I will actually be going to Ecuador in 3 weeks. I will be scuba diving in the Galapagos for a week and then I'll be heading to the Northern Oriente (Tena/Coca) to trek around the rainforest for a little bit. If you wanna go to the galapagos but haven't been proactively saving for the past year (unless you're independantly wealthy) it's probably not going to happen. You either need to have booked a trip via a naturalist boat liveaboard or have put your name on some kind of waiting list from what I hear. Either way, I think you should have done something a year in advance.

Ruling out the galapagos, you can either opt for a trek through the Ecuadorian andes which is supposedly very awesome (which I almost ended up doing) or go on an amazonian rainforest trek (which I settled on doing). The former you will need to be in decent shape to do (I hiked the inca trail to machu picchu the prior year so I didn't want another mountain trek). The latter (which I am doing) you'll need hep A, yellow fever, typhoid vaccinations, and malaria pills which will cost you ~$300 total because it's not covered by insurance.

I'm a more extreme traveler type of person so I suppose you could stick with visiting big cities and the like (and avoid having to be so diligent about vaccinations (I think you'll still want hep A for food) but if you ask me if you're in that part of the world you might as well immerse yourself in something completely different. But yea I think visa issues are the least of your concerns. Anyway lemme know if you have any questions.

Edit: Oh to sum up my thought processes in a way that will answer your question, while I'm not too familiar with what kind of travel experience Brazil is, I would opt for Ecuador for the specific reason that it is less developed, it has a lot of very unique regions you will not find anywhere else in the world (why travel to south america when you can share that same experience in southern Texas or northern Mexico?), and it all depends on whether you want to go to something "safe", "relatively safe", or "fucking exotic".

___________________
Retro ...

Last edited by occrider on Jun-11-2008 at 05:27

quote:

Originally posted by Theresa I don't wanna go to Ecuador!!

Just doooooo it. Often times it's the place that you don't want to go that will surprise you. 'Sides you're the one who has the choice of enjoying the trip or not enjoying the trip. I know which option I'd choose!

Well, it depends quite a lot on what they are looking for. What do you girls want to do in South America?

___________________
Indiana Clones Upcoming Sets
[ I May Upload Something Someday ]

My experience with Brazil is that it was nothing like a Texas strip mall.

quote:

Originally posted by Lira Well, it depends quite a lot on what they are looking for. What do you girls want to do in South America?

Depending on how active I can be, I am hoping that we can do some hiking. We will likely visit some of the larger cities and do some general exploring.

Nothing incredibly exciting...

brazil isn't dangerous...that i know of. my friend goes there frequently and loves it. says the women are great. lol

___________________

My soliloquy may be hard for some to swallow, but so is cod liver oil.

quote:

Originally posted by notelfreak man i can't believe i tried to come off as responsible in that other thread, i am so full of shit just don't tell anyone

So turns out we're not doing either. We're going to Jamaica instead. I got the confirmation e-mail for our flights about 2 hours ago

Should be fun.

Any suggestions, thoughts, previous experiences etc. from Jamaica?

We're going to the Starfish Trelawny Resort.

Any good excursions/stores/things to do?

Gimme details.

Not to threadjack or anything, but since the original topic was Ecuador, and I said that I was going to Ecuador, I've since gone on my trip and I feel that I should opine on my experiences. Scuba diving alone I saw hammerhead sharks, whale sharks, silky sharks, white tip reef sharks, galapagos sharks, numerous eels, numerous octopus, dolphin, massive schools of rays, etc. Well I took some dive video that captures maybe half of what I saw underwater (the first 2 minutes are slow ... and oh yea music choice was picked with family in mind not TA):



That's just scuba diving. There were also naturalist tours where you saw giant tortoises, blue footed boobies, marine iguanas, equatorial penguins, flightless cormorants, etc. Many of these species you see in the Galapagos are completely indigenous and you will see them nowhere else in the world.

Galapagos aside, we ventured into the amazonian rainforest where you can see a variety of monkeys, tarantulas, piranha, rare birds, sloths, snakes, etc., etc., etc.

I have no good advice with respect to jamaica, but to anyone else that is considering ecuador as a place to visit, DO IT. It is either the best or second best vacation of my life.

___________________
Retro ...

Last edited by occrider on Jul-28-2008 at 06:21

quote:

Originally posted by occrider Not to threadjack or anything, but since the original topic was Ecuador, and I said that I was going to Ecuador, I've since gone on my trip and I feel that I should opine on my experiences. Scuba diving alone I saw hammerhead sharks, whale sharks, silky sharks, white tip reef sharks, galapagos sharks, numerous eels, numerous octopus, dolphin, massive schools of rays, etc. Well I took some dive video that captures maybe half of what I saw underwater (the first 2 minutes are slow ... and oh yea music choice was picked with family in mind not TA): That's just scuba diving. There were also naturalist tours where you saw giant tortoises, blue footed boobies, marine iguanas, equatorial penguins, flightless cormorants, etc. Many of these species you see in the Galapagos are completely indigenous and you will see them nowhere else in the world. Galapagos aside, we ventured into the amazonian rainforest where you can see a variety of monkeys, tarantulas, piranha, rare birds, sloths, snakes, etc., etc., etc. I have no good advice with respect to jamaica, but to anyone else that is considering ecuador as a place to visit, DO IT. It is either the best or second best vacation of my life.

BAH!

It makes me wish we were doing that instead.

Oh well, I will probably visit her in Ecuador sometime within the next year.

quote:

Originally posted by Theresa So turns out we're not doing either. We're going to Jamaica instead.

___________________
Indiana Clones Upcoming Sets
[ I May Upload Something Someday ]