Month: November 2007

We were fortunate to have received an invitation from Elsa Maria (Jimmy’s wife) to visit her family’s famous Hacienda.  Her family includes two former Ecuadorian Presidents -- Elsa’s grandfather and great-grandfather.  The Hacienda is lovely and is a working farm that produces cheeses sold locally here in Quito, as well as other goodies.  They also provide extensive horseback riding excursions.  We took one to a Condor Sanctuary which is supported by Zuleta – they also provide services to the local town of the same name.  We even saw some wild condors flying around the valley.  Adjacent to the Condor sanctuary is a trout farm, and let me tell you they are VERY tasty.  The food at Zueleta was also wonderful.  I strongly recommend visiting Zuleta if you can someday.  It was a terrific experience, and it was great to spend time with Jimmy, Elsa, Sara, Juaquin and Julian, and Roberto’s son Nicolas who came as well.  We played trivial pursuit (parents versus kids) and the old folks got our butt’s kicked.  Ha ha!  Check below for some pics and video link (last image)