If you’re looking for the most beautiful and undisturbed parts of nature in Ecuador, and are willing to do a little extra work in order to make the visit, you should plan on spending a few days roaming around the Parque Nacional Llanganates. The main entry to Llanganates is at Pillaro, just 20 kilometres north-east of Ambato and reachable by nearly every bus in the area. However, before trying to visit the park, you’ll need to hire a guide—it’ll seem expensive at first, but remember that your guide will provide your way through the park, your food and your transportation. Since there are virtually no packed trails in Llanganates, you’ll have to ride a mule, which will be provided by your guide. The 219,719-hectare park is the most difficult to visit in all of Ecuador—it is mostly mountains, paramo, cloud and lowland forest and is covered in rain, fog, thick forest, impassable peaks and has a terrible infrastructure. However, it is also one of the most pleasurable with optimal viewing of nature and wildlife, including Andean spectacled and other bears, thousands of birds, jaguars, tapirs and hundreds of trees and flowers, including an abundance of orchids.