Ecuador: a unique vacation from a Sheridan student’s perspective

By ELI BALES
Sheridan High School Student

Editor’s note: The Sheridan Student Column is brought to readers by Sheridan High School’s 10th grade honors English class, taught by Tanya Busailah.

My name is Eli Bales, and I am currently a sophomore at Sheridan High School.

Over the years, I have traveled to many places, but none quite as extravagant as Ecuador. Located in northern South America, one would assume its proximity to the equator would make it a warm, beachy place, but it is quite different from that. Due to its mountainous terrain, the elevation causes the average temperature to be much cooler and much more comfortable (in my opinion) than the heat one may expect while traveling to a beach in a place like Florida. Due to its mountainous terrain, there’s also quite a bit of walking up and down slopes as well as in the city.

I traveled with my parents and brother Zach. We first flew from Indianapolis to Atlanta, Ga., which was about two hours. We stayed there for another couple of hours before flying to the capital of Ecuador, Quito, which was around a five-hour flight. We traveled at night, which allowed us to see the beautiful lights of the city from above.

Eli Bales and his family took a vacation to Ecuador, but it turned out to be far more interesting than a typical trip. (Photo provided by Eli Bales)

After we touched down, we stayed the night in a hotel before meeting with my aunt in the morning. She’s been to Ecuador many times due to her husband, my uncle, being a native. We then grabbed a taxi and traveled to the airport where we flew to another city, Cuenca. There, it is much less crowded due to it being a smaller city as well as a lesser-known tourist destination. We met with my Ecuadorian uncle and took a taxi to the condo where we would stay.

After dropping off our luggage, we almost immediately went out to see the city square, which, luckily, was very close to us. My uncle, the native in our group, gave us a little tour as we checked out the nice little shops. After walking around for a while, we headed back to the condo and started to settle in.

We spent a few days in Cuenca, exploring the city and shopping for souvenirs, and we even went to a hot spring. We eventually met up with some of my uncle’s family, who were fluent in English, and we discussed what we would do next.

The day after that, we packed our stuff into a travel van and went to one of my uncle’s mother’s houses, still in Cuenca. It was a cute little apartment-esque house with a colorful assortment of flowers lining the balcony. We stayed there for a while, and I went out shopping with my uncle’s sister (aunt-in-law) as well as her daughter. We had an excellent meal there, comprised of many different colorful foods, and I discovered a variant of the pineapple called the milagro pineapple. In my opinion, it’s much better than the generic Hawaiian kind. Instead of being bright yellow like you’d expect, it was quite pale on the inside. After that, we finally traveled to our second destination, my uncle’s house, in an area called Eungea.

Before that, however, we traveled to a beautiful ruin of the Inca civilization known as the Ingapirca. Built in the 15th century, it’s about 550 years old and was a checkpoint for messengers of the Incan empire, which itself began in the 13th century and lasted until the late 1500s. We had a great time taking pictures with alpacas and family while also learning about the purpose of the building.

Much higher in the mountains, it was cooler and much less populated than the city. Almost the entire property was a large garden, where my uncle grew many colorful plants as well as cross-bred some unique ones. One of the crossbred plants was particularly interesting, as it was a cross between an orange and another tropical plant I forget the name of. It was bright orange and very sour if not eaten with the skin. My brother was even able to make all-natural lemonade with the bright yellow lemons that flourished around the property. There, we did many fun things, such as helping my uncle’s mother cook, going fishing even higher in the mountains, where it was extremely cold, having a cookout, and cheering for Ecuador as they made their run in the American Cup (a soccer tournament). Up in the mountains was the most enjoyable part of the trip for me.

Don’t let the name of the country fool you. Just because of its proximity to the equator, Ecuador has a rather pleasant climate due to the mountains. (Photo provided by Eli Bales)

After Eungea, we flew back and spent a few days in Quito, where we initially flew in. We went on a tour of many shopping-themed towns on the city’s outskirts, some themes being leatherwork, jewelry, and weaving. On our last day, we did a lot of souvenir shopping, ensuring we got all the good stuff before leaving. We said our goodbyes to my uncle’s family and went on our way back to the U.S.

This trip changed my views on how one should vacation, and I know I will return in the future. I hope everyone has this amazing ability to travel out of the country and experience the unique culture of another country at least once in their lives, as it is one of the most memorable trips you could ever take.