Being a guest at a friend’s place in a country you’re new to is definitely a game changer. Andrea and Javier, family fiends who lived in Barcelona for some time, were waiting for us at the bus terminal when we arrived to Guayaquil—first stop in Ecuador. As we always try to do we did a bit of research for some things we were interested in, but for the first time in this journey we had the pleasure to be amazignly guided through the wonders of Ecuador by our local friends. Also, we got an extremely in-depth experience into the Ecuadorian cultural and food scene. We basically lived like a local, which might seem quite obvious and easy to do but it is certainly not. Tourists are spotted from miles away and are treated differently everywhere in the world. Anyone who’s a bit traveled knows that. So letting ourselves be comfortably taken to a lot of hot spots to do what the ones in the know do, was pretty cool. And I have to admit we got to discover things about Ecuador we would have never imagined existed should we’d wondered around by ourselves.

And the food. Oh, their food! Ecuadorian cuisine is sincerely SPECTACULAR. We came to the conclusion that it’s only got a (huge) awareness problem internationally. They simply haven’t done their job on advertising it out to the world as good as other foodie countries have. Like its neighbor Peru, the fact of having three different climates all year around -coast, mountain and jungle- makes the variety of ingredients and dishes unique and endless. Fruits and veggies are just another league! The ceviche with avocado and peanut butter was our favorite.

We were also very curious about cacao and learning more about how the best chocolate in the world is produced. We got the opportunity to get invited to one of the biggest cacao and banana plantations of the whole country, property of the Quirola Group, where we learned about both production processes, from start to finish, or more precisely, from plantation to exportation.

After some days in Guayaquil, we departed to Montañita. One of the most famous beach towns in the country, Montaña—as locals informally call it, is also known for the good surf conditions it handles all year round. We arrived on a Saturday and got honestly a bit overwhelmed. Lots of weekenders flooded the streets, where a single spot without loud music, drinks or street sellers, is yet to be found. And to be fully honest, when we think of ideal surf spots we take all these out of the mix. Surf conditions were not good either but the company made our day here—the next morning we decided to take off to Ayampe, a tiny beach town where we really got the opportunity to unwind and take it easy after some weeks of frenetic and constant movement. A handful of non-paved streets, empty surf breaks and a smiley locals turned our 5 day stay into a true wonder.

Without a doubt, one of the highlights of our stay on the Ecuadorian coast was going whale watching. In deep migration season for these magnificent (and huge) mammals we got the chance to board a tiny fishermen boat and depart for a three-hour expedition. We could see dozens of them, traveling in packs, breathing and showing off a tiny bit of their full range of swimming skills. We took a ton of pictures but none of them make any justice to what we actually experienced — they look so much bigger in person than in the pictures!

Baños was next. Definitely a must-go place up on the Sierra surrounded by mountains, lush and green scenery, crazy waterfalls, rivers and all sorts of extreme sports activities.

But one of the things we didn’t want to miss in South America was the Amazon. Although we only got a glimpse, traveling further East to reach Puyo, a little village which is known as the door to the Ecuadorian Amazon was totally worth it. A truly mind blown experience.

Following our way north, the last stop before leaving this beautiful country was the capital, Quito. We couldn’t really say bye without checking this magnificent city which breaths character and history in every corner. And of course, we also took advantage of the many local chocolate stores to stack our bags with this brown gold.