Ecuador: 10 Things That Shock Tourists When They Visit Ecuador

hey there fellow travelers mark here with walters world and today we're in cuenca ecuador unesco world heritage site center cuenca and today what we have for you are 10 things that shock people about visiting ecuador and before i get started i got to tell you the thing that shocked me the most when that blew my mind is you know the panama hat you think it's from panama because it's called a panama hat it's actually from here in ecuador that's the first thing that shocked me i'm like what the panama heads from ecuador yeah so that's the first thing really got me um but what i want to focus on is 10 things that shocked tourists when they come here okay and the first thing that's gonna shock you when you come here to ecuador is when you pay for things you pay for things in u.s dollars no it's not like oh you can use u.s dollars in the local currency like in places like nicaragua or costa rica oh no you honestly pay with the u.s dollar you go to the atms they give you u.s dollars they have a dollarization program here and so they use the us dollar as a currency so it's kind of kooks like wait i don't have to exchange money i don't have to look for stuff no you don't just bring your us dollars you're good to go and the thing is though when you use it what's also cool you could use u.s coins too so when you pay for something they'll give you change back and yes it'll be a dime and a nickel and stuff like that but what's kind of cool is they actually print their own coins as well so you at least get some kind of foreign currency but it all counts as a us dollar okay so do have a heads up for that one and i would say is when you're gonna be having money here don't bring anything bigger than a 20 because a lot of places can't change it have a lot of singles a lot of fives tens things like that for tipping and pain and things like that because man you can have a nice lunch for like four bucks five bucks so you know bring small bills um i know before i came i went to the bank and got like 250 bucks in singles and fives i've used them all i've had 50s like sorry i can't use that i'm like alright i just want to check so just have a heads up for that one another thing that's going to shock you is all that us dollars you're not going to need them too much because the second shock is how cheap it is to visit this place ecuador is extremely affordable country traveling around the country traveling within the country overnights hotels hostels food tours going into parks stuff like that it is incredibly cheap to be here and that's what's really cool you can go have a great lunch for like 250 253 bucks four bucks at a little you know corner shop or corner bar or restaurant and stuff like that yes you can pay more 15 20 bucks for food but you don't have to here that's super cheap hotels we're staying in a place posada here in cuenca super nice place it's like 37 a night we've got three beds with the kids all kinds of stuff people are super friendly and it's cost next to nothing taking the public transportation yeah got a quarter take the bus i mean it is really cool when you are here how cheap it is for travelers okay now the third thing will shock you is after i told you how cheap it was is the price of going to the galapagos islands i'm not gonna kid with you going to the galapagos islands is a serious financial investment coming to spend time in the mainland it doesn't cost hardly anything at all going to galapagos look to be spending you know two grand three grand for a decent tour okay because when you go there you're gonna be taking a tour and it could be a land-based tour or a cruise ship tour and you're gonna pay a lot of money i mean i've heard like cheap ones about a thousand dollars okay but the thing is when you go to the galapagos you really get what you pay for and so we were looking at one we found one that was kind of cheap at seventeen hundred dollars for a cruise one now we're here in high season so that could influence it but i looked on the reviews and they were horrible and i'm like man if you're going to pay now you're going to have to pay like 2 500 bucks you know to do a good tour a good cruise tour a land tour stuff like that now you can save a little bit of money on the land based tours but it's not that much so just know man you're going to be shocked how expensive it is to go to galapagos okay the rest of the country super cheap galapagos insane expensive but the fourth thing that's going to shock you to come to ecuador is the biodiversity of the entire country of ecuador yes i'll be honest you will find a lot of money for that galapagos tour but it will be a life-changing experience with all the eco-tourism and seen the rays and the sharks and the sea lions and stuff like that that's what people think when they think of ecuador they think the galapagos islands yes they're part of ecuador by the way or people might think of oriente which is the amazon rainforest basin where you go there and you can see the amazon rainforest and explore there or maybe you want to go see the coast like look i want to do some surfing so you're hitting the beaches and checking those things out you have that different things or you're here in the andes mountains going to quito here in