Ecuador for Nomadic Instincts

Welcome to the country of the 4 worlds: Highlands, Amazon, Galapagos Islands and Pacific Coast. Your private driver-guide will be waiting for you at airport: Welcome!

Quito is the capital and the largest city of Ecuador, and at an elevation of 2,850 meters (9,350 ft) above sea level, it is the second-highest official capital city in the world, after La Paz, and the one which is closest to the equator.

In 2008, the city was designated as the headquarters of the Union of South American Nations. Quito and Kraków (Poland), were among the first World Cultural Heritage Sites declared by UNESCO, in 1978. Overnight in Quito.

Breakfast. Today, your private guide will pick you up at your hotel and take around the historic center of Quito. The historic center of Quito has one of the largest, least altered and best-preserved historic centers in the Americas. Our guide will transfer you to our colonial past, narrow streets, old and historic buildings, and small workshops. This is a walking tour which allows you to catch with your camera the best of our colonial history; the architecture and surrounding landscapes will give you the best scenery.

Time to cook! Transfer to Altamira Restaurant – culinary experience -   for the beginning the Chef welcome you directly in the local market – Mercado Central – at 11H00 where you stop at various affiliated stations. He explains about the products and culinary traditions. You can take pictures and taste some endemic fruits. Once finish the local market tour (one hour approximately) we and the Chef return to Altamira Restaurant… a crystal box with an impressive view of Old city of Quito. The cooking class begins! You are invited to participate and to become a Chef: you have the possibility to manipulate food, peel, cut, season, mix, beat... During the class, the Chef is accompanying and guiding you, he gives explanations and details about the history of each dish and its origin.

Optional: A “Quiteña” evening will be waiting for you. At 17H30 your guide will pick up you and we will visit a brewery which produce more than 8 styles of craft beer inspired by the greatness of the gods of Olympus. Cheers!

After a good time in this bar, we will go to Restaurant for our welcome dinner. We will enjoy of modern Ecuadorian cuisine. Bon appetite! Return to your Hotel. (B/L/D).

You will be taken to the airport in time for your flight to Coca. Departing from Quito, Ecuador’s capital city, a 30-minutes flight over the eastern Andes will take you to the jungle town of Coca. There, members of Napo Wildlife Center staff will be waiting for you to give you warm welcome and take you to the Francisco de Orellana Port –which is only 5 minutes away from the airport. And here is where the real adventure begins! At the port, you will get on a motorized canoe downstream the Napo River, the major tributary of the Amazon Rainforest in Ecuador. During the trip, you will have the chance to see different birds such as kingfishers, herons and other and admire the incredible views of the Amazon jungle that opens before your eyes. A trip a box lunch will be provided. After our two-hours ride along the Napo River, you will arrive at the NWC’s dock entrance where to take a short break to freshen up. Then, we will continue our way to the lodge on paddle-canoes –motorized canoes are not allowed within the Napo territory. This majestic and peaceful dugout canoe ride a narrow stream will lead us to the Añangu Lake, where the hotel is. Yasuni Park Fee included. (B/L/D).

Adventure at the Napo Wildlife Center begins early in the morning! In this second day at the premium Amazon Jungle tour you will presence one of the most incredible nature spectacles you will ever see: the parrot clay licks. It will only take us about an hour to get to the first parrot clay lick which is of easy access from the lodge. Once we get there, at about 7:30 or 8:30 am it will take just a few minutes for birds to show up. It is a real spectacle of colors, about 11 species of bird such as parrots, macaws and parakeets visit the clay licks every day to feed with the minerals that are concentrated in the soil. Later, we will hike along the forest trail to visit the Kichwa Añangu community to share time with the men, women and children of the community and learning about their every-day-life activities, routines and their ancestral customs and traditions. (B/L/D).

A delicious breakfast will be served at the NWC restaurant early in the morning. After that, we will depart to the Canopy Observation Tower, a high platform from which you will get a close-up view of the most amazing views of the jungle. The tower is about 30 minutes from the lodge within the terra firme forest. This wooden platform of 36 meters’ high was built just next a huge and ancient Kapok tree. To get to the top you must pass through different levels of the forest. Then, when you are finally there, the immensity and beauty of the Amazon jungle opens just before you. There are not enough words to describe it, you must live it yourself! In the afternoon, after having lunch back in the Napo Wildlife Center, we will go deep into a terra firme trail to discover the beautiful and mysterious wildlife that hides in the forest interior. There are great possibilities to see lizards, different species of monkeys such as the endemic Golden Mantle Tamarin monkey, rare and unique insects and even some scary snakes! (B/L/D).

Breakfast. Your driver-guide will pick you up at your hotel to take you on our more famous indigenous market in Ecuador! Otavalo markets: a group of many skilled, local artisans. Colorful Otavalo Market, here you will find a variety of Andean handicrafts, rugs, clothes, paintings; this market in one of the most important in Latin America. Lunch and overnight in Otavalo. (B/L).

Breakfast. Otavalo area offers a vary of cultural activities and nature: Cuicocha, Cotacachi Reserve and Peguche artisans and musicians. Return to Quito. B/L.

