Hacienda San Isidro

Our Sunday started off with great worship with the regular minister conducting the service. We sang some old familiar songs and had a great lesson from I Peter. We met some new folks at church. Also had a bit of a surprise when in walked a couple we had met earlier in the week at the Inn. Later we ran into them at lunch and found out they had met people from the Bellvue Church of Christ who were helping with the orphanage in Ecuador. How's that for a small world!

Then after church we were off on a great new adventure. Our landlord, Michael, had invited us to be part of a group who were to attend a lunch at a hacienda on the side of Cotacachi Volcano.
Following is the invitation:

On Sunday, my best friend in Ecuador, Andres Jara, who has the wonderful, authentic hacienda up on the Cotacachi volcano, is having a special lunch -- he has 3 wonderful cooks - one used to cook at La Mirage and another in Spain in the royal palace in Madrid and later at the Portuguese Embassy in Quito) . The lunch will be all-organic, using products from the hacienda:

Appetizer of fresh trout Carpaccio (from their lake)

Chicken Cordon Bleu ( made with their free-range chicken, their homemade, organic Fontina cheese and chuleta (organic ham chop)

Fresh raw vegetable salad of peas, corn and green beens

Fresh, homemade Cinnnamon Cake with homemade ice cream

Beverage

I recommend this because it is the real, old Ecuadorian hacienda experience. The house is 350-400 years old ( 3 ft. thick walls, etc.) with it's own chapel, and the whole house completely restored this past year. Spectacular views ( it's 12,000 ft.+) on 1,250 acres.

There were about 38 of us that went up in a caravan of taxis over bumpy rock and dirt roads to this beautiful oasis on the side of the volcano. Andres the owner of the hacienda has a Bachelor degree from Georgetown University in Sociology, a Masters in International Law, and a Doctorate in Agricultural Economics. He speaks 7 languages and with all of this he served us our meal today with all humility and care. His kindness and hospitality were so genuine. We were there from 1:30-4:00 enjoying a peacful meal and good company. It gave us a chance to meet more Ecuadorians along with Gringos. Andre's family lives there along with his mother and father. The hacienda has been in the family for generations and it was fascinating to wander about. It was truly an incredible experience of stepping out of the modern and into the old world of Ecuadorian history.

When we returned to Cotacachi Bruce enjoyed an espresso in the little coffe shop around the corner and we strolled back to the Inn catching a street vender preparing corn on the cob and meat for passers-by.

Then the day had a perfect ending. Edwardo popped a big bowl of popcorn for us and we watched a movie. Can it get any better than that?!

Just one of the many rooms in the hacienda.

A view of the childrens play area and across the valley where Cotacachi rests. 

You can faintly see Imbubara Volcano through the trees. 
The large tree on the right is a Chilean Pine many hundreds of years old.

This is the suite for  mother and father.

The sink outside the bathroom stall...and you thought a sink on top of the counter was a new idea.

This is the family chapel.

Here is part of our caravan up the volcano. 

A view of the entrance to the hacienda.

An assortment of antique and new weapons.

And no this is not a guinea pig vendor.