After our jungle trip in the Cuyabeno nature reserve, we originally planned to go directly to Baños, an adventure town with paragliding spots. On the evening before, though, we got the message that the laptop repair is finished. Since we wanted to continue writing our blog as soon as possible, we went to Quito instead. This was our second (Simon’s third) time in Quito. Since then, we even passed through Quito two more times: once when heading south to Latacunga/Baños and the last time when we flew out to Bogota. This is because Quito is located quite central in the middle of Ecuador and we didn’t travel further south.
During our three stays in Quito, we stayed in two different neighborhoods and went around the city a bit. This gave us quite a good picture of Quito and we generally liked it. Although we were annoyed by the horrible traffic situation (they just opened a Metro, but we haven’t had the chance to try it). Traversing Quito often took us an hour or more, not to speak of Tokyo-style cramped buses. This is also due to the unfathomable lengthy shape of Quito. The City is located in a basin between (volcanic) mountains at an altitude of 2850m (the highest capital of the world) and stretches north to south for 40km.
We always only stayed for a few days and, unfortunately, during one of the longer stays Simon got sick with stomach cramps, fever, and chills. After two days he felt much better, but we went to a doctor anyway before heading to Crucita, our next location. Just to make sure everything was fine, considering that we just came out of the rainforest and the symptoms potentially matched more than just one jungle illness. The doctor only prescribed Paracetamol, Colombian Elotrans, and an anti-inflammatory injection. Not our first time in South America where we had the impression that they treat most illnesses like “Schema F” (i.e. in the same way). Well.
Arriving at the Pacific coast in Crucita, after another day on the bus, we first stayed in an AirBnB which we didn’t like much at all (musty smell, no window, not very clean). Unfortunately, we had to spend Simons’s 30th Birthday there through which he slept most of the time (feeling sicker again). But at least I was able to put together some no-bake birthday cake despite the extremely poor kitchen equipment (have you ever tried to whip cream with a fork? Cannot recommend it). Also, the pizza and tiramisu we ordered for dinner were not very authentic or tasty, despite the reviews praising the Italian style. I guess none of the reviewers has been to Italy yet 🙂
After three more days for Simon to recover and a change of accommodation, Crucita turned out to be really great. The Paragliding Hostal was run by a tandem pilot and his wife. Every day, we could drive up with him to the take-off (only a 25-minute hike, which we also did once or twice), relax in the shade of his pavilion on some rundown plastic chairs, and fly when the conditions were right. The flying site was a 100m high cliff on the Pacific coast approx. 8 kilometers long. In such spots, you need strong wind from the ocean in order to stay up in the air and soar along the coast. As soon as that’s the case, you can basically fly infinitely.
We enjoyed it immensely. Flying along the coast, playing away some height with acrobatics just to immediately gain altitude again. We also practiced top landing a lot, for fun or to take a break before flying yet again. More than once we were able to fly the whole afternoon (with breaks) and then fly into the sunset. Especially the long weekend (Labour Day) was brilliant because the restaurant next to the takeoff had opened and we treated ourselves to frozen/slushy drinks or snacks between flights. We also switched wings a few times which was a good experience. Especially when the conditions were weak, it was easier to stay up with Simon’s glider due to its higher classification and larger size/smaller load.
When we had enough for the day, we just flew down to the beach and basically had a kilometer-long landing strip available to us. The only limitation was high tide, when we had to land on a small strip of grass between the ridge and the beach. Since our hostel was right next to the beach, we just landed there. After packing our equipment we could directly take a dip in the Hostal pool – or better – in the Pacific Ocean and refresh.
Crucita itself is a fisher town with mainly local tourists. They have a vast waterfront but next to that not a lot to see, or do. There are no fancy hotels or even a nice city center, only a chaotic and busy shopping street, which is not even paved. In the first days we only went to small “Tante Emma”-style shops nearby to get some necessities and basic ingredients for cooking (rice/noodles, eggs, some veggies, oatmeal, etc.). But we soon wished for some more variance and made a trip to the mentioned shopping street. With a tuk-tuk, it took us at least 15 minutes to the center (and we got ripped off by paying more than twice than on the way back). It was quite exhausting because it was hot and we had to visit four different stores to get what we wanted — a bakery, two supermarkets, and one vegetable/fruit store.
Despite the limited attractiveness of Crucita, we enjoyed our time in the Paragliding Hostal, flying at the coast, and the relaxed atmosphere so much. We stayed around 10 days in Crucita before moving on. We asked ourselves, though, why not stay longer since it seemed like the perfect place to be for us. We realized that for once we felt like having properly taken advantage of what Crucita has to offer in terms of paragliding and that after traveling for some time now, we are getting tired of places more quickly. Something we will think more about as we travel on.
Initially, we thought about going further down the coast but then opted for Latacunga and a visit to the Cotopaxi, looking for a cooler climate. Expect some amazing pictures from one of the highest active volcanos in the world in our next blog post 🌋
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