Is it a bad time to travel through Ecuador?

A huge part of planning a long- (or short for that matter) distance motorcycle trip is thinking about what the best time is to undertake the adventure. Generally, your adventure is going to be a lot more enjoyable and pleasant if you pick the best season or time of the year. Nobody wants to ride through Africa in the rainy season or in Siberia in the midst of winter. So, planning is essential. 

When I type in 'best time to visit Ecuador', Google advises me to visit Ecuador in June to September because it will be dry and sunny then. But, I was so desperate to go back to South America to finish my journey to Alaska that I didn't check what the weather would be like in November and December. Nor did I care. Come rain or shine, I shall persist and continue the ride. At least that is what I thought. 

So far, it has rained pretty much every afternoon in Ecuador. At first, I thought it was just my own fault of being here during the 'wrong' months of the year. Until I read an interesting article. Turns out, we are dealing with another La Niña year. 

La Niña and Ecuador

Perhaps you are only familiar with her counterpart, El Niño. Both phenomenons are climate patterns that affect weather patterns all over the world. An El Niño or La Niña episode typically lasts 9 to 12 months, but can sometimes last for years. 

The La Niña effect occurs less often, but when it does, it means that more warm waters are being pushed towards Asia because of strong westerly winds. As a result, deep, cold water comes to the surface, west of the Americas. 

The effect of the upwelling of this cold water is that places like Australia and Indonesia are going to receive lots of rainfall and probably experience flooding. The south of the USA becomes drier, whereas its northern part and Canada will experience heavier rainfall. The hurricane season in Central America is often more active during La Niña, causing heavy rainfall, floods and landslides. And as for Ecuador, heavy rainfall is what she will receive. 

That is not very good news for me as I will be traveling through Ecuador, Colombia and Central America in the coming months.

Crime and Ecuador 

On top of that, 2021 hasn't been a good year crime-wise either. Ecuador declared a state of emergency over a crime wave that hit the country and due to several deadly prison riots. It turns out that Ecuador has changed from being a drug trafficking country (not good) to a drug consumer country (worse) as land borders with neighboring countries have been closed due to the pandemic. 

Like many other countries in the world where I've traveled that have big internal crime problems like this (think: South Africa), you don't notice much of it as a motorcycle traveler. Unless you get massively involved in drug trade or other criminal activities, of course. Staying out of bad neighborhoods in big cities and not riding at nighttime will generally do the job. When you explore mountains and other remote areas on your motorcycle during the day, all you will encounter are lovely people that are pretty excited to meet you. In that sense, Ecuador feels safe and not dangerous at all.

Spectacular Ecuador

That leaves the question: is it a bad time to travel to Ecuador? I think it's always a good time to travel to Ecuador, as it's a spectacular country with incredible nature, friendly people and good food (important!). You can't go very wrong here! 

And as for La Niña. Yes, it may not be the best time to be here. But as these big climate patterns have global effects, there are many other countries that also suffer from it. In a way, there is just no escape of La Niña. And I guess that's also part of traveling, experiencing how a nation handles conditions other than just sunshine and blue skies. Seeing how it's like to live in a place when it gets tough. 

The most significant thing for me is to be back on the road again,  exploring and experiencing as much as I can, so I can share it with you. No matter, rain or sunshine!