Marcello, the owner picked us up at the airport, walked us over to the airport Covid testing center and waited patiently for us to get through all the testing and paperwork. While driving us to the Lodge, we learned a bit about him (he was a foreign exchange student in Florida during high school) and his family who help run the Lodge.
We chose the Lodge because we wanted a spare day before we went onto the Galapagos and the Lodge is about 25 minutes from the airport, much closer than going into Quito. The view from our room was beautiful: countryside and sparkling city lights in the distance.
They served a lovely large breakfast. For dinner we ordered delivered takeout food from a nearby restaurant. Once it arrived, Marcelo's wife set a table for us in the breakfast room.
The property is lovely and relaxing. Although we didn't use them, there were hammocks and a BBQ.
Our room was immaculate and tastefully/beautifully decorated. White walls, wooden beams, a few simple decorations.
We enjoyed relaxing before our trip to the Galapagos. We took a steep walk up to a huge cross with territorial views that took about 1.5 hours up and 1 hour down. Younger people could probably do it more quickly. Then we hung out playing cards and looking at their books downstairs. They have a really cool wine cellar sort of cave like.
If you only have one day turnaround and don't want to be hectic, going into Quito and back, I'd recommend Ilatoa Lodge.
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