We headed out of Quito to spend a couple of nights in an old hacienda, thanks to Euan's family who pooled together and gave us that as a combined birthday present. The hacienda (La Cienega) is near Lasso, a bit of a backwater town on the Panamerican highway that is a very busy stretch of road that runs through many towns and small settlements in Ecuador.
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People have no other option but to cross the main drag on foot and I don’t know how they don’t get hit as some of the driving has to be seen to be believed. This guy had to wait quite a while for a gap in the trucks before dragging his cow across.
The buses in Ecuador are crazily cheap – like US$1.00 each for a two-hour bus trip and personalised drop-off (albeit on the side of the highway). It was raining (again) when we were dropped off so we waited for a while before catching a lift on the back of a ute that took us to the hacienda.
Le Cienega is a lovely old place with a 500m long avenue of eucalyptus trees as a driveway. This is the driveway from the 3rd floor of the Hacienda.
There was a central garden and the main house formed one side of the square
and there was even a tiny chapel.
These corridors surrounded the four sides of the central garden and off them were either huge lounges with two massive fireplaces in each, or bedrooms (also with fireplaces). The restaurant also looked out onto the garden from one of these corridors.
It was cold and wet almost the entire time we were there so the fires were kept lit and it was lovely to be curled up in front of a fire with a book. A bottle of red wine would have completed it but wine is heavily taxed in Ecuador so a bottle (or even a glass) was a ridiculous price (cheapest was US$32). I had wondered why the airlines only gave you about 75ml when you asked for red wine on a flight. It might have been cold and wet outside but I was toasty warm by the fire!
The main building on its own looks rather worn from the outside (a bit like us!)
but include the setting in the photo and it all looks pretty impressive. We were rather out of place here as most of the others staying looked like they were on a different sort of trip to us!
It was a few days of luxury that was very welcome and to experience the old Ecuadorian style of living was a treat. La Cienega is actually very close to Cotopaxi volcano but we never saw it. Don’t come to Ecuador in the rainy season if you want to hike, climb volcanoes or even see them in remotely pleasant conditions!
View Larger Map
People have no other option but to cross the main drag on foot and I don’t know how they don’t get hit as some of the driving has to be seen to be believed. This guy had to wait quite a while for a gap in the trucks before dragging his cow across.
The buses in Ecuador are crazily cheap – like US$1.00 each for a two-hour bus trip and personalised drop-off (albeit on the side of the highway). It was raining (again) when we were dropped off so we waited for a while before catching a lift on the back of a ute that took us to the hacienda.
Le Cienega is a lovely old place with a 500m long avenue of eucalyptus trees as a driveway. This is the driveway from the 3rd floor of the Hacienda.
There was a central garden and the main house formed one side of the square
and there was even a tiny chapel.
These corridors surrounded the four sides of the central garden and off them were either huge lounges with two massive fireplaces in each, or bedrooms (also with fireplaces). The restaurant also looked out onto the garden from one of these corridors.
It was cold and wet almost the entire time we were there so the fires were kept lit and it was lovely to be curled up in front of a fire with a book. A bottle of red wine would have completed it but wine is heavily taxed in Ecuador so a bottle (or even a glass) was a ridiculous price (cheapest was US$32). I had wondered why the airlines only gave you about 75ml when you asked for red wine on a flight. It might have been cold and wet outside but I was toasty warm by the fire!
The main building on its own looks rather worn from the outside (a bit like us!)
but include the setting in the photo and it all looks pretty impressive. We were rather out of place here as most of the others staying looked like they were on a different sort of trip to us!
It was a few days of luxury that was very welcome and to experience the old Ecuadorian style of living was a treat. La Cienega is actually very close to Cotopaxi volcano but we never saw it. Don’t come to Ecuador in the rainy season if you want to hike, climb volcanoes or even see them in remotely pleasant conditions!
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