Day 1 • Sunday, 13 November 2022
ARRIVE Quito, Ecuador
AdventureWeek begins with your arrival and reception at Mariscal Sucre airport in Quito, Ecuador’s capital. A transfer will take you to your Hotel Mama Cuchara for around 43 minutes (41 Km), while you enjoy the scenery of the Andes Mountains.
Day 2 • Monday, 14 November 2022
Monday, November 14th 2022 – Day 2
Cotopaxi / Volcano Avenue
We will start with breakfast at 08:00 while we’ll receive a Brief of the activities we’ll experience today. After checking out, we will go through the famous Pan American road which is a paved one that unites the continent from Alaska up north to Tierra del Fuego, down south, while admiring the Volcano avenue of the Andes Mountains. This ride takes around 1 hour and 30 minutes (50,6 Km). Soon, great mountains like Atacazo, Illinizas and Cotopaxi will be seen around.
We’ll arrive at Chilcabamba Lodge, where we will have the chance to choose between two options to first experience the closeness of the Andes Mountains:
-A local horseback ride, near the Cotopaxi Volcano. The ride will be led by experienced and knowledgeable Chagras, who are expert riders that manage safety standards (prevention, mitigation and evacuation plans), which have been passed to them by many precedent generations.
- Biking on the Cotopaxi National Park, where we will head to the Limpiopungo Lagoon to grab our bikes and from there we will have the chance to blaze down trails, see the stunning landscape and even archeological sites.
After lunch, we will head to Hacienda El Porvenir. This Hacienda has a nice history, as it has been inherited for many generations after a young widow decided to bet for her future in this land, when this was a very remote area.
Here we will have a warm and yummy cooking class experience, where we will learn the traditional way of preparing delicious local dishes, their history and cultural aspects of the Ecuadorian Andes people.
A typical Hacienda dinner will be served at night, before going to sleep.
Day 3 • Tuesday, 15 November 2022
Tuesday, November 15th 2022 – Day 3
Mindo / Chocó Forest
After the wake up Call at 07:00 and breakfast+briefing we could choose morning activities. The first option is Horse-guided Empowerment, which is a space that works on people's relationship with themselves, the team, the environment, and is developed with horses. It seeks to generate connection and well-being through people's contact with these animals. The second option is the very interesting High Ropes course they have, where we will exercise mind and body. This is a challenge for a workgroup, as participants will discover that through a healthy, exciting, and meaningful experience, they can build strong relationships and learn about the importance of communication and teamwork.
At 10:45, the group will be driven for around 3 hours to the town of Mindo, in the Chocó Forest. Mindo’s name comes from the indigenous word Mindalae, which means Market, as it used to be an area to interchange products. It is a great place to enjoy adventure activities like canopy through the forest or canyoning on one of the many waterfalls of the area. We’ll stop by Finca Café Frajares, where we will first have a well-deserved lunch. Here we will enjoy a unique experience, tasting superior quality coffee. This coffee experience will bring you the chance to perceive a lot of flavors: floral, toffee, sugar cane, green apple, orange skin, sweetened, honey, red fruits, lime, complex, herbal, dry, a wonderful adventure for the palate as the result of the special climatic conditions of Mindo.
Finishing this activity, we’ll go to visit a local Chocolate Factory, which uses traditional processes to produce chocolate.
After the sweetness and the learning, we’ll head to the Hotel so we can get ready for tonight's dinner. We’ll head to a near restaurant where we will have a nice local gastronomy experience.
We’ll go back to the Kapari Hotel where we will have some time off before dinner and where we can rest for tonight.
An optional traditional night walk is done on the Zero Latitude trail, suitable for all ages, with the help of flashlights, to meet all the nocturnal inhabitants of the Cloud Forest.
DAY 4 • Wednesday, 16 November 2022
Papallacta Hot Springs / Amazon Region
This day we will wake up early at around 04:30, if you want to participate in the optional bird sightseeing. In Mindo there are more than 500 bird species living in the area. After breakfast, which will start at 07:00, we will head to the Western Range of the Andes Mountains, while crossing the beautiful valleys near Quito, for around 2 hours (71,5 Km). First, we will have a short stop in the Intiñan Museum, where we will have the Equator Line experience like standing in two hemispheres of Earth at once!!
After this experience, we will reach Papallacta, a wonderful hot springs area in the middle of the moorlands. Here we will experience a nice walk through the Island Path, which follows a section of the Loreto Papallacta River along a primary forest trail characterized by moorland vegetation.
After a well-deserved lunch in the Papallacta Spa & Lodge, we will have the chance to relax in the hot springs there, enjoying the hot water in the rather cool weather.
After relaxing and looking around, we’ll go to the edge of the Amazon Rainforest, where our Hotel for tonight will be waiting for us. There we’ll have a briefing before dinner in the San Isidro Lodge before having a well-deserved rest.
DAY 5 • Thursday, 17 November 2022
Rafting / Animal Rescue Center
After breakfast at 06:00, at around 07:00 we will start our journey deeper into the high basin of the Amazon Rainforest, through the Amazon Highway, for around 2 hours and 30 minutes (131 Km), to experience rafting in one of the rivers of the area, with great guides leading us. Amazon Rainforest is the lung of the world and the house of a huge variety of flora, fauna and different resources. It has been home for indigenous communities for many generations, as they have developed a deep connection with their motherland.
After changing clothes we´ll have lunch at Sinchi Warmi, a local Women Tourism Project (53 minutes of highway – 46,3 Km) where we will have the chance to learn about their effort to preserve their culture and their local environment.
After this visit, we’ll go to our lodge (https://huasquila.com/en/) for tonight, where we will have a nice Amazon dinner. Tonight, we’ll experience a night walk to the local waterfall, within the lodge.
DAY 6 • Friday, 18 November 2022
Quito / Historic Center
We’ll have a coffee station available early in the morning at 04:30, as we are heading to Quito. After 3 hours and 30 minutes (157 Km) we’ll reach Hacienda Jimenita, in the middle of a valley of the Andes, where Quito’s airport is located too. After stretching our legs, we’ll have a formal breakfast and will have some time off before the first round of One to One Meetings starts.
We’ll have lunch here, before the second round of One to One Meetings.
After finishing the short meetings, we will continue to Quito, the capital of Ecuador which has been the most important city in the region for centuries. It was in Quito where the first Patriots of Ecuador declared independence, back in 1809, before any other city of Latin America. This historical action was the reason why the Chilean Congress declared Quito as Light of the American Continent.
On another subject, this city was the first declared by UNESCO as a World Heritage city, because of its Historic Center that reminisces the mixture of Indigenous and European heritage of the country. We will briefly walk the magical old town and visit one of the old churches, from where we will have a great view of the entire city.
After this visit, we’ll be checking into our Hotel for today, Casa Gangotena Hotel, just near the San Francisco square, where there is the famous church of the XV century and close to a future Metro Station.
To finish your trip, a farewell cocktail will be offered to thank all attendees.
Rest in Casa Gangotena.
DAY 7 • Saturday, 19 November 2022
Transfer Out
Breakfast and transfer Out to the Mariscal Sucre International Airport, according to your flight itinerary.