Breakfast & Transfer Out. Galapagos cruise for 4Days (itinerary subject to change according with the selected cruise). On arrival in the Galapagos, you collect your luggage and meet the cruise guide at the arrival’s hall. First you need to take the bus from the airport to the dock. Our guide will provide you the ticket for this. On arrival to the dock, you will then take the Ferry to cross the Itabaca Channel and get from Baltra to Santa Cruz Island. We then head to the Highlands of Santa Cruz for our first Galapagos adventure. Beginning at the coast in the northern part of the island, we travel across Santa Cruz through the agricultural region and into the misty forests where we can see the unique Scalesia cloud forest, dome-shaped giant tortoises in the wild, different species of Darwin finches and possibly the world-famous woodpecker and warbler finches, as well as vermillion flycatchers. Today we will enjoy lunch in the highlands. This afternoon we travel to Puerto Ayora, where we are then transferred to our boat, the Grand Daphne. Once on board, you will be assigned your cabin, meet the crew members and get to know better our guide and the group. Dinner (B/L/D).

Discover the quirky maritime history of Post Office Bay, which has the oldest postal system in the Americas. Steeped in history, in 1793 a post office barrel was erected for mariners to post their mail and assist in delivery of mail to the United States and Europe. It was simple, a sailor leaves a letter with its destination and to whom it goes and take a letter from another sailor if he is going to that letter ́s destination. This custom continues today with Galapagos visitors leaving letters and postcards to be collected by the next passing boat. Send one of your own and check if there are any you can deliver back home. Snorkeling and enjoying a panga ride are activities also included in this outing. We go ashore at Punta Cormorant where the sand is made up of fine olivine crystals, a glassy volcanic mineral, giving the beach an olive-green color. It is the best place to see Galapagos sea lions. Today is also one of our finest opportunities to see pink flamingos and other water birds wading in the lagoons, including pintails and stilts. The walk continues to a white flour sandy beach to an Eastern Pacific green turtle nesting site. Young diamond stingrays are commonly found in the shoreline and enjoy the view of the turquoise crystalline ocean. Just offshore, the famous Devil’s Crown is an old eroded volcanic cone and a popular roosting site for seabirds such as boobies, pelicans and frigates. Red-billed tropicbirds can also be seen nesting in the rocky crevices. The center of the cone is an outstanding snorkeling spot, and many people find this one of the best snorkeling experiences of their trip. We might see rays, sharks, sea lions and turtles. (B/L/D).

Today we cruise to the island of Española - the southernmost island of the Galapagos and one of the most spectacular ones. Because of its remote location this island has a large population of endemic fauna. It is the breeding site for nearly all of the world's 12,000 pairs of waved albatrosses and also home to colonies of blue- footed and masked boobies. Trails from the golden beaches, where sea lions bathe and marine iguanas make their way towards the water, lead us right through the middle of booby colonies, and Galapagos doves and mockingbirds are also often seen. We land in Suarez Point, one of the most attractive locations in the Galapagos and home to large and varied wildlife population - a walk along its trails takes us to a cliff top viewpoint, where we gain a magical panorama. Keep in mind that the terrain is uneven, so it is recommended to use appropriate footwear. Boobies line the rocky shoreline beneath us, while frigate birds may be seen overhead; nearby enormous male sea lions can be seen lounging and albatross use the cliffs as their ‘runway’, helping become airborne by the southeast winds that blow across this part of the island. If we’re lucky we’ll see the elaborate courtship rituals performed by albatrosses before the female chooses her lifelong mate. You may see marine iguanas throughout many of the islands in Galapagos, but none like the marine iguanas in Española, also called “Christmas marine iguanas”, with a red and green variation combined with its black color, it makes them unique and only possible to see here. We then head to Gardner Bay which is considered by many as one of the most beautiful beaches in the Galapagos Islands and full of sea lions and hood mockingbirds. Enjoy the beach and do some snorkeling which could be great for playing with sea lion pups and lots of different type of fish. The rocks off the coast provide excellent snorkeling opportunities, with reef sharks, turtles and many species of tropical fish, including surgeon and angelfish, often seen. The small white-tipped reef sharks are also often spotted resting under the rocks. (B/L/D).

As flights to the mainland from Galapagos depart mid-morning, it is an early start for our last morning on the islands. Depending on the time of our flight, our time spent on this final excursion could be limited. Kicker Rock (Leon Dormido) is the magnificent basalt remains of a crater in the middle of the sea, the shape resembling a sleeping lion. The rock rises 150 meters above the surface and is divided into two parts by a narrow channel. We cruise through the channel, with nesting seabirds on either side of the boat, tropic birds overhead, marine iguanas in the water and resting on the rocks and many sea lions also present. Snorkeling give us the opportunity to see Galapagos sharks, and with some luck even hammer head sharks among sea turtles and an incredible biodiversity of invertebrates on the wall. Sadly, all good things must come to an end and we say farewell to the Galapagos Islands. We head to the airport for our mid-morning flight back to Quito. Arrive at Quito and overnight.

Breakfast and Transfer Out. See you soon and we hope you visit us again! End of services.

REMARKS:

• This itinerary is subject to change without notice, due to seasonal changes, weather conditions, Government or Galapagos National Park regulations.
• Local Air Tickets, Galapagos National Park fee and Ingala Transit Card are subject to change because they are not under Nomadic Ecuador control. They are managed by airline and Government authorities.
• Rates per person based on double room/cabin. Category Standard.
• Rate is subject to change according with hotel/room, lodge, cruise/cabin available/selected. Programs are subject to Payment Policies, & Terms and Conditions of cruise / lodge selected; they were informed to you before confirming the program. Rate is subject to change according availability and Government Taxes. Christmas and New Year Departures applies surcharge.