Welcome to Our site...
NEW...Check out our LIVE CHAT feature at the
bottom of the page! If we are available,
we will be glad to answer any trekking/South America questions you
might have!
More Ecuadorian & Colombian updates
have been added by our boots on the ground...
Ecuador:
NEW-Flying from Quito to Guayaquil & then by bus to
Cuenca.
New-More hiking & updated info around
Otovalo.
NEW-Flying from Quito to Manta on the coast,
then trekking info on
Puerto Lopez on the coast via Manta
Updated-
more
Ecuador Tips
Colombia:
New-A few days in Medellin
New-Guatape, la Piedra & area
New-the zona cafetera,
Hacienda Guayabal & coffee
plantation tour
If you like this site, Please let us know!
This site has replaced the older
"Hostal Cloud Forest site" and we hope that
this new site has much more to offer. We also encourage you to submit your
experiences in South America for publication on this web site.
Whether this is your first trip to South America or
not this site will give you ideas of great places to go and sights to
see. No tourist bus trips here, just our experiences from many years
traveling and trekking in South America passed on to you. One thing to
note here at the urging of Lori, is that no one
is paying us to endorse the places we have visited. We are simply
giving you our impressions, both good & bad of where we ended up
staying or places we visited. That gives you a heads up on what to
possibly expect if you do visit some of the places mentioned on this
site.
We have done the legwork and enjoyed these places so much that we want
you to have a chance to "Travel in Our Shoes" and see
them as well. We won't recommend a hostal that we have not stayed in and
will always try and give you the pros/cons, for instance "Does 24 hr hot
water really mean 24 hr hot water?" You'd be surprised what passes for
hot water in some places...
We are not five star travelers and make no bones about it. We prefer to
get off the beaten track and experience South America as it really is
and immerse ourselves headlong into the different cultures that abound
there. Our backpack is our suitcase and small inexpensive locally owned
hostals our sleeping preference. Our Spanish is far from fluent, however
we can communicate and ask questions and enjoy being surrounded by the
language. A lot of the areas we visit do not speak much if any English
so even an entry level 100 Conversational Spanish class from a local
community college will be a huge help. Or alternatively I picked up a
copy of Rosetta Stone Software on e-Bay, not even the most current
version I might add, and with as little as thirty minutes a night it has
really helped my Spanish.
My wife Lori & I started traveling together before we were even married
and have traveled throughout the United States, Canada, Britain,
Finland, Europe and Egypt. Since 1996 we set our sights on caving trips
to the deep pits of Mexico's Sierra Madre Orientals and then on into
South America. Since then we have visited/trekked through Argentina,
Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru & Uruguay. All the knowledge,
insights, places & experiences from those many trips have until now have
been sitting in our heads filed away with our memories. After our first
trip to Ecuador I started a small website to help get some folks to stay
at a local/very remote hostal. I got many requests for info on the area
and questions on where else in Ecuador would be good to visit. So from
all of that I decided that I could build a site that could help those
folks new to the continent as well as those looking for other out of the
way places to visit. Some places we have only scratched the surface, but
we will let you know how you can do the same and at least get your feet
wet. I would also welcome those folks that have been to
South America to e-mail me their stories/impressions about particular
places they have visited. I will include them on this site and give you
credit for your submissions.
South America is a vast and incredible continent, filled with amazing
places and wonderful people. From Iglesia Las Lajas in Colombia to
Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego where the Andes drop into the Southern
Ocean, we want to share what we have seen & done, so why not come
"Travel in Our Shoes".
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.” Mark
Twain
Lori getting her feet wet in the Pacific Ocean on the
coast of Chile
Your first tip...
Buy a copy of South America on a Shoestring by Lonely Planet, or any
other similar travel guide, as there are many to choose from. All have
very good general information for the first timer or seasoned traveler.
Besides the first hand info that we have on this site, added reference
material is always good. Lori & I both have a NOOK e-reader & I was able
to download a great 600 page guidebook on Peru & a kids book with
Spanish jokes (a great ice breaker). It was always handy and weighed a
boatload less being in digital form.
Just recently downloaded the latest version of the Lonely Planet book on
Ecuador, very nice addition to the Nook library.
Got us both N2A cards that easily transform our Nook Readers into a full
blown Android tablet. Makes a great reader even better. Definitely worth
the $50 or so bucks. Very easy, doesn't make any changes to the Nook &
you have the choice to go between the original Nook or the Android
tablet. Click here for
Info.
Questions?
| e-mail us at:
info@travelinourshoes.com
Submissions of your trek experiences | e-mail us at:
submissions@travelinourshoes.com
 |
|
| If available I'll Travel/Trek chat with you. |
|
NEW!
For a friendly and down to earth tourism company for your stay
in Ecuador
check out
Ecuador Expat Journeys Our Buddy Roger works with these
folks
and they do a very good job with their tours.
NEW! |
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