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 Salcedo is a town in central Ecuador between Latacunga and Ambato, about 100km south of Quito. Salcedo is know especially for its icecream (helado), yes.... the helado is so important to this small town that the population even constructed a "Helado-Monument" at the northern town entrance.
Helado de Salcedo is made by filling in an empty mold or cup with layers of flavor, which are milk-based. For example, they’ll pour in a layer of strawberry and let it freeze then adding a layer of naranjilla let it freeze again and at the end adding a layer of dulce de leche. When they do the last layer, they put a stick in it for you to hold. The end result is a hunk of ice cream, roughly cone-shaped, with two to three layers home made ice cream. The Helados de Salcedo are extremly tasty. The oldest shop was founded in 1954 by a family near the central plaza. Today you find the shops everywhere in this small town. All shops look similar as the shop on the photo. |
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 Last weekend we organized a Tour for one of our repeat customers who travels for 9 years with us regularly to Ecuador. The journey to San Jose de Minas, about 90 minutes drive north-west of Quito is already an adventure. The real experience starts when entering the "Cala-Valley", at about 20 minutes drive on dirt roads westwards from San Jose de Minas.
Napoleons Nicolalde's colonial hacienda lies on a beautiful setting, at about 2000 meters above sea level on a terrace overlooking the whole Cala-valley. Typical for this region, the hacienda is mainly a dairy farm, but produces also Banana, Naranjilla, Mandarins, Advocado, Tree Tomato, Platain and Coffee in its gardens.
Napoleon has also horses and if time permits, he is more than happy to show to the visitor his pictureesque valley on horseback, guide you through the gardens and share with the guest a typical meal in the "comedor" of his hacienda.
This is definitely an interesting day out from Quito for those who are curious travelers and/or are tired of the "normal" tourist attractions. |
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 One of the ways to explore world cultures is to learn and experience its culinary specialities. Exactly that are we organizing for you if you participate in one of our "Culinary Adventures" which we organize typically in Quito. In a large city like Quito, with such a lot of history and secrets, the gastronomy is a true adventure. Visit with us one of Quito's largest food markets and enjoy the friendlyness of the market vendors and trying species, fruits and vegetables you have probabely never heard about before. I guarantee that these market visits will stay in your memory for ever, and are much more interesting than a visit to a handycraft market. Then we invite you to our private departement where you cook with your own chef an ecuadorian meal of your choice. You know that typical food has the best taste when you cook it at home, we know that too and for this reason we bring you to our private department in Quito's old town where you cook together for your own private Chef in a homy athmosphere. We can organize this event for lunch or dinner from Monday to Saturday. Let us know if you prefer to stay in the department instaed of a hotel overnight, we are more than glad to organize that for you. We are specialized in "perfect" experiences!
Experience the delights of Ecuador Adventure Holidays designed to help you experience new worlds:
Coffee Tours Culinary Adventures Discover Ecuador Galapagos Garden & Flower Tours
Honeymoon Getaways Horseback Riding Rainforest Explorations Trekking & Mountaineering |
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 Cayambe about 70 km north east of Quito has much more to offer then just the "Biscochos". Cayambe Volcano is the third highest mountain in Ecuador with an altiude of 5790 meters (18996ft) and lies on the eastern cordillera of the Ecuadorian Andes. His ubication is the reason why the Cayambe Volcano is often covered with coulds and probabely for this reason not attracting huge crowds of visitors.
On a nice weather day, a very interesting visit from Cayambe are the San Marcos Lakes located about 20km east of Cayambe. Drive from Cayambe to Ayora and from there to Olmedo. In Olmedo you start to drive up to the Paramo who surrounds the Cayambe Volcano. Unfortunately there are no road signs, you have to ask your way up to the gate to the Ecological Reserve "Cayambe - Coca". At the gate you pay USD 2.-- per person (foreigners USD 10.-- per person) to continue your way up through breathtaking mountain sceeneries. When you reach the highest point of the road at over 4000 meters (13123 ft), you can see the San Macos Lagoon on your left below you in a valley, surrounded by green hills. At the lake is it possible to camp or to hike arround the lake.
This tour is a acomfortable Day tour form Quito or from Otavalo for those who like to see something else than the normal touristic attractions. A 4x4 vehicle and a map is strongly recommended. As often in Ecuador the Ecological Reserve Officier who collects the Entrance fee doesn't have any information materials he can give you. |
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 In this picture you see the Cuellaje Coffee Hacienda where we will stay overnight when we arrive at the Intag Valley on our Coffee Harvest Tour. Cuellaje is a very remote village at the Entrance of the Intag Valley at about 1800 meters (5900 ft) above sea level. The normal visitor has not discovered this region yet, it is at least a 2 day journey form Quito in a private car.
Cuellaje is jewel of a village, it lies in a small side valley of the Intag Valley, between the “Paramo de Pinan” a large plain at an altitude of about 3500 – 4000 meters (11480ft – 13124ft) and the turbulent Intag Valley with the turbulent Apuela River.
This region produces one of the best Coffees in the Valley. Unfortunately are the access roads not in very good conditions and at the moment a 4 x 4 is recommended.
Source: http://coffeetour.ec/ |
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