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I want to provide fair warning that this blog post is in part a commercial for www.blacksheepinn.com - major thanks to Mike & Jennifer for suggesting it in the first place! The Black Sheep Inn (BSI) is set in the Cotapaxi/Quilotoa area southwest of Quito surrounded by mountain peaks, rolling hills, farms, and small pueblos. It was 2 buses and 7 hours from Quito but well worth it. The Inn is an eco-lodge that lives up to its designation - 100% vegetarian meals (mostly locally-sourced ingredients and all delicious, finally a shift from the starch plates to eggplant parmesan, salad, veggie stirfrys etc.); composting toilets that have green houses in them and actually smell good (check out photos for more detail); recycling of everything (including covers on tea bags that are reused as scrap paper); great yoga studio (please take note Kimber); zip line; frisbee golf course; beautiful views from every vantage point; and most importantly, incredible hikes from its doorstep (more on those in the next blog post).
Because of our reliance on buses for transport and staying in less expensive places frequented by locals, we have had more Spanish-practice and adventures in navigation, but it has been harder to really get to know people. The advantage of a place like Black Sheep - filled with travelers from all over, but mostly English-speakers - is that there are more kids, more potential playmates, more potential for other travel tips, and a chance to get to know folks from other parts of the world as well as connect with those that have similar cultures/backgrounds to ours. After having such a lovely time at BSI, we plan to try and build a few more stays like this into the trip - although we are proud to be the only guests who arrived via bus (as opposed to hired car).
We made new friends with Marisa and her Aunt Mary from the East Coast, Glenna & Julian & their children Ben & Amelia from the Grand Cayman Islands, 2 twenty-something couples from London, and a family who lives 2 blocks from Zoe's Dad in San Francisco. Not only was it great to have company on some of the hikes during the day - but it was even better to have people to play games with at night. Zoe & Marisa taught everyone Spoons (a fast moving card game that has a musical chairs element using spoons), and the London couples loved it so much that they committed to making it the hot new pub game upon their return home. We even convinced Edmundo, BSI's very helpful manager, to join us on the last night, and his generosity with the vino tinto made it even more racuous with a near wrestling match over the final spoon. Our photos don't do it justice, but suffice it to say that we ended up extending to a 5 day/4 night stay and wished we could have made it even longer!
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Lynae Ok--now I want to plan a trip to Ecuador so I can go here! sending warm greetings from cold South Africa. So great to hear about your adventures!
Holly Kernan Games in the evening--oh my!!