Quilotoa is dog friendly if you can figure out how to get there and it's so beautiful that you should try and figure it out.
Here's what we did...
We drove with Chuki (in a friend's truck) to Latacunga and then from Latacunga you basically just go up the mountains to the west. We stopped to ask someone walking on the street about every 30 minutes or so, just to make sure we were on the right path. You arrive at Quilotoa (you literally can't go any further up) and there is a guard. He didn't say anything about the dog, even though it was a National Park. We paid our $2/person and parked. There are a couple of restaurants and some little stalls where you can buy warmer clothes, but not much. There is a bathroom (in the restaurant) and you can buy water up there too.
The hike itself is a lot of fun. It took us about 30 minutes to go down and then less than an hour to come back up. We packed a picnic lunch that we ate at the bottom, by the water. You can hire a horse to take you back up, although I'm not sure how you would do that with your dog. The ladies that have the horses made it seem like it was no problem, they would just walk Chuki on his leash while we were on the horses. Chuki would not have been happy with that, I'm sure. Plus the hike back up isn't too difficult.
There's another option while at the lake. You can hike all the way around the lake. This path is certainly less busy, but it is supposed to take you about 6 hours. If I would have had my way, we would have hiked around. All I can advise though is to arrive early if this is your plan. By the time we left the whole crater was covered in clouds. It might be cool to hike in clouds, but then again it might not.
We didn't stay the night while there but I do know that this hotel, Quilotoa Crater Lake Lodge, looked very fancy and was right next door. I don't know whether or not they accept dogs. I do know that Black Sheep Inn does accept dogs, although I think they're farther away from the actual crater. When we were going to go to Quilotoa a couple of months ago I had called and asked if we could bring our dog and they were really helpful and said yes, of course!
That was that! It was relatively simple! The hard part is figuring out how to get there. I do know that you can go by bus. What I don't know is if your dog can come in the bus.
A side note - there are a lot of owned but unleashed dogs at Quilotoa. None of them were aggressive but one of them did steal Chuki's big knuckle bone out of his crate when we were getting ready to go.
Have fun and bring your camera!
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Friday, January 14, 2011
Otavalo
Otavalo is a pretty dog friendly town. The hardest thing is figuring out how to get there, but that's about it. Like I said earlier, we hired a van and driver from Le Parc hotel that took 5 people and Chuki to Otavalo and then back to Quito. It cost about $100, I think.
We stayed at Rose Cottage, outside of Otavalo. They have two dogs there and were great about Chuki. They also have a ton of land so Chuki loved running around and playing with the other two. There was an incident over food, but the dogs seemed to work it out on their own. We rented the Casa Chimborazo and Chuki slept inside with us. If your dog is used to sleeping outside, I'm sure you could stay in one of the dorms or private bedrooms.
The main attraction in Otavalo is the market on Saturday morning. Rose Cottage provides a lift in a pick up down to the market for free. So all 5 of us and Chuki piled into the back of the pick up Saturday morning and rode down to the market. There are tons of dogs - strays, owned and leashed - at the market, so no one looked twice at seeing Chuki. The only hard part is there are a lot of people, so if your dog isn't great on a leash with a lot of excitement it can be tiring for you. But definitely doable.
Everywhere we went in to eat, we brought Chuki and no one said anything. He laid under the table, as to be out of the way. Chuki eats natural food so we would just order him an extra serving of rice and some beef or chicken and he'd eat it under the table. Most people were good about giving us either a bag for him to eat out of or a plastic plate.
Taxis were fine about Chuki as well in Otavalo. So transporting him while in the city wasn't a big deal.
All in all, once you get outside of Quito the dog culture changes a lot. Most people have dogs in smaller towns and usually they are bigger dogs so they aren't as afraid of big dogs. A huge relief.
Here's the contact information for Rose Cottage and, again, Le Parc hotel.
Rose Cottage
website - www.rosecottageecuador.com
email - info@rosecottageecuador.com
phone - (+593) 097728115 (They do speak English.)
Le Parc Hotel
website - www.leparc.com.ec
phone - 02-2276800
address - Republica de El Salvador N34-349 y Irlanda
We stayed at Rose Cottage, outside of Otavalo. They have two dogs there and were great about Chuki. They also have a ton of land so Chuki loved running around and playing with the other two. There was an incident over food, but the dogs seemed to work it out on their own. We rented the Casa Chimborazo and Chuki slept inside with us. If your dog is used to sleeping outside, I'm sure you could stay in one of the dorms or private bedrooms.
The main attraction in Otavalo is the market on Saturday morning. Rose Cottage provides a lift in a pick up down to the market for free. So all 5 of us and Chuki piled into the back of the pick up Saturday morning and rode down to the market. There are tons of dogs - strays, owned and leashed - at the market, so no one looked twice at seeing Chuki. The only hard part is there are a lot of people, so if your dog isn't great on a leash with a lot of excitement it can be tiring for you. But definitely doable.
Everywhere we went in to eat, we brought Chuki and no one said anything. He laid under the table, as to be out of the way. Chuki eats natural food so we would just order him an extra serving of rice and some beef or chicken and he'd eat it under the table. Most people were good about giving us either a bag for him to eat out of or a plastic plate.
