The most continental part of Ecuador is one of the most unknown areas of this country, but not less fascinating for a traveler eager for authentic experiences and willing to be surprised by landscapes and people that never disappoint.
When you arrive in Quito, the first thing you see are the typical narrow streets and colonial houses so beautiful and characteristic of the capitals of the region. It is surprising to see the enormous work of restoration of the historic center, the monumentality of its colonial architecture and the fact that despite being a cultural area that attracts tourism, it still breathes the spirit of a neighborhood inhabited by local people.
Looking for small and charming hotels that breathe the flavor of the new Quito, the Hotel Illa stands out, designed and decorated by its owners, who transformed a three-story colonial house with a classic structure, fusing contemporary Ecuadorian art with architecture that undoubtedly surprises.
Walking around the city, the visit to the Cathedral of Quito, is a must. Quito’s museums are simply extraordinary. The Man’s Chapel and the Oswaldo Guayasamín House and Foundation are the legacy of a universal artist, the size of Picasso. The private collection of the museum of pre-Columbian art, La Casa del Alabado, contains pre-Columbian pieces over 3,000 years old of stunning beauty and precision. The entire collection revolves around the mysticism and spirituality of an ancient culture unknown to most travelers.
Haute cuisine is also slowly making its way into Quito. Daniel Maldonado is the owner and chef of the restaurant Urko, a name that means “mountain”. Trained in the kitchens of Spain, Maldonado returned to Ecuador to express a new way of understanding his country’s cuisine. In the Urko restaurant he offers some themed menus based on the “Raymis”, the ancestral celebrations that the old inhabitants of Ecuador celebrated, coinciding with the changes of season. Thus, at each time of the year, Urko’s dishes are prepared based on those local seasonal products in what is a totally sustainable gastronomic concept.
Already in the interior of the country, in Otavalo, it is possible to know the last artisan loom of the zone, since nowadays everything is imported from China. Its legendary artisan shows his cultivation of chinchillas, some insects with whose blood he obtains an intense red and purple for the dyes of his ponchos, blankets and carpets, or the dozens of flowers used to dye his sheep, alpaca and vicuña wools.
In the neighboring town of Ibarra, a century-old estate with a large stone cross in its courtyard stands out. A 17th century colonial town turned into a luxury hotel and a foundation.
This agricultural and livestock production hacienda, called “Hacienda Zuleta”, is a jewel, synonymous with luxury, tradition and wildlife. It belongs to the former President of Ecuador, Galo Plaza Lasso, and inside it there are an endless number of family stories related to his cheese factory, ecological gardens, embroidery workshops and an incredible project for the conservation of condors and Andean bears directed by Jan, a French biologist already with an Ecuadorian accent after so many years in the area.
One of the best experiences at the estate is a horseback ride through the valley, where the only protagonist is the landscape, featuring nothing less than volcanoes over 6,000 meters in depth. Through its foundation, Hacienda Zuleta vertebrates the integration of the entire valley with projects of education, environmental conservation and local community development. www.fundaciongaloplazalasso.org
In the Ecuadorian capital of the Amazon, Orellana, the adventure arrives with 3 nights and 4 days aboard the ship Anakonda, an authentic floating hotel, fantastic to travel with the family and children through the Amazon jungle.
Sailing through the Amazon, the local guides, who know every inch of the area, reveal the wonders of an overflowing nature. In the different landings, together with the women and children of the villages, they explain how they extracted the sap from the trees to make glue or how they fermented the fruits to produce some liquor.
The truth is that Ecuador never ceases to surprise us for a minute. Visit the Cotopaxi National Park, where El Chimborazo, the highest active volcano in the world, is located. Even higher than Everest from the base; or the well-known Avenue of the Volcanoes, where you can see, one after the other, volcanoes full of snow and glaciers, and with an altitude of more than 5,000 meters.
More curiosities about this country… Ecuador is the second largest exporter of roses in the world, after Colombia. From the moment a rose is cut, it passes through the auction market in Amsterdam, until it reaches a flower shop in Madrid, it can take as little as 24 hours. This flower industry is changing the social structures of the Valley. The plantations only employ women, who for the first time receive a direct fixed salary and do not depend solely on the income that their husband can provide.
The famous ‘Panama hat’ is 100% Ecuadorian, but it took this name because it was used in the construction of the Panama Canal. These hats, 100% of vegetable origin, are made by hand in a workshop in Quito and can cost up to 1,500 dollars for the highest quality.
