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Hi Jerry, here is the contact info: MVI Hosteria; Mountain Views Inn; No.9 Aurelio Davila Cajas; Tumbaco, Ecuador. Cell is: 099-502-3336. Local Ecuador phone # is: 02-204-6163 or 02-204-6154. E-mail is: mviecuador@gmail.com.
I see their website is not working and that causes me to wonder. So, don’t know if you want to be our guinea pig or if you want Dan and I to try it first… either way, I love finding out about new places. Even a bad place makes a good story!
Dan is staying at the Quito Airport Suites this coming Sunday, so I will let you know what he thinks after his stay.
I’ve heard rumors of this, but I think that’s all it is…
Hey Jerry, I just remembered another email I received recently from another IL reader about another hotel in the area. It’s called the Mountain Views Inn — and I’ll try to find some contact info.
Here is the email I got:
I had a recent experience when I flew to Quito from Miami. I got in late on Friday night and had made arrangements to be picked up at the airport and be transported to a B&B in the area. My ride never showed after waiting for about an hour so I decided to see if the taxi counter had any ideas about where to stay in the area.
A very nice lady (Veronica) showed me a couple of brochures that had been left at her counter and one of them had prices listed. My phone wasn’t working yet in Ecuador so she offered to call the hosteria for me. He had space available so I caught a taxi ($15) to the hosteria.
The name of the hosteria is MVI Hosteria which stands for Mountain Views Inn. It is located in Tumbaco in the valley just below Quito. The owners name is George (long last name) and he treated me like royalty. He was an architect in New York for twenty six years and speaks perfect English. We talked for hours and the rooms were delightful and roomy and for $30 I found it to be a great bargain.
MVI is located on 2 1/2 acres and has two large houses on it along with a pool, jacuzzi, game room, party room and plenty of guest rooms. He can sleep at least twenty people in the available rooms. The main house has a lovely living room with a melt-into L-shaped couch for watching TV and some sit-up-straight chairs surrounding a fireplace for conversations and games. He also supplies all meals (if you want) for around $5 each.
I was staying for three days so on the second night, he drove me up the hill into Old Quito to the Ronde area which is a long circular street with shops and restaurants. We found a great little restaurant and had some local fair and brews. The trip there was a wild ride because we went up this hill called Ex Calibur that would put Lombardi Street in San Francisco to shame.
On my last day, I packed up his Jeep with my luggage and we headed to Papallata which is about an hour and a half ride up into the mountains northwest of Quito. Papallata is know for their hot springs and I was not disappointed. It was like coming to a five star resorts hot springs. We spent about four hours moving from hot pool to hotter pool. We met many wonderful people travelling from all over the world.
After leaving the springs, we had lunch and he delivered me safely to the airport for my flight to Cuenca. What a wonderful experience—five stars in my book!!From what I am hearing, this hotel is really bad. My husband is scheduled to stay there on the 19th and can’t be dissuaded, so I’ll know for sure after that…. If I were you, I would fly back from Manta early enough to make your stay at one of the other places on my list above worthwhile. I’m looking forward to checking those out….
Can you please attribute this information with a verifiable link? Thank you.
Two places: Cuenca and Montecristi, just outside Manta. Panama hats are made in both these cities.
I couldn’t think of a more descriptive word to use in polite company than “eccentric”… 🙂
Facebook will probably be your best opportunity for something like this. There are some very active Ecuador expats there… and more than a few wanna-bes who will give you bad information, so tread carefully. But…there are pages for various cities (i.e. Cotcachi expats) and one for coastal expats, called Ruta del Sol. There are also some Ecuador Expat Swap pages now, too — more like online flea markets than anything, but these would all probably be good places to post once you get yourself established.
If and when our schedules coincide, I’d be interested in this myself.., so please keep in touch.
By the way, some of the posters on some of these Facebook sites as well as on other forums out there are… eccentric. And some are very critical and love to tear into others. Not sure why that is, but do be aware that you have to be careful of some of the egos….
You can try the expat-owned Hostal Aqui: http://hostalaqui.com/ — if nothing else, they will be able to tell you where you can stay with your pet. (They have dogs themselves so not sure how yours and theirs will get along). Another I’ve heard accepts pets is Hotel Coco: http://www.cocos-hostal.com/cnt/index.pl?cat=4&lang=en
I’ve not stayed at either place so can’t tell you what they’re like. I have stayed at Hotel Amira, though, and you might inquire about their policies: http://hotel-amira.com/ You can either write to them in English or try your hand at Google translate or another internet translation package.
Any of these hotels should be able to arrange transport for you. Be sure to tell them you will need a van and not a taxi.
An English-speaking driver that has been recommended to me is Will Rodriguez: willienavy70@gmail.com; cell: 098-699-2334.
From the US, you’ll call 011 593 98 699 2334. I’ll find you another driver or two as well — watch this space.
Yes, you’ll find bowling alleys in Quito, Guayaquil, Cuenca, Portoviejo… the major cities. But not in the smaller towns.
Good luck, Bill — Nicaragua is a special place.
Hi Gary, and apologies for this delayed answer to your question. I’ve been sick this week, but am back in the saddle.
I did a little research and found this: The Gathering is a Fellowship for the English speaking community of Cuenca, in association with Unsion, Group 608, and Pastor Bill McDonald.
The official launch of this Fellowship is May 5, 2013. Two weekly gatherings will be offered:
Wednesday Worship & Bible Study @ 1:08 PM
Sunday Worship Celebrations @ 10:08 AM
All meetings are at the UnsionTV complex located at Juan Montalvo 7-40 and Mariscal Sucre.
For services times and more information, visit:http://www.captivatingcuenca.com/ or send an email to info@thegatheringec.com
Also, Calvary Chapel has a service completely in English at 10 a.m. very Sunday.
It is on the corner of Av. Solano and Belisario Andrade.
For questions, email matthewcamphuis@gmail.com
Thank YOU, Edmond. There are so many reasons people are looking for options these days — and fortunately it is a big world, with lots to choose from. However, the GMO issue narrows those options considerably. The longer I live out of the States, the more I see how destructive capitalism and big business are. That said, science is wonderful… but it has to be used carefully and thoughtfully.
The question was about Ecuador and its president.
You can drink the tap water in Cotacachi, too. But if you are just visiting — and that’s any place in the world, I’d always drink bottled water. Why ruin a vacation? My son won’t even let me drink the tap water at his home in Phoenix.
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