What To Do With Your Visiting Guests (Part 1 of 2)

(Back Row)  Patty & Mike / (Front Row) Marilyn & Zach

We recently were lucky enough to have a very good friend (Marilyn) visit us from Ohio with her grandson (Zach).  Marilyn is actually married to Mike's best friend (in fact, Mike was the "best man" at their wedding many years ago!).

Marilyn takes each grandchild on a trip when they graduate from high school (note:  she has ten grandchildren ranging in age from 25 down to 1 years of age).  Zach has just graduated from high school and will be heading to Bowling Green in the fall.  So Ecuador was his graduation trip from grandma.

I know that they didn't want to just sit around while they were here (for 10 days), so I kept them on a busy schedule.  I had to made revisions to the itinerary due to the airport restrictions in Cuenca.

Itinerary

Wednesday, May 18

Organized Tour of Quito

• La Mitad del Mundo and Intiñan Solar Museum
• TelefériQo (cable car)
• El Panecillo (Virgen de Quito sculpture)
• Carondelet Palace (presidential palace)

Thursday, May 19

Fly from Quito to Guayaquil, then drive through the Cajas to Cuenca

Friday, May 20

Organized Tour – Devil’s Nose Train & Ingapirca

Saturday & Sunday, May 21-22

Hosteria Santa Barbara, Gualaceo

Chordeleg (shopping)

Monday, May 23

Had lunch at Dos Chorreras Restaurant and went on the Gold Mine Tour
Hsd dinner at Santa Lucia Hotel in Cuenca with a friend visiting from Arizona!

Tuesday, May 24

Organized Tour – Cajas National Park & Cuenca City Tour

• Walked around Lake Llaviuco and went to Mirador de Tres Cruces
• Had lunch at El Maiz Restaurant in Cuenca
• Went to Turi lookout point and to Eduardo Vega Gallery & Workshop
• Went to Homero Ortega Panama Hat Factory

Wednesday, May 25

Had lunch at Casa Alonso Restaurant at Mansion Alcazar

Thursday, May 26

Went to see the waterfall at Giron 

Had lunch at El Agave Restaurant  

Friday, May 27

Drive through the Cajas to Guayaquil; then fly to Quito

Part 2 will be about our trip in Quito.  We flew back to Quito with our guests to make sure they got back home safe and sound.  And since we were there, why not be tourists (which we've never done in our six years of living in Ecuador!).