cuenca going to see the volcanoes the the ecuador you go to the equator hence why it's called ecuador you can go there and you have all this biodiversity of not just the the landscapes but also the animals and the plants you can see here and when you go in different elevations you'll see different plants different animals different kind of stuff and that's why ecuador truly is an eco-tourism spot it has so much biodiversity so if you can't get to the galapagos because it's too expensive don't worry you can see all kinds of different climates all kinds of different flora and fauna throughout the country so make sure you go and explore and if you could only do the highlands and maybe get down to the coast that's fine or the amazon and that's fine the galapagos but you'll see is the biodiversity in this little tiny country is so cool because you can see so much in such a short period of time now my next shock is for you movie lovers out there because we all love to have popcorn when we go to the movies well the next thing is going to shock you when you come here to ecuador is popcorn can be a side dish i'm not kidding i had frittata which is fried pork and it had you know the because corn is a big thing here and on the side was on my plate was like a handful of popcorn my wife had ceviche the other night ceviche here is really good by the way they had ceviche and on the side she had popcorn yes popcorn is a side dish here just so you know you'll see people having their breakfast and they'll sprinkle some popcorn on top like you might sprinkle walnuts or something so that's kind of a shocking thing but i think the the real shocker when it comes to food when you come here is kui kui is guinea pig yes you will see people keeping cages of guinea pigs i mean in the rural areas not the cities but in the rural areas you'll see people that'll keep guinea pigs and yes they're raising them to eat guinea pig is a traditional dish in the mountains areas now if you're going on the coast or galapagos no you don't you don't have that there but here in cuenca or quito you will see cui roast guinea pig roasted on a spit and it's just there like this rotating around and it's really really i mean i've had it before you can have it it is tasty it tastes kind of like the difference between like a mix between pork and turkey kind of together it's just that when you think about what you eat it you're like oh my god i'm eating a guinea pig i'm eating my little kids kindergarten pet it makes your tummy maybe go a little weird but it is shocking that yes they do eat guinea pig when you are here okay and the thing is when we're talking about cui and different foods and stuff like that oh when you see hornado when you see the roasted pig oh it's so good but you'll see like oh my goodness and you go to the markets a lot of people worry what if i get tummy troubles what about the bathrooms am i gonna be okay look the shot that's going to hit you when you get to the bathrooms here in ecuador is that you do not throw the toilet paper down the toilet you'll see signs all over the place where there's tourists throw the toilet paper in the basket if it doesn't have a sign saying throw a toilet paper in the basket throw toilet paper in the basket okay because the pipes can't handle the water pressure and stuff so you need to make sure wipe and dump not in the bowl in the basket okay actually there's only been a few place where i actually saw signs says yes you can throw the toilet paper down in and that was at the airport in quito okay so i have a heads up for that one now another shocking thing i saw when we were going around ecuador is you're gonna see so many stray dogs like the number of stray dogs are crazy but the thing that's crazy is not all those stray dogs are actually strays people just kind of let their dogs wander a lot of times here and as a tour should we walk around like look there's a dog and there's another dog what's going on here is this like doglandia no it's not just you'll see a lot of stray dogs when you're going around most of them are okay but i recommend not going up and petting them things like that just to be safe because they are strays and so you want to be careful but you'll be shocked how many you will see all over the place now i know i already kind of mentioned bathroom things with the toilet paper there was another shock that might hit you when you are in quito or cuenca and that is with these high altitudes you might notice that you'll be shocked how much gas you have don't tell anybody when you go to the high altitudes like it's 9 000 feet in in quito and 8 000 feet here in cuenca and we're going up to you know 11 12 000 feet in the el cajas national park sometimes you might notice for some people you'll be shocked how gassy you get so don't be mean to your dad or your mom or your kids when they're tooting a lot because it does happen just the higher elevations on the coast you'll be okay but just just i want to have you prepared for that shock like oh my goodness where did that come from okay now the next thing is going to shock you about ecuador is ecuador isn't hot everywhere now when you think it's ecuador it's on the equator it should be hot everywhere yes if you're in the amazon basin you know the oriente park down there yes