With rugged Scottish Highland resembling landscape and mystical forests, entering the trails of Las Cajas National Park is like penetrating another world. It has lush beds of moss and succulents, rolling green peaks, countless reflective lakes, and knobby gnarled trees that fell out of a storybook. And, at only 45-minutes from Cuenca, it’s easily accessible by any bus from the main…
Although many people head to Ecuador solely for an excursion to the Galápagos Islands, we knew that it wasn’t in the wallet cards for us…this time. Thus, we happily settled for Isla de la Plata which is known on the backpacker circuit as “Poor Man’s Galapagos.” The tour agencies say, “Here you can see a small (more like teacup-sized) sampling of…