I got my bags back on a roll heading out there and I'm ready to go looking real good

in my passport photo.

Amateur Traveler, episode 556. Today the Amateur Traveler talks about

waterfalls and beautiful tropical birds, cathedrals, markets, and lots of hikes

as we go to Loha and Southern Ecuador.

Welcome to the amateur traveler. I'm your host Chris Christensen. We have some

interesting news in the community section after the interview today so

stay tuned for where you might just run into the amateur traveler while you're on an airline.

But first, let's talk about Ecuador.

I'd like to welcome to the show Lily Ann Founts from Lily Ann Founts.com,

coincidentally, who has come to talk to us about Southern Ecuador.

Lily, welcome the show.

Hey, thanks for having me.

And so I talked about Southern Ecuador. We're really going to focus in predominantly on one particular province in southern Ecuador, which is Loha. Yes. And I would say, can we put that on a map? I think most people could probably find Ecuador if you follow the equator

It goes through the country coincidentally enough

Yes, Ecuador is actually the word for equator in Spanish and it is on the equator.

Loha is in the southern part of Ecuador and the province borders Peru to the south, so it's all the way down there.

And then the coastal region of El Oro province

is to the west, and then to the east,

Samora Chincape province, the Amazon region on the east side. So Loha is right there in the middle.

And I don't know that everybody knows that Ecuador has an Amazon region, so that was interesting that you mentioned that. But why are we heading down to this portion of Ecuador?

Well, it's beautiful, and it's a wonderful destination for people who are into hiking and bird watching.

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