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Ecuador Tours and Travel

Cuenca Cultural Extension Tours

Temaskal - the sacred sauna

Private, Any Day, Full Day

Temaskal o Inipi is an ancestral ceremony of the American cultures practiced from Alaska to Fire Land. It is a purification ceremony that uses a simple tent similar to an igloo, known as the sacred healing circle. A hole inside the tent symbolizes the maternal womb represented in the mother’s earth. Many stones previously heated in a big bonfire outside the tent, are introduced and deposited into the hole. The steam is produced by water, copal and other medicinal and ritual herbs and plants sparkled in the stones.

During the ceremony participants invocate the 4 natural elements water, earth, fire and wind to honor live and time, by practicing meditation exercises and ritual songs which simulates the act of going back to the sacred and pure time spent in the maternal womb and coming back to a new life. Besides the ceremonial ritual, this purification healing bath has therapeutic benefits that help the breathing, digestive and nervous systems.

An appropriate ceremonial site has to be an energetic place; so there are a couple of places near Cuenca where it could be done. The ceremony last 3-5 hours and normally starts in the middle of the afternoon or at sunset.

Sharing the Saraguro Culture

Private, Any Day (best on sat-sun), 2 Days / 1 Night

The Saraguro people see in tourism a valuable way to bring back and preserve their traditions and culture in order to share it with visitors. They are very welcoming and willing to show us part of their daily life, turning this trip into one of the best experiences of rural, agro and community tourism. They are very proud of their indigenous roots so they wear their typical customs and practice ancestral rituals.

On day 1, we will visit several nearby villages wee skilled artisans produce fine textiles (ponchos, skirts, belts, bed & table cover, etc), decorative and utilitarian ceramic, ship wool hats and colorful jewelry mainly made of beads and silver. Also we will visit their organic orchards were they grow many of the vegetables, fruits and herbs used in their diet. Lunch will be a very special one, as we will be introduced to their sharing rituals of the “Pinshi Mikuna” in company of a Saraguro family. In the afternoon we will do a hike up to their sacred waterfall where we will be part of a shamanic energizing ritual. The Yachags (shamans) invocate in conjunction with the participants to their sacred natural elements (wind, fire, water, earth, sun and moon) to regain positive energy. At night we will enjoy some folkloric music played by local musicians.

On day 2 we will drive down to the community of Gera where we will participate in the production of the Huajango, a fermented drink made from agave (same as used for tequila). We will also visit a small house-museum that shows how a Saraguro house looks like and what they use in their daily life. Afterwards we leave Saraguro in direction south for an hour to the town of Susudel where we visit the Susudel Organic Farm. Here we will enjoy a typical lunch with the products made in the farm and then visit the agricultural grounds and the old colonial farm and church. At mid afternoon we continue our way back to Cuenca, making this trip a wonderful, never forgetting experience.

2011 Price per person in US$: $189 for 1, $133 each for 2, $94 each for 3, $79 each for 4 -6

The Valley of Eternal Youth & Saraguro

Private, Any Day, 3 Days / 2 Nights

The most southern province of the Ecuadorian Andean region, Loja, is full of interesting natural and cultural highlights. This trip combines those sites, starting with a visit to Saraguro, the center of a very special Indian group, where we will witness parts of their traditions and handcraft work. Vilcabamba is located in a warm subtropical valley with a very pleasant and relaxed atmosphere excellent for hiking or simply enjoying the natural scenery and landscape. It is known for its spa facilities and laid back life style. We also visit the Podocarpus N.P. for a walk on the cloud forest area of Cajanuma. Finally we tour around the city of Loja known for having excellent urban planning and very interesting visitor sites. We then return to Cuenca.

Day 1: Cuenca – Saraguro – Vilcabamba
Day 2: Vilcabamba and surroundings
Day 3: Podocarpus Nacional Park – Loja – Cuenca

Notice that Saraguro market day is on Sunday.
Optionally passengers could be drop off at the airport for flights out of Loja.
This trip could also be extended to 4 days, in which case we include a visit to the town of Zamora, 60km down an amazing winding road that reaches the jungle part of the Podocarpus National Park known as Bombuscaro.

Overnight at Vilcabamba SPA country inn
Easy activities of 5 – 8 hours a day
Highland terrain elevations from 2,600 to 4,200 m

2011 Price per person in US$: $378 each for 2, $296 each for 3, $277 each for 4

Treasures of the South

3 Days / 2 Nights

These amazing destinations are located in the southern most provinces of El Oro (coast) and Loja (Andes). From Cuenca to the coast we enjoy green fertile valleys, then the Jubones dessert and once on flat land we ride along miles of banana, cocoa and coffee plantations. As we drive slightly up into the low tropical hills, we reach one of the most spectacular protected areas, where you don’t need to be a birdwatcher to enjoy seeing an amazing amount and diversity of humming birds flying around you. Jocotoco also hosts many other interesting birds as toucans and umbrella birds, so here we do some hiking to explore this wonderful site. At the end of the day we reach Zaruma for overnight.

The next day’s highlight is the old mining town of Zaruma perched on a hill top with beautiful wooden colonial style houses, where we will spend the day exploring the outstanding architecture of the town and other interesting sites around it. On day 3 we drive south and very near to the Peruvian border we reach an area known as Puyango. This is one of the few Petrified Forests in the world where we see enormous petrified tree trunks, in the middle of a beautiful dry forest and also in the river that crosses it.

Day 1: Cuenca – Jocotoco - Zaruma
Day 2: Zaruma & surroundings
Day 3: Puyango – return to Cuenca

Overnight at local hotels
Easy sightseeing activities of 8 - 10 hours a day
Highland to lowland terrain elevations from 2500m to sea level

2011 Price per person in US$: $386 each for 2, $313 each for 3, $285 each for 4

This program could be combined with the valley of eternal youth and Saraguro for a whole exploration of the southern provinces of Ecuador.