HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Better said...Happy New Year to me! Many of you know that I arrange travel experiences in my beloved Southamerica for friends and family and even some clients that come my way by reference.
I love Ecuador with all my heart and have planned on retiring there some day. I have even created some packages whereby you combine good things like the Galapagos Islands and a stay at a hacienda to end the vacation. This program has always been really well accepted and the people just love the old hacienda experience at the end of their stay.
This year.....2010....I had a lovely family of 17 traveling on this program. Everything in the Galapagos was perfect with private yachts to take them to all the different islands. After the Galapagos it