Let The Ecuador Travel Photography Gallery Take You To The Andes Mountains With Images

The Ecuador travel photography gallery gives you a glimpse of small-town, mountain life in northern Ecuador. Andes Mountains images, native dress, open-air markets - this is an area that screams for good travel photography. All of my image tools were brought into play on this trip(only 10 days) and I would definitely like to go back for more.

Ecuador drapes across the heart of the volcanic Andes Mountains from the Amazon River basin in the east to the Pacific ocean in the west. Bordered by Columbia to the north and Peru to the south, it occupies the mountainous center of the South American continent. The Galapagos Islands are Ecuadorian territory but were not part of this adventure.

I was in the small village of Cotacochi, at 8,000 feet in the northern Andes. Otavallo and the largest indigenous market in the Americas was just minutes away by bus or taxi. Ibarra, a real city of 130,000 residents with a large fish market, was only 30 minutes away. Cotacochi has its own produce and meat market at the central bus station. Small restaurants, bakeries and street-food vendors are all around.

The people of this area are very friendly and honest. The streets and shops are kept clean and neat. Food was uniformly good and safe and I especially liked the local custom of serving popcorn and crispy deep-fried posole with spicy salsa before meals. The official currency is the U.S. dollar - bring lots of small bills and coins as change for larger bills can be hard to come by. Banks with ATM's were easy to find wherever I went. People get up early and go to bed early with the usual dinner hour around 6:00 p.m. After 9:00 p.m. or before 6:00 a.m. the streets are deserted. Natives can be superstitious about photography so I always asked before taking pictures.

Ecuador Photograph