Heading to Ecuador in July in a group of 4...

We were originally talking about renting our own vehicle, but someone mentioned to me that the roads are unmarked and it might be tough to find our way around.

Any experience with this?

As a second option, we would hire someone for the transportation portion of our trip. One of my partners would like to hire someone on the spot, but I'd feel more comfortable hiring someone ahead of time, from a company that has some sort of reputation.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Depending on your objectives the unguided driving Bird mentions is helpful for Cotopaxi to get your group in the park. All of Freddy's drivers are junior or full guides. While his rates are higher this year over 2007 they are in line with the other groups.

I used his hotel, guides and drivers last year to fit 5 mountains into a 15 day trip. Consider some rest days in Banos if you can. It's a great town. My TR on my profile page might help your planning. Any questions please email or PM.

Ecuador is a great country. I was returning there this year for three weeks until one of my partners had a work conflict. Maybe next year.

Cheers!

It would be hard to find your way to many of the mountains in Ecuador, but the major ones, Coto, Chimbo, Cayambe, Illinizas would not be much of a problem. I think you are required to have a guide on Coto these days. There are signs to Chimbo. For the more fun mountains, Antisana, El Altar, find someone to draw you a map, and then get lost anyway. Actually, as I recall now, you might need a guide, or to purchase an expensive pass in Quito to get into the private land at the base of Antisana. The real danger is going to be the PanAmerican, especially just out of Quito. I´ve been in a bus or with someone else driving that stretch, and have always been fascinated by the fact that I don´t see bodies and burning wreckage strewn everywhere. Enjoy your trip.

Thanks for all the info guys.

A guide required on Cotopaxi, really? Can anyone confirm this? I hope not...

I was in Ecuador in December and January and found it more difficult than expected to hire a car and driver for an extended time at a reasonable rate on short notice. Two different well-known outfitters wanted $140 a day. It seemed that in the high season they were not willing to come down on price and preferred to use their cars and drivers for package deals that included guides. Since my group was going to climb unguided we weren't a high priority for the outfitters. I would suggest trying to arrange transportation ahead of time if possible so you don't waste time when you arrive.

A word of caution on negotiating with the office staff at some of the outfitters. At one outfitter, we thought we had a deal for $100.00 a day and then we were told to come back later in the day to talk to the owner. When he finally arrived in the evening he would not honor the price quoted by his own office staff and insisted on $140 per day. So a deal is not always a deal until you put down your money when it comes to hiring a car and driver.

As to the Cotopaxi guide situation. From what we learned, there is some exam that guides have to pass in order to guide on Cotopaxi and you can not enter the park to climb without one of these guides. What we found is that some of these "guides" just hang out at the park entrance and you hire them to take you into the park. Our "guide" just rode with us to the refuge and went back to the gate with our driver. It cost us $20.00. Our driver did not have to pay a second time or bring a guide to come pick-up us the next day.

No guide was required to get to Chimborazo or any other peak. We just paid a park entrance fee. When we inquired about getting to Antisana, we were told a permit is needed because the whole mountain is on private property. It seems all the guide services can arrange the permit to get there.