Down On The Farm

Last Monday I decided to take advantage of my day off, which is every Tuesday and head into the rural countryside of Equador. I was ready to get out of the city and Secret Garden just built a new hostel in the town of Pedregal which I was excited to check out. The ride to the hostel was up a windy cobblestone road but I finally arrived and was in heaven! Katherine & Tarquin, the owners of Secret Garden have been building their dream hostel for the past year and let me tell you, The Secret Garden Cotopaxi is amazing. The hostel sits atop a hill looking out over fields full of horses, alpacas and dairy cows. They also have multiple animals including rabbits, horses, cows, dogs, cats, guinea pigs and one fat pig named Seymour who was adorable and appreciated all my table scraps.


The Secret Garden Cotopaxi.


The skylight above is made from
Ron Del Rio rum bottles of which
many are consumed at The
Secret Garden.


The ¨loo with a view¨!


The view when I opened the door
to my dorm......


The perfect place to chill out.


Cuba and Libre. Named after the South
American rum and coke.


Mooooooo!


Unfortunately, some of these bunnies will be
made into bunny stew. :(


I think Seymour liked me.


Emma and I relaxing in the hammocks.

On the first day my friend Christian and I went horseback riding. The scenery was fantastic but my horse would not gallop or trot, just walk...very slowly. Despite all my kicking and kissing noises, it reminded me that it was in control. It refused to walk on the road and insisted to walk just along the edge which meant I was being dragged through every pricker bush and tree branch on the trail. Christian´s horse wasn´t much better and preferred to eat every 2 minutes. 6 hours was a long time on these horses, but it was beautiful, offering some great views of the mighty Cotopaxi volcano.


You can see in her eyes that she hates me.



Headed off on the trail.



The mighty Cotopaxi is in the distance.


Our guide visiting one of the local families.


Adorable Equadorian boy.

After our horse ride I was beat and spent the rest of the day relaxing in the hammock, enjoying a delicious meal of ricotta and spinach pasta and chatting by the fire with friends. It was the perfect place to relax for a couple days.