Ecuador Archives - crunchy kat explores

day trip to cajas national park

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After spending about a month and a half on the beach, I was so ready to head to Ecuador’s mainland and enjoy the mountains. It’s not that I didn’t love the beach, but the sun was starting to drain me and my hair could sure use a break from all the salt.

First stop? Cuenca. A city located in Ecuador’s Andes mountains. The plan was to hang out in Cuena for some time to take Spanish classes, however I was really excited to explore Cajas National Park, located less than an hour from the city. Coming in at over 70,000 acres (wut), over 4,000m/13,000 ft in elevation (wut), and over 700 lakes (wut), this nature lover could not wait to escape the city and explore the mountainous landscape of lakes, unique plants, and wild animals.

Ecuador, South America

last minute cruise in the galápagos

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When I say I booked a last minute cruise, I mean I hopped on the cruise boat about three hours after I landed on the islands!

The Galapagos is one of those places you learn around in elementary school, but you never think you’ll actually end up there visiting. Well, that changed for me this past week. But with expectations set so high for such a place, you’re almost guaranteed to be let down right? Happy to tell y’all – that wasn’t the case!

Now, this isn’t going to be a post on how to do the Galapagos on a budget because well, I didn’t really do that (though I mean, I wasn’t throwing money in the air either). After I booked my ticket to the Galapagos (about two weeks before I left), I started looking at blogs on what to do while there. Turns out, no matter what, the islands are super expensive (okay, wasn’t THAT surprising to me). Just some numbers for you: $30 transfer each way between islands, $25 minimum hostel cost per night, $15 average cost of a lunch/dinner, $100-200 for a day trip for a snorkel/dive… I had 9 full days and I started to feel overwhelmed with the amount of planning and time wasted every day trying to do everything on my own.

Ecuador, South America

intensive yoga teacher training in montañita

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yoga teacher training upward bow sunset beach

I had been thinking about doing yoga teacher training for a while, but an intensive training never really crossed my mind, as at the time, I didn’t think I’d take time off from working to do it. However, once I had decided in my mind I wanted to long term travel in South America, I knew it was the perfect time to do yoga teacher training.

A few days before arriving in Montañita for yoga teacher training, the anxiety started– what if everyone is an Instagram worthy yogi and can do all these fancy poses? What if everyone comes in knowing all the yoga philosophy? What if all they wear is Lululemon?

Not the case whatsoever. Everyone else was just like me. I feel like Montañita, Casa del Sol, and Authentic Yoga Teacher Training with Cheryl was just what I needed, and occurred right when I needed it. Funny how that works, yeah?

Ecuador, South America

day trip to isla de la plata

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Isla de la Plata. Silver Island. Poor man’s Galapagos.

Living for a month in Montañita has been great, but honestly, the town is super small and I think all of us started to feel like we were trapped. Lucky for some of us in the yoga teacher training, one of the girls was proactive and researched and set up a day trip to Isla de la Plata for us on our free Sunday.