The best National Park in Ecuador? Cajas has options for every fitness level. I hike two different areas and the views are stunning!

Need an English speaking guide in Ecuador? I hired my friend Andres to tour the country, he's got an SUV and is a licensed national guide. The best way to reach him is on Whatapp: +593 98 711 9550 and second best by email at andrivet77 AT gmail.com.

We started at Laguna Llaviucu which is an excellent flat hike around a lake that supplies water to Cuenca - and why you can drink the water in Cuenca. It's an amazing spot for birdwatching in Ecuador as you can find the rare toucan here. Normally they are tropical birds but these ones will fly above 3000 ft.

It's also home to the first craft brewery in Ecuador. Although from the 19th century so it's no longer operating.

There are lots of things that you can do here in the National Park in Ecuador. Here for free: you can go hiking, you can go fishing, you can go rock climbing, bird watching - part of hiking. If you want to camp, you can also camp here. It costs four dollars and you should check out where are the recommended areas. You can care where you want, but not all of the good spots are good.

So if you want to camp ask. Otherwise, you're going to be freezing in the middle of the night. Also, you need to bring a stove because camp fires obviously are never allowed here.

There are many places around the National Park in Ecuador to eat trout or "trucha". We chose Dos Chorreras for lunch .This is a spot that people drive to just to eat at this restaurant. So you'll see a lot of people from Guayaquil here and also from Cuenca. If you can't splurge on this restaurant as it's expensive Andres recommends Estancia del Juan.

The second part of hiking was at the Paramo, the highest point you can take your car. Many people come here for the mirador, or look out, to take photos.

You're not allowed to fly your drone in the national park. So, every time you see my drone footage, I'm actually doing it on private land. I follow the rules!

We walked along route #1, which is a well marked hike through Cajas National Park. To keep it around 1.5 hours we walked to the paper tree forest and back.

This type of forest are native of the Andes here in South America. Unfortunately they are critically in danger of extinction in most of the Andes here in South America. This type of tree provides shelter to the living things that live in this harsh ecosystem.

It has name of paper tree because if you look at it this tree sheds layers of its own bark as a way to protect itself from the wind. The wind is the most destructive element here. The wind extracts water and will burn things.

If you're on an extreme budget you can get a bus to Cajas National Park and do a self guided hike. Although there aren't really any interpretive signs and so you're going to miss out on what makes this hike in Ecuador so special.

Hiring a guide isn't expensive. And now more than ever it helps support local tourism. If you want to reach out to Andres for a hike be honest about your fitness ability as there are so many options in Cajas he can help choose the best option.

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00:00 Introduction
02:08: Laguna Llaviucu
06:13 Dos Chorreras
08:03 Locro
09:13 Trout
12:08 Páramo

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