Taxis were fine about Chuki as well in Otavalo. So transporting him while in the city wasn't a big deal.
All in all, once you get outside of Quito the dog culture changes a lot. Most people have dogs in smaller towns and usually they are bigger dogs so they aren't as afraid of big dogs. A huge relief.
Here's the contact information for Rose Cottage and, again, Le Parc hotel.
Rose Cottage
website - www.rosecottageecuador.com
email - info@rosecottageecuador.com
phone - (+593) 097728115 (They do speak English.)
website - www.leparc.com.ec
phone - 02-2276800
address - Republica de El Salvador N34-349 y Irlanda
Monday, January 10, 2011
Transportation
Transporting a dog in Quito is not the easiest process. 1st of all they aren't, by principal, allowed on public transportation. Some people can get away with it if their dog is small and quiet and they go in the back door. For example, if you have a poodle and you want to take the bus home from the park you probably can. No one will tell you no. But if you have a boxer and you want to take your dog home from the park on the bus, don't even think about it.
As far as taxis, this also depends on the size of your dog. As most people in Quito have small dogs, taxi drivers are fairly accustomed to transporting schnauzers, poodles and other little yappy things. But if you have anything bigger than collie or anything that 'looks' mean than you'll be waiting for a while. It's not impossible to transport dogs by taxi at all, but a lot of people will just shake their finger at you. Something that you can do to help are to call a taxi company and tell them you have a dog. Also it helps to bring a sheet to put down on the seat in the taxi, for some reason this makes them feel better.
Now, as far as long distance travel in Ecuador with a dog. Apparently you can take a dog in the long distance buses. We have never tried because I get to nervous. But that is something I want to attempt before we leave. The way that we'll eventually go about it is we'll take a taxi to the Carcelen bus station in the north and we'll go to the counter for our destination and just tell them that we want to take this dog with us. We'll probably have to wait until there is a bus empty enough to be permissible and until there is a driver that is willing to take a dog. We'll have to pay for his seat and we'll probably have to put a diaper on Chuki. It doesn't sound too intimidating but it does intimidate me.
How we've done it before is hire a car. When my parents were visiting us we were able to hire a van from Le Parc Hotel and take Chuki with us in the van. We went to Banos and Otavalo with them. (More details on where to stay and eat later). We were also able to take Chuki to Cotopaxi because the hosteria we stayed at provided a truck for transportation. (More details to come).
Here are some phone numbers for taxi companies and transportation companies in Quito:
Taxi Companies: 098384413 or 022222222
Transportation at Le Parc: 022276800
I'm still looking for the private transportation company that we looked into using. Once I find it I'll post it!
Bottom line, if you have a larger dog your best bet is to have a car. If you don't you'll need a lot of patience, a loose itinerary and if all else fails a good dog sitter!
As far as taxis, this also depends on the size of your dog. As most people in Quito have small dogs, taxi drivers are fairly accustomed to transporting schnauzers, poodles and other little yappy things. But if you have anything bigger than collie or anything that 'looks' mean than you'll be waiting for a while. It's not impossible to transport dogs by taxi at all, but a lot of people will just shake their finger at you. Something that you can do to help are to call a taxi company and tell them you have a dog. Also it helps to bring a sheet to put down on the seat in the taxi, for some reason this makes them feel better.
Now, as far as long distance travel in Ecuador with a dog. Apparently you can take a dog in the long distance buses. We have never tried because I get to nervous. But that is something I want to attempt before we leave. The way that we'll eventually go about it is we'll take a taxi to the Carcelen bus station in the north and we'll go to the counter for our destination and just tell them that we want to take this dog with us. We'll probably have to wait until there is a bus empty enough to be permissible and until there is a driver that is willing to take a dog. We'll have to pay for his seat and we'll probably have to put a diaper on Chuki. It doesn't sound too intimidating but it does intimidate me.
How we've done it before is hire a car. When my parents were visiting us we were able to hire a van from Le Parc Hotel and take Chuki with us in the van. We went to Banos and Otavalo with them. (More details on where to stay and eat later). We were also able to take Chuki to Cotopaxi because the hosteria we stayed at provided a truck for transportation. (More details to come).
Here are some phone numbers for taxi companies and transportation companies in Quito:
Taxi Companies: 098384413 or 022222222
Transportation at Le Parc: 022276800
I'm still looking for the private transportation company that we looked into using. Once I find it I'll post it!
Bottom line, if you have a larger dog your best bet is to have a car. If you don't you'll need a lot of patience, a loose itinerary and if all else fails a good dog sitter!
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Buying a dog in Ecuador
So, we bought Chuki here in Ecuador. It really was the probably one of the easiest things that we've done here, actually. There are a couple of ways to buy a dog in Quito...
1. (This is what we did.) Look on www.mercadolibre.com. This is a website kind of similar to craigslist/ebay. You can search by animal and by breed. We called one of the guys that said he had boxer puppies to sell and set up a time to come and look. We took a taxi to his address, picked out a puppy, paid him the cash and walked away, proud puppy owners. The guy gave us his immunization records and thats about it. We've never talked to him again. We were happy!
