A life changing journey
March 2013
As I stood in the airport and waved goodbye to my family, I began to wonder if this was the right decision. Here I was. About to embark on my first trip ever, without my family. It felt like a huge step. As a child, I had always been rather quiet in big groups. I wasn’t introverted, I just didn’t talk much. Unless I had something to say of course. I was quite shy as well.
However for as long as I could remember, I had wanted to travel. I grew up in a family that loved traveling, and by the time I turned 19, I had already seen quite a few places. I guess the travel bug was always in me.
However as I stood here, surrounded by strangers that I was about to spend the next three months with, I couldn’t help but think if I had made the right decision.
I had.
Traveling around Ecuador is one of the best decisions I have ever made. Not just due to the beauty of the country, but because of my self development as well. Over these three months I underwent a huge development. No longer shy, or “afraid” to speak in big groups, it’s fair to say that I came back home a changed person. It developed me in other areas as well though. In the beginning of the trip I realized that this is what I wanted to do with my life. Traveling is what I wanted to do. By this time, I didn’t look for ways in which I could make it my lifestyle. Honestly I didn’t think it was possible. It wasn’t until 2018, that I really started to develop my photography and editing skills in order to be able to make photography my way of living. In 2020 I started taking the measures to make it possible. I’m still on that journey.
However let’s backtrack a little and talk about Ecuador.
The trip was meant to be two months adventure travel, and one month doing volunteer work in a school in Galapagos.
As I landed in Quito, it was a whole new world to me. Until this point I had only seen places like this in movies and documentaries. Simply walking the streets of Quito felt like an experience to me. The first days were rather hectic and relaxed at the same time. I tried to take in as much as possible, soaking in everything I could. We didn’t do much in the first days. We entered Spanish school, did a city tour, went to the “center of the earth”.
From Quito we went onwards to Otavalo. For me, this is where the real adventure began. Otavalo is home (at least at the time) to South America's biggest market. Simply being here, observing, felt like stepping back in time, to how the world was hundreds of years ago. I loved the experience. Everything was new and exciting, and I kept photographing everything with my parents’ old point and shoot camera.
Next stop was Mindo, which is the first time we got to explore the beautiful nature in Ecuador. We went waterfall chasing, tubing in the cloud forest and so much more. From what I can remember, this is the first time I ever saw a waterfall this close.
After some time spent relaxing, we continued towards the rainforest. I believe the name of the place was Santo Domingo. The experience was incredible. We went on hikes, saw the shaman, and got to learn about their way of living.
From the rainforest we continued to Montanita. This is probably one of my favorite places in the entire country. I loved the freedom afforded to me, and this is probably the first time I get that “solo travel” feeling. For a week, we did everything by ourselves, with no guide around. We took surf classes, went on snorkel trips, partied on the beach and just enjoyed life. Montanita was amazing, and to this day, one of my favorite places I have ever been. I hope it hasn’t changed too much when I come back!
For the following two weeks we jumped around in the Andes region. We visited local villages high up in the mountains. Trekked two volcanoes, Chimborazo and Cotopaxi. We visited the incredible Quilotoa, spent some time in Cuenca and Guamote and so much more. These two weeks are probably my favorites from my time spent in Ecuador. I absolutely loved the scenery presented to us, and simply enjoyed exploring everything. This is probably the region I’m the most excited to go back and explore in the entire country. I can’t wait to bring my camera and simply photograph everything.
The last two weeks were spent in Banos and the Amazon jungle. Banos is known to be the adventure capital of Ecuador, and there are so many activities to do! We went mountain biking on the waterfall route, we went rappelling, canoeing and river rafting. Banos was incredible!
The last week we spent in the Amazon jungle. This was an absolutely amazing experience. Everything was so beautiful. We spent the time sailing down the Amazon river, we did day and night hikes, spotted caimans and anacondas, visited tribes and local villages and much more. One of my favorite experiences of the trip was to play football with the local kids, deep inside the Amazon. It was an unforgettable experience.
Afterwards we went back to Quito for a day, before flying to the Galapagos.
Now Galapagos was absolutely mind blowing beautiful. The wildlife here is just incredible, and it was such a beautiful experience, it’s almost difficult to describe. During the day I volunteered in a local school for a couple of hours, and in the afternoon I relaxed at the beach, swam with turtles and sea lions and played football with the locals. It is one of my best experiences ever. Also, I met a guy from the Netherlands, Menno, which to this day is one of my absolute best and closest friends. We did everything together, and just had an incredible time.
So yea. This experience changed my life. And I’m so grateful. Grateful for the experiences I had, and grateful for the way my life has turned out afterwards. I’m certain that my life would have been a lot different, had I not gone on this first trip.
Which experience has changed your life?