quito – The Girl Who Goes

Last Updated on March 23, 2024

3 Big Differences Between Life in Spain and Life in Ecuador

In Spain, a grocery store could be right around the corner. In Ecuador, not so much….

When Matt and I decided to spend a few months in Quito, Ecuador, at the beginning of this year, I didn’t really know what to expect. And while I’d traveled to more than 20 countries on four continents, it was my first trip to South America — and it was only the second country, after Spain, where I was spending more than a few weeks.

(And living as an adult. When I lived in London for 4-5 months during college, it was very much a college experience.)

Anyway, there were plenty of surprises when it came to life in Ecuador compared to what I knew in Spain, so I thought it could be fun to take a look at a few of the differences. [Read more…]

Last Updated on March 4, 2024

All About Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz, Galapagos Islands

When you visit the Galapagos Islands, the chances are pretty good that you’re going to arrive via flight from Guayaquil or Quito. And that means you’re very likely going to fly into Baltra Airport, just north of Santa Cruz Island. At that point, you’ll likely commute from the airport to the channel via bus, take a water taxi across the channel to Santa Cruz Island, and then take a bus 45 minutes south to the opposite end of the island — to Puerto Ayora

Regardless of which islands you’re planning to visit during your Galapagos Islands trip, most will likely include some time spent in Puerto Ayora, the most populated urban center on any of the islands. Not only is it the most populated “city” with the most to do, but it’s also a starting point if you wish to travel to any of the other islands.

Here’s what you need to know about Puerto Ayora on Isla Santa Cruz. [Read more…]

Last Updated on January 17, 2025

5 Things To Know Before Visiting the Galapagos Islands

The Galapagos Islands are unlike anywhere I’ve ever visited before. But in advance of our trip, I actually didn’t do a ton of research because I felt overwhelmed. First of all, most information out there seems to pertain to cruises, and we obviously weren’t doing a cruise. And second, a lot of it comes from travel agencies trying to convince you to book their tours and services.

When we went, I kind of just showed up for our flight and figured it out from there. Which worked out! But not everyone loves traveling that way. So, now that I’ve been there, I thought it would be a good idea to share some of the things I wish I’d known before we went.

[Read more…]

Last Updated on December 12, 2024

How To Visit the Galapagos Islands Without a Cruise

galapagos islands without a cruise - feature image

If you know me, and the way I travel, I like to do things independently when I can. For example, a lot of people visit Alaska by taking a cruise, but not me — my friend Megan and I rented a car and spent a week driving nearly 2,000 miles through the state’s wilderness.

When it was time to plan our trip to the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador, I felt the same way. A lot of the information out there related to visiting the Galapagos is about what cruises you can take. I had to work harder to find what I needed about visiting on our own. It wasn’t easy, but I’m here to share with you to make it easier to plan your trip to the Galapagos Islands without a cruise. [Read more…]

Last Updated on February 8, 2023

7 Coffee Shops in Quito, Ecuador, With Wi-Fi

One of my favorite coffee shops in Quito

Now that I’m living that #digitalnomad life, I’m spending a lot of time working from places that aren’t my home. But truthfully, I’ve always been a sucker for working from places that aren’t home. Whether it’s my weekly coffee dates with myself in Kansas City (every Thursday) or my quest to find the best cafes with Wi-Fi in Madrid, me + coffee + my laptop is my dream work combination.

Interestingly, it wasn’t always easy to find Wi-Fi in Madrid. Especially if you weren’t in the city center — where if you did find it, it was almost certainly already crowded with people. But I’m happy to say that the situation is quite different in Quito, at least in my experience. I’ve been lucky enough to find lots of coffee shops in Quito, in my neighborhood, that have great coffee and fast Wi-Fi. [Read more…]

Last Updated on August 31, 2023

Top 5 Things To See in the Historic Center of Quito, Ecuador

Historic Center of Quito

When we arrived in Quito, it was a Sunday. Monday through Wednesday had been spent getting settled in, buying groceries, checking out our new neighborhood, and catching up on work. But by Thursday, I was ready to see what “downtown” Quito had to offer. Matt and I wrapped up work for the day and then decided to take a trip into the Historic Center of Quito, or the Centro Histórico.

Considering that it’s about 4 miles from our place, we decided to take a taxi. Using Cabify, it only cost a couple of dollars. I put in our destination as Plaza de San Blas, which was kind of a mistake because I didn’t know anything about centro histórico yet… haha. But it was fine, and we were able to see everything we wanted to within walking distance. [Read more…]

Last Updated on October 5, 2023

Why You Should Visit the Teleférico in Quito, Ecuador

Do you like mountains? What about great views? Awesome photos for Instagram? Overall really fun days? If you answered yes to any of these, then I can’t recommend Quito’s Teleférico, or “TelefériQo” enough.

While we’re in Quito, there are so many day trips that we want to take over the weekends. I was disappointed to look at the Saturday forecast on Thursday/Friday to find that the weather outlook for the whole country was fairly depressing — nothing but rain. So we decided to stick close to home in Quito and see what we could find to do around here.

Saturday morning we went to brunch and checked the forecast again. There wasn’t supposed to be any rain until later in the afternoon. We knew that taking Quito’s cable car up the side of the mountain was on our list, and it wasn’t far away. So we booked a taxi with Cabify. [Read more…]

Last Updated on December 8, 2024

How To Visit the Mitad del Mundo (the Equator) in Ecuador

You know why Ecuador is called “Ecuador,” right? Obviously, it’s because the Equator passes through it! While 12 other countries around the world can also claim that honor, Ecuador is the only country named after it.

Knowing how close it was to us, we figured we’d take a day trip up there at some point. And as our first full weekend in Quito dawned bright and early — and with minimal chances for rain — we said, why not today? [Read more…]

Last Updated on February 2, 2024

Hola, Ecuador!

Finally, finally… we are in Quito, Ecuador.

There’s not much else to say about how much we’d been anticipating this trip. I’ve already said it all, and I don’t want to repeat myself too much. Feel free to read more here, and here, and here if you want the whole background on the situation.

But now, we are here. And I’m so excited to have something to write about again!

I guess I’m going to start by sharing the story of our travels and everything that we needed to get into Ecuador. Here we go! [Read more…]

Last Updated on September 1, 2023

The Quito Countdown Is On…

23 months since my last international trip. 20 months since the COVID-19 pandemic took over the Western world. And 18 months after we originally planned this… our Ecuador trip is only a little more than one month away!

To be clear, we’ve postponed this trip several times. Back in February, I was wondering whether we might finally make it work in 2021 — along with musings of other potential travel destinations (none of which panned out). Luckily, we had a much better 2021 than we did 2020. With trips to Milwaukee, the Pacific Northwest, Ann Arbor, and several visits to Washington DC, we were able to scratch the travel itch — at least domestically.

But after all this time, lots of waiting, three COVID vaccine doses each, and Ecuador passing the U.S. on the percentage of their population being fully vaccinated, we decided: it’s finally time. [Read more…]