpayment (well over the 100 million needed) before December 31st 2011 to protect Yasuni National Park from being drilled for oil.
Firstly this is fantastic news that this important issue is still in the international spotlight.
It means more scrutiny for reports on corrupt dealings like Chevron Texaco using “blood money” to bribe the Ecuadorian government with $500 Million for the Yasuni ITT protection in exchange for forgetting its $18 Billion in damages it needs to pay for creating a “Chenobyl in the Amazon” 30 years ago.
“Given Chevron’s toxic legacy and the debt it owes the people and rainforests of Ecuador, the fact that this ‘bribe’ is even on the table is an aberration of justice. “This is a multi-billion dollar bait and switch, it’s illegal, and can’t be allowed.” said the Ecuador program coordinator for Kevin Koenig for Amazon Watch.
Why then are my friends who work at the Ministry of Environment and the Provincial Council for Coca in Orellana Province which controls Yasuni National Park not convinced?
Reaching the 100 million dollars may have saved Yasuni National Park for another year but my friends say the prospecting continues as usual. Its encouraging however to see that Rafael Correa donated the proceeds of the $40million lawsuit against the newspaper El Universo even though it challenged Freedom of Expression in Ecuador.
Lets hope that what the ex-president of the Yasuni ITT initiative Roque Sevilla said about President Rafael Correa in his Yasuni interview is not true.
Today many websites including Firefox, Copyblogger, WordPress, Wikipedia and a tonne of others are completely blacked out to raise awareness of the two anti internet freedom bills SOPA and PIPA.
Ive talked about the downward slide of Freedom of Expression in Ecuador before but what makes any attack on the Internet dangerous is that it restricts the freedoms of EVERYONE.
These Bills claim that they are to stop Piracy and the theft of Intellectual Property. The problem is that like the Prohibition of Alcohol in America in the 1920s it will only push Piracy further underground while punishing normal users like us. Anyone with the smallest amount of tech knowledge can use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) and a number of other ways to get around SOPA and there will always be ways to ensure the existence of big torrent sites like the Pirate Bay.
The scariest thing about SOPA however is it can crush dissenting voices on the web
For Martin Luther King day last monday if someone were to post a copyrighted speech of the great man in the comments section of this website then the SOPA could technically block the DNS of this website and PayPal freeze our account.
While I doubt anyone would ever want to target a tiny site in Ecuador like this one the SOPA and PIPA bills are more sinister when you take into account what very powerful forces have already done to dissenting voices like Wikileaks.
Wikileaks was subjected to a Banking Blockade that dried up its funding for its release of thousands of leaked reports on war crimes and government and corporate corruption. You can still donate to the extreemist racist sites like Ku Klux Klan however – as long as they dont get on the bad side of the powers that be.
With SOPA if one of twitters 100 million users posted a link to anything under copyright it gives the government hte right to shut it down. Same goes for Facebook, Google plus, and any other social network or community website.
This bill is dangerous and needs to be stopped.
