Covid-19 INFOS

Update on July 18th, 2022

The new normal of travelling to Free Spirit Hostel Ecuador

Here is all the information you need to know to plan your trip to visit us in Puerto Engabao, Ecuador.

After being closed for several months due to the pandemic, we are more than ready to welcome international guests again!

Our hostel is still the same beautiful and amazing beachfront spot in a remote, uncrowded beach town in Ecuador. We spent the time to make some small changes to make our spot even more cozy and breathtaking.

Hostel Rules Concerning COVID-19:

We do not enforce any strong COVID restrictions while staying at hostel except enhanced cleaning of our facilities and providing sanitizer everywhere. We do not require guests to wear masks while at the hostel but we trust all our guests will maintain physical distancing as much as possible and act in a responsible manner. However, we will monitor everyone checking in at the hostel by asking questions and taking their temperature.

VACCINATION:

We do not require our guests to be fully vaccinated to stay at the hostel. HOWEVER, we STRONGLY recommend to get vaccinated if you are thinking of travelling to Ecuador and especially to our beautiful village of Puerto Engabao. Not because at the moment, it is a country or place known to have a lot of cases, but rather because a big part of the population have very limited access to healthcare services and getting the virus here poses a bigger threat than contracting it anywhere else (Ex: Canada). Please be considerate of where you are travelling if you choose not to get vaccinated.

ENTERING ECUADOR:

(source: http://www.tagsa.aero/en_aeropuertojjo.html)

To insure the safety of the population of Ecuador, the government requires that all passengers arriving to Ecuador on international flights must have a negative RT-PCR COVID-19 or antigen test result taken no more than 72 hours before their flight, or a vaccination card with all doses applied and issued no less than 14 days before their flight. Finally, passengers also need to fill the Traveler’s health form (download here: https://www.salud.gob.ec/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/formulario_de_salud_del_viajero_.pdf), which needs to be printed and presented to the airline before your flight. And here are the hostel info to fill the point 3 of the form:

Passengers with the Galapagos Islands as their final destination have additional requirements. All passengers from Brazil or India (including transit) must present a RT-PCR test taken no more than 3 days before arrival plus undergo a 10 day quarantine in either their residence or chosen place of stay (paid for by the passenger), as determined by the National Emergency Operations Committee of Ecuador.

Before booking a flight to Ecuador make sure:

• We strongly advise you to visit the airlines website to verify restrictions/policies.

• We strongly recommend taking travel insurance that covers COVID. Right now, every week there’s some new one getting added to the list but here are some: World Nomads, SafetyWing, HeyMondo, Croix bleue and Medipac.

• We don’t offer refunds for the 30% deposit that you are paying when booking on our website. However, we always accept changing to new dates if you need to cancel if done 48h or more before the time of arrival. Simply send us an email if you need to make changes to your reservation!

Getting tested before leaving Ecuador:

In case you need to get PCR or antigen COVID test, there is now a laboratory in Playas (closest town, 20min by car from the hostel) that can do it for 45$US having your results by 24h and open every day.