2. You can also buy puppies in Mascotas, the pet store chain here in Quito. These are not puppy mill puppies. The owners of these puppies brought them to Mascotas, instead of putting an add on Mercado Libre. They stay at Mascotas only a couple of days and if they don't tell then they go back to the owners for them to sell on their own. These puppies usually have their first round of shots and records to prove it.
3. You can also buy puppies on the street. These puppies are the same as the Mascotas puppies and the Mercado Libre puppies but really really young. These ones wont have shots or records. You might not even know what kind of breed it is, being mixed. But these puppies are usually SUPER cheap. I have a nervous feeling about these, because I'm not sure what happens to them if they don't sell.
So those are the three ways, that I know of, to buy puppies in Quito. Enjoy!
1. (This is what we did.) Look on www.mercadolibre.com. This is a website kind of similar to craigslist/ebay. You can search by animal and by breed. We called one of the guys that said he had boxer puppies to sell and set up a time to come and look. We took a taxi to his address, picked out a puppy, paid him the cash and walked away, proud puppy owners. The guy gave us his immunization records and thats about it. We've never talked to him again. We were happy!
2. You can also buy puppies in Mascotas, the pet store chain here in Quito. These are not puppy mill puppies. The owners of these puppies brought them to Mascotas, instead of putting an add on Mercado Libre. They stay at Mascotas only a couple of days and if they don't tell then they go back to the owners for them to sell on their own. These puppies usually have their first round of shots and records to prove it.
3. You can also buy puppies on the street. These puppies are the same as the Mascotas puppies and the Mercado Libre puppies but really really young. These ones wont have shots or records. You might not even know what kind of breed it is, being mixed. But these puppies are usually SUPER cheap. I have a nervous feeling about these, because I'm not sure what happens to them if they don't sell.
So those are the three ways, that I know of, to buy puppies in Quito. Enjoy!
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Our Story
For the first post, I thought I should say a little bit about who we are, why we are in Ecuador and how we got a dog here.
First of all, I'm Taylor. I am currently teaching English in Quito, Ecuador. I am originally from outside of Chicago, IL. I live with my boyfriend, Ryan. Also from IL. We've been together for 3 years and we've always known we wanted to get a dog. It wasn't until about a year ago that we decided on a breed: boxer. Ryan is also an English teacher, so both of our schedules are really flexible. We've both never had a dog before. This is the first.... HELLO LEARNING CURVE!
We bought Chuki in Quito, on March 5, 2010. We're planning on taking him home with us, back to IL, in May of 2011. Then to Korea sometime later in 2011. That's a lot of traveling for a dog, we know.
Ryan and I weren't English teachers back in the States. Ryan worked retail and I was working in fundraising. The long and the short of it is, we were tired of boring jobs and being overworked and underpaid, so we got our TESOL certificates and here we are. We've never regretted it and we've never regretted getting a dog.
Living in Quito with a dog is really not a problem. The problem is that everyone is afraid of the boxer breed. Really anything bigger than a schnauzer is too big here in Quito. So, it's been hard in that sense. But more on that later.
What I'll be sharing with you on this site is where you can go in Ecuador (specifically Quito) with a dog. How you can get there and what you can do while you're there. I'll also share other little pieces of information that come up along the way.
I'm making a gross generalization here but I would assume that the dog atmosphere would be similar in most South American countries. So whether you're moving to Ecuador, you live in Chile or you're traveling through Colombia I would assume there are major similarities.
If you have any questions or if you know of an easier way to do things with a dog, please please please let me know. seriously.
First of all, I'm Taylor. I am currently teaching English in Quito, Ecuador. I am originally from outside of Chicago, IL. I live with my boyfriend, Ryan. Also from IL. We've been together for 3 years and we've always known we wanted to get a dog. It wasn't until about a year ago that we decided on a breed: boxer. Ryan is also an English teacher, so both of our schedules are really flexible. We've both never had a dog before. This is the first.... HELLO LEARNING CURVE!
We bought Chuki in Quito, on March 5, 2010. We're planning on taking him home with us, back to IL, in May of 2011. Then to Korea sometime later in 2011. That's a lot of traveling for a dog, we know.
Ryan and I weren't English teachers back in the States. Ryan worked retail and I was working in fundraising. The long and the short of it is, we were tired of boring jobs and being overworked and underpaid, so we got our TESOL certificates and here we are. We've never regretted it and we've never regretted getting a dog.
Living in Quito with a dog is really not a problem. The problem is that everyone is afraid of the boxer breed. Really anything bigger than a schnauzer is too big here in Quito. So, it's been hard in that sense. But more on that later.
What I'll be sharing with you on this site is where you can go in Ecuador (specifically Quito) with a dog. How you can get there and what you can do while you're there. I'll also share other little pieces of information that come up along the way.
I'm making a gross generalization here but I would assume that the dog atmosphere would be similar in most South American countries. So whether you're moving to Ecuador, you live in Chile or you're traveling through Colombia I would assume there are major similarities.
If you have any questions or if you know of an easier way to do things with a dog, please please please let me know. seriously.
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