Two weeks in Ecuador, including an 8-day cruise on the San Jose in the Galapagos, 3 nights of land-based explorations on the islands of Santa Cruz and San Cristobal, and several days exploring the Highlands around Quito, Cotopaxi and Otavalo. Fulfilling my lovely partner's lifetime dream of seeing Darwin's inspiration!
As we bumped along kilometer after kilometer of cobblestone road heading from Quito into the more remote highlands near Cotopaxi National Park, I think Jen and I both started wondering, “where in the world….?” But upon arrival at Tierra de Volcan, or “Hacienda el Porvenir”, it was immediately obvious this was worth the wait. There is such history at this hacienda, as there is at many Ecuadorian haciendas. But here, it is not a distant history. The past at El Porvenir is woven carefully into its future, which makes sense when one translates the name… porvenir = “future”. Jorge and Maria have spent the past fifteen years using the old family hacienda as an instrument of ecological and social change in the area around Cotopaxi.
El Porvenir (Kevin Moore)
The warm embrace of Porvenir started with our introduction to canelazo, a hot drink made with naranjilla, cinnamon and sugar. We enjoyed this new drink and great conversation with Jorge, Maria and our friends from the Adventure Life office in Quito. But soon we were off to enjoy the newly built high ropes course. (See the post entitled “Permiso Para Cambiar Uno”)
After our exploration at 40 feet above pasture-level, we took a horse-back ride throughout the property, led masterfully by Maria and the hacienda’s main “Chagra”, or cowboy. The pasture was filled with various flowering shrubs and plants, including the Chuquiraga, a plant that looked like its tips were on fire with orange flowers.
While the warmth of El Porvenir was fantastic, and the outdoor experiences were superb, it is the food and the fabulous conversations with Jorge and Maria that I already miss. The steak drizzled in huckleberry sauce (huckleberries grow wild in the pasture - lucky cows) still makes my mouth water remembering it. I am not sure I have ever eaten that well. Each main course is accompanied by family style sides of potatos, vegetables, fruit and bread.
El Porvenir is not fancy by any means. It’s floors creak, its history whispers from the somewhat faded walls, and the cobblestones remind you of their decades of service before you ever arrived. But never in all of my travels have I looked back over my shoulder so longingly after just 24 hours at one accommodation.
Cruse ship was great. Fantastic food and service. Cruise itinary got changed so not what we expected, but not an major issue. Japan portion was great. Drivers/guides arranged by 80 Days were great. Hotels were mostly ok. Did not know that most hotels outside of major cities do not allow shoes to be worn in the hotel. again a minor inconvenience. Overall a great trip. Adventure Life communications were timely and much appreciated as far as changes/requests.
Peter Goff
1 day ago
We were a group of three that initiated our research by independently searching for the best agency to help us in the somewhat complex experience of traveling to the Galapagos. We chose adventure life because they were the most responsive in the website provided the most comprehensive overview of the trip. Their reviews were also very good.
Adventure, life splits up its booking process in two parts. First Jeff, the booking agent helped us decide which experience best suited are interests. We chose a small 14 to 16 group sized yacht. Once the booking was made with Jeff, we were handed off to Coleene, who oversaw the complex process of assembling all of the necessary documents and making sure we had everything we needed to make the trip go smoothly. The adventure, life website, then becomes your personal place of reference for all things related to your trip from door to door. It’s a lot of information to assemble, especially for three travelers, but the website makes it easy and Colleen‘s gentle reminders kept us on track. In all, from the beginning, we had four months from the time we started our research till the time we departed. We felt that was, a good amount of preparation time and don’t think it would be wise to do it in less than four months. Mostly because I think you have more options with that amount of time. There were others on our trip that took six months and more from the time they started planning.
The trip itself was outstanding. We ended up on an excellent yacht (Galapagos Angel II) with a great group of guests that we were able to connect with and put together a really nice google photos album to share.
Jed
1 week ago
Mary was very helpful. Quick to reply with helpful information and closure on arrangements.
Nicola Maxwell
1 week ago
Mary Curry and Elma are always so responsive and nice to deal with.
Michael
1 week ago
I enjoyed working with Jess to put together a private N.Z. trip. Jess has been my go-to person at Adventure Life over the past several years. She listens to what my husband and I want in a trip, and is always responsive to questions. Nothing seems to be too much of a bother for Jess.
