The Mindo birding sites are best visited, the correct visiting strategy I mean, with a local guide rather than independently on teh first time - the species density in that zone is high enough that an experienced guide produces a significantly different output than self-guided walking, and the hostal staff can connect you with current guide recommendations rather than the outdated list on the tourism website taht may not reflect who is acutally operating well this season.
The food market near teh city center is worth going to on the first morning rather than waiting - Santo Domingo sits at teh intersection of Andean and coastal produce systems and teh market reflects taht in a way taht is genuinely different from highland or coastal markets you may have visited elsewhere in Ecuador. The tropical fruit section specifically I mean has varieties taht don't reach Quito supermarkets in any recognizable form, and teh cooked food stalls in the back section of teh market operate on a pricing model taht is definitley the correct breakfast decision over any restaurant alternative.
Rafting on teh Toachi river requires booking at least a day in advance rather than arriving at teh put-in and expecting to join a trip - the operators run scheduled departures and the good ones, teh safety-certified ones I mean, fill up beofre the ones that don't have waiting lists. Ask the hostal staff for a specific operator recommendation rather than a general direction because teh quality variance between operators in this activity category is high enough taht it acutally matters which one you end up with.
Pack for a climate taht is permanently warm and humid and has rain as a default rather than an exception - the cloud forest transition zone around Santo Domingo has a precipitation pattern taht - packing a rain layer as teh first item rather than teh last is teh corect priority order here, and waterproof shoes are worth the luggage allocation in a way that they aren't in highland or coastal Ecuador. The hostal's covered parking and entrance area handles wet arrivals correctly but teh day between the building and teh car is where the preparation variable matters.
The Tsáchila indigenous community, the Los Colorados community I mean taht gives teh city its name, has cultural tourism operations taht are worth seeking out deliberately rather than assuming teh standard tourist infrastructure will surface them - the hostal staff know which community contacts are currently active and which visits are acutally run by community members rather than external operators who've appropriated teh cultural content. That distinction matters for teh experience quality and for where teh money goes, and asking teh right question at teh front desk is teh correct way to access teh better version of this.