it's hot it's humid oh my god you're like oh my god i can't take this or if you're on the coast yes it gets hot there down there guanquila things like that or the galapagos yes it will be hot there but the thing is a lot of tourists were staying here in the highlands in high elevations high elevations even on the equator can be very cool and the thing is it shocks people's weight i need to bring like a jacket and a pullover to come to ecuador it's on the equator yes you do if you're going to quito or cuenca are going to explore volcanoes and all these different kind of things you need to have layers the thing is if you're in cuenca or quito it's kind of like the same weather all year round so think like 65 to 70 during the day and 55 45 at night depending on the times the year so do have a heads up for that also no matter where you go in ecuador always bring an umbrella or a jacket with you like i'd bring a poncho or something because rain will pop up because you can never trust the weather reports here in ecuador okay weather.com if you're checking out before you come just realize it's gonna rain sometimes so bring something no matter if it says zero percent chance of rain it will rain okay just just just heads up for that one so that can be a little shocking for tourists and to go along with that weather thing is the next thing it'll shock you is how intense the sun is here look we're on the equator so the sun is the hottest uv rays are beating down on you and you need to be very careful i mean sunblock reapplied every couple hours you may think well it's overcast so what the uv rays are still getting through you need to make sure you're lathering up get your ears to back your necks all these kind of things with sunblock bring it from home because it's a bit pricey here so i bring it from home for that make sure you're wearing a hat yes go buy that panama hat okay when you are here they're not that expensive honestly have that protect yourself long sleeve stuff like that if you're going to be going to the amazon rainforest or going down to the coast or galapagos have your bug sprays and stuff like that to keep the bugs away so you do want to be careful with that but you'll be surprised how intense that sun gets because you can get really bad burns very quickly here and the last thing that will shock you you do come here to ecuador is how kind how nice and how helpful and how good-hearted the people in ecuador are i'll be honest i've tried a lot of countries and i haven't had places where i said i'm going to country x where i've had so many people from that country to write me and say hey mark you should go here check this out i'm so happy you're in my country i'm sorry i'm commenting so much i'm just so happy you're going to ecuador there's so many great people here and when you travel around you'll see how good-hearted they are how much they want to help you even you don't speak spanish they're still going to help you it's just so nice that when you're going to a hotel or a restaurant or just on the street people show you directions here's where you want to go here's where you should be and you're not worried about that and that's what's so cool it's a pretty safe country for south america and the people make it even more sick because you feel so comfortable because they'll also say is hey mark don't film over there or don't go to that part of town like they'll let you know and that's something i've really loved about ecuador that's why i'm looking forward to coming back is how great the people are here and it's shocking i mean yes there's nice people all over the world all over south america but here they're just so calm and so chill and so nice that it's shockingly refreshed and i can go someplace like you know what i go talk to that couple over there they're just chatting away or this girl sitting over here no big deal because they are so nice and that's one of the reasons why i highly recommend coming to ecuador it has been a great surprise for us when we've been here yes the galapagos islands are insane expensive and yes it was weird seeing the the guinea pig rose sit around and popcorn for breakfast but it is a really cool place so i do highly suggest coming to ecuador it is a fun time if you want to learn more tipping in ecuador what you should do here in cuenca five things you love and hate about going to south america we have all kinds of videos on our website at waltersworld.com also if you go to our youtube channel youtube.com woltersworld look in our playlist there'll be a visit ecuador playlist visit south america playlist things like that to give you a better idea what you should expect okay anyway i want to say thank you to all those that support us whether it's the subscriptions or patreon support or likes or just watching the video i want to say gracias and have a great time here in ecuador you'll be shocked how much you will love it and yes i know panama hats are from ecuador i'm still trying to trying to adjust for that too anyway i'll say adios bye

Channel: Wolters World

Views: 499,866

Keywords: travel, europe, wolters world, travel advice, tourist attractions, travel vlogger, honest travel, Walters World

Id: 3N19ylcMklQ

Length: 12min 17sec (737 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 23 2020