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Published: February 22nd 2009
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In February 2009, our family, two adults and two children, ages 12 and 9, headed to Ecuador for a week of hiking, biking, and riding in the Andes. We planned to spend six nights north of Quito near Ottavalo at Hacienda Cusin, a 500 year old estate, for six nights, and then spend one night south of Quito in Cotopaxi National Park at Hacienda Hato Verde, a family owned Inn. In Cotopaxi, our plan is to mountain bike down the tallest active volcano in the world. We plan to finish the trip with a day in the old city of Quito and a visit to the Mitad del Mundo ("Middle of the World") or Equatorial monument.
We are writing this report as we go.
We arrived in Quito early afternoon and were promptly picked up by Palermo, Hacienda Cusin's (www.haciendacusin.com) driver. The Hacienda is about 2 hours from the Quito airport. Cusin is a large compound with stables, library, tv room, dogs, horses, turkeys, rabbits and llama. The bar and living room had board games and classical music playing. Our room was decorated with antiques, but was a little tired. Cusin also has a game room with pool table,
ping pong, and a squash court.
On Sunday, our first day, we hired Washington, an English speaking driver ($15.00 per hour) and traveled to the Condor Parque, a non-profit animal rescue center for large birds of prey. This is a must see facility doing great work. We moved on to Ottavalo, the famous market town. The craft market is a bit disappointing, lots of the same stuff, though we are told that Saturdays are the best day to visit---this was Sunday.
On Monday, we again hired a driver, Angel ($12.00 per hour, non-English speaking) who took us to Agato and Peguche, two nearby towns famous for "back-strap" weaving, an ancient method of creating tapestries and clothing. Traveling in this area, you really get to see how the Andean highland people live. It's truly eye-opening and alot of fun to interact with the local citizens. We finished our morning tour with a stop in Cotocachi a somewhat upscale town that specialized in very reasonably priced, but wonderful, leather goods. On Monday afternoon, we took a 2 hour horseback ride from Cusin through the Gulavi valley and again saw the local indigenous people up close.
On Tuesday, we had
sun...for the first time. We hired a non-English speaking driver, Olgar, and headed to Cuicocha ("Guinea Pig Lake"). Cuicocha is an active caldera, or volcanic crater lake. There is a very difficult five hour hike around the lake, but we opted for the 90 minute version. We then took a 30 minute boat ride in the crater and observed the wildlife and gases bubbling up from the lake bottom. In the afternoon, we took another horseback ride to the base of the Imbaburra volcano, a two hour ride from Cusin. This ride was very agressive, almost 80% running up and down the hills. This was a true highlight and the reason we went to Cusin. While my daughter and I rode, my wife and son rode bikes in the nearby town to Cabanas del Lago, a small hotel with on the lake, and played mini-golf Ecuadorian style.
On Wednesday, we headed north with the driver Angel to Cochasqui, a ninth century pre-incan archeological site. Sadly, the site is hardly excavated, but was clearly a large imposing very important site. Lunar and solar 9th century calendars have been excavated and our guide Jenny did a nice job of explaining everything
to us. The site has an incredible view of Quito and the volcanos in the distance. Moreover, there is a herd of now-wild llamas and horses on the site, including a 2 minute old llama calf that was struggling to stand. On the way back to Cusin, we stopped for traditional "bizcochos", cookies made from lard, sugar, and flower, that are great with Ecuadorian coffee. On Wednesday afternoon, my daughter and I again took an agressive (though without running) horseback ride to the Upper Riconada Valley, high above Cusin with incredible views on a very narrow, rugged path. Wednesday night, Mr. Nick Millhouse, Cusin's owner, joined us for dinner and kept us entertained with his description of Ecuador over the last 25 years.
On Thursday, we hired Angel again to take us to Quito. After five nights at Cusin, we were ready for some modern amenities. Cusin was beautiful, but a bit tired and runned down. We had Angel take us to the "Mitad del Mundo" (Middle of the World) and we had fun at the Inti-Nan Solar Museum, where you can learn about the strange powers of the equator and why drains spin different directions in the northern
vs. southern hemispheres. From there, Angel took us to Old Quito, where we saw the Church of San Francisco and the presidential palace. We even saw President Correia's motorcade pass by. Old Quito is a beautiful UNESCO world heritage site that requires alot of time to enjoy. From there, we headed to the artisan market in the touristy "Mariscal Sucre" neighborhood in new Quito and then settled in at the beautiful JW Marriott. We enjoyed the warm pool and modern amentities after Cusin. Of note, we had a spectacular dinner at Restaurant Carmine (pronounced Car-Min-ay)...amazing Italian food right in Quito.
On Friday, we had the time of our lives. At 8:00 a.m., Jan, the famous "Biking Dutchman" (www.bikingdutchman.com) picked us up in his land cruiser and took us two hours away to the famous Cotopaxi National Park, home of the Cotopaxi volcano, the tallest active volcano in the world. After some practice biking on flat areas near a lake in the park, we drove to the hiker's refuge at almost 16,000 feet and then rode our bikes down hill down this moon like landscape. This was the greatest experience of the trip. After the dramatic downhill thousands of feet
on the winding road, we continued on some downhill paths and stopped for a picnic. Jan brought us roast chicken, macaroni, spinach pie, and brownies. We then drove to an Inca ruin in an empty area of the park and then biked down hill back to the park entrance on the Pan American highway. We overnighted at the spectacular working dairy farm Hacienda Hato Verde (www.haciendahatoverde.com) and enjoyed dinner with a nice group of travelers and with Cesar and Maria, the owners, and their children.
On Saturday, we awoke to a homemade breakfast including Hato Verde's home made dairy products--yogurt, pot cheese, milk, cream, and breads, right from the farm. Jan, the biking dutchman, picked us up at 10:00 a.m. and took us to Quito for one more down hill bike ride on an old "rail to trail" path in a valley in Quito. The ride, only about 10 minutes, took us through three abandoned railroad tunnels, a real thrill.
We left Quito for home on Saturday with nothing but memories, photos, and souvenirs. This was an amazing trip that any family can and should enjoy.
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