Ecuador

Small town 40 Km outside Quito - Ecuador. The Quito Zoo is located at Guayllabamba. The town is known for the avacados and the chirimoya fruit growing. The cultivated fruits from Guayllabamba are distribute around the region. Then name of the town might be spell also as Guaillabamba or Guayabamba. Guayllabamba is the Quechua for green plain.

Tumbaco is a small town about 18 km's outside Quito. The warm climate makes the town a perfect get away from the big metropolis of Quito. The town is growing exponentially and it has become the hot place for real estate.

Starke is a city located in Bradford County, Florida. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 5,593. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 5,769. It is the county seat of Bradford County.

Montecristi is an old colonial town located 30 kilometers west of Portoviejo, founded in 1628 and the birthplace of the ex-President Eloy Alfaro.

The town is very famous for its straw and basketware and especially renowned for its high quality Panama hat production. There are many stores along the main road selling wooden barrels, wickerwork and many others (very cheap). The village of Montecristi has a main Plaza with a Virgin statue (La Virgen de Montecristi) which is worth a visit. Frequent bus service is available to this town from Manta's bus station.

San Clemente is located some 59 km north of Portoviejo and 20 km south of Bahía de Caráquez. San Clemente is a small fishing villages that started developing its tourist industry a few years ago and actually, San Clemente is frequently visited on weekends by Ecuadorians. Between the villages of San clemente and San Jacinto there are good sandy beaches to enjoy.

San Jacinto is about 13 km beyond Crucita. San Jacinto is a small fishing villages that started developing its tourist industry a few years ago and actually, It is frequently visited on weekends by Ecuadorians.

Otavalo is a largely indigenous town in Imbabura province, Ecuador, well known for its Saturday market. The city of Otavalo has around 26,000 inhabitants and is infamous for its crafts and weavers that predates back to Inca times along with its colorful Saturday markets.

The Otavaleños have sophisticated business distribution logistics and are equipped with wholesale warehouses combined with several international freight forwarders that distribute to many parts of the USA and European countries. They have also marketed well a series of good restaurants, hotels and cafes to suit the travelers varying tastes in addition to 1000s of small stalls for the visitor to peruse at his leisure.

As previously mentioned the Otavaleños are world famous for their weaving prowess and commercialization in the modern world while maintaining a sense of tribal identity of culture and customs.

A fine example of the latter may be seen in their dress codes, visitors will see them in typical daily attire consisting of fully reversible ponchos (blue or gray), roped leather and rubber sandals, white pants, calf length and dark hats made of felt along with their long plaited ponytails. The women on the other hand wear colorful embroidered blouses, shawls and black skirts with head cloths while their wrists are decorated in red and golden colored beads as are their necklaces.

The Otavaleños are a strikingly proud race of people and also have meticulous sense of personal hygiene. These highland Indians also speak Quichua as their primary tongue and of course Spanish as their secondary language.

In regard to their origin some researchers have concluded that the Otavaleños are descendants of forced migrants while others propound they originate from Chibcha salt traders from Colombia but perhaps the final postulation is more correct which comes from modern Otavaleños who prefer to think they came from local pre-Inca roots.

Vía Alóag, is the most popular road from Quito to the heartland of Santo Domingo, which is awesome with meandering roads and bends along most of the elevated scenic drive that from the right side looks over fantastic valley views of trees, forests, houses dotted along the skyline and rock ranges. This snake road passes the small villages of Tandapi (45 km from Alóag), with basic accommodation and several restaurants along the road. 2 1/2 km from Tandapi, look out or ask the driver if in bus for the "El Poder Brutal", which is a sculptured rock of the devil's face complete with his fangs and horns. Alluriquín, 104 Km on the road is Hotel Florida with horse riding, swimming pool and a restaurant.
If driving by car please be careful to watch out for any careless drivers overtaking on bends especially in the evening when the fog and clouds create visibility problems forcing drivers to reduce speed to 20 km per hour.
15 minutes before arriving to Sto. Domingo de los Colorados is Tinalandia, a lodge with comfortable cabins and over 360 species of birds.

Santo Domingo de Los Colorados is 129 km from Quito. Is the central route from the highlands to the coastline. Sto. Domingo has become a central banana and palm oil industry, though sugar plantations are also to be found in this valley province. The city itself is prone to flooding after torrential rains and not very attractive for travelers though you may find several reserves in the surrounding areas away from the city.

The "Monumento al Colorado" statue west of the center of town personifies well the look and dress code of the Tsáchila people nicknamed "Indios Colorados" but these indigenous Indians never venture to town in their traditional attire unless during special celebrations. The name "Indios Colorados" was attributed to them mainly because they would paint their hair red with a vegetable dye. They are spread around 8 different areas, from Santo Domingo to Chone, Quinindé and Quevedo inhabiting a reserve of around 8000 ha although today they total less than 2000 in numbers.

Latacunga (2,850m) is the capital of the Cotopaxi Province, with some 55,000 inhabitants. This is not an invigorating town, but it is a good base point for some interesting excursions such as the Cotopaxi volcano.

The city has been destroyed three times in the past by the Cotopaxi volcano. In 1,742; 1,768 and in 1877. The volcano's activity is zero at the moment and other eruptions are not expected for at least some decades more.

In Latacunga the central plaza, Parque Vicente León, has beautiful well preserved gardens. Others similar to this one are Parque San Francisco and La Laguna known also as "Lago Flores".

At Sánchez de Orellana and Abel Echeverría is the Casa de los Marqueses de Miraflores, which is set inside a beautiful colonial mansion. Each room of this fine mansion is a small museum which has different exhibits of Colonial art, the Mama Negra festivities, archaeology, etc. It is worth a visit.

Casa de la Cultura (Antonia Vela 3-49 and Padre Salcedo) houses a very interesting museum with weavings, pre-Colombian artifacts, ceramics and other exhibits as well as a theater and an art gallery. It also hosts the city's main festivals and concerts.

Other museums can be found at Escuela Isidro Ayora (Sánchez de Orellana and Tarqui) and at the Cathedral.

Sangolquí is a small village located some 25 minutes from Quito. The town has a well known Sunday market. It's very visited by locals on Sundays for its wonderful "Hornado" (pork served with corn, fried mashed potatos and a lovely pepper sauce), which is a local specialty and very popular.