March 4 to March 7- Our Trip to Ibarra

The third stop in our two week itinerary was the city of Ibarra. Travelling from Otavalo to Ibarra took less than 45 minutes and again we took a taxi $16, we were getting very spoiled.

http://www.ecostravel.com/ecuador/ciudades-destinos/ibarra.php

 Since we had a map on how to get to our next place to stay, Hosteria Cananvalle, we had no problem finding this jewel.

http://hosteria-cananvalle.com/?lang=en

This Hosteria was located just outside of Ibarra, which is the capital of the province we were in.

The grounds and buildings were beautiful and peaceful- we had opted for this location rather than staying in the noisy city. Remember this whole trip was to get away from the people and noise of Carnaval.

                                     The entrance to Hosteria Cananvalle

                                                   Our cute room

                                          Our view out our door

Since this place was also a working farm, there were hundreds of avocado trees.

                                  And lots of other fruits including pomegranates

                                                   And watermelons

                               And some cute horses and llamas

As well as corn fields, coffee trees (they roasted their own coffee- delicious!) and some sugar cane.

                                       Our wonderful hosts, Doreen and her husband Carlos

We had asked Doreen to reserve tickets for us for the next day on the tourist train that went from Ibarra to the other Salinas ( there are two other towns called Salinas beside the one we lived in). Carlos drove us to the train station the next morning. The tickets for this ride- 2 hours to Salinas, a couple of hours in that town, and then 2 hours back to Ibarra- were $20/person but only $10 for me as I was Tercera Edad (over 65 years old).

http://www.trenecuador.com/index.php/rutas-del-tren/tren-de-la-libertad

                                      The very modern inside of the station

Because we were going the day after Carnaval, only the little one car train was required. Our only travelling companions on this trip were an older indigenous couple from Otavalo.

                                                Leaving downtown Ibarra

For our 2 hour ride we passed through some of the most scenic countryside I had ever seen. From farm land to rugged hill sides, through tunnels and over bridges spanning canyons, we saw it all- truly beautiful.

We finally arrived at our destination, Salinas. This town is populated by the descendants of African slaves brought over to work the sugar cane fields back in the 1700’s.

                          We were greeted by a dance put on by the local women.

After a short time to explore alone and check out the local stores, our guide led us through town and explained some of the local sights, wall murals and their history at the local museum.

Now for my comments on Salinas. This is a very poor town! The only pretty thing there was the inside of the church. A few tiendas ( small stores), one restaurant where we had lunch, and that was it. I loved the train ride but could easily have skipped the town of Salinas. So much more could be done there to make it a better tourist experience. The local population is very poor but very friendly like all of Ecuador.

After a great breakfast (included) at our hosteria, we decided to explore the city of Ibarra the next day. A taxi took us into town- a very short ride $3- and dropped us off at the main church square.

                                                    A lovely park and church

We wondered around until we found another square with some craft stalls and a couple of restaurants. Of course it was that cerveza time yet again.

The lovely women that I bought a pretty blouse from for my great grand baby

We wondered around the streets for several hours taking many pictures. The city was very clean- no garbage on the streets and few stray dogs- the two things I hate most about Ecuadorian towns. And of course, the local people were very friendly. We also saw very few gringos- another plus- LOL

                       Ibarra is also very famous for its ice cream- tastes much like Italian gelato.

 

That evening we had a wonderful dinner at our hotel. Their restaurant also serves lunch and dinner for their guests.

On our last day, we spent some time exploring the farm and hiking to the river at the bottom of the canyon beside the hosteria. Will I ever learn that what goes down must come back up?

The path was very narrow and steep at one side but with the farm dog accompanying us, we managed to get to the bottom.

                                                                     And back up

Later that afternoon we took another taxi back to the Quito airport ($60 for the almost 3 hour trip) in order to meet our plane ride back home to Salinas. Did we have a great two weeks? Definitely! We explored some awesome places, stayed at truly memorable hotels and met many interesting fellow travelers plus all our amazing hosts! But it was nice to get back to our home and sleep back in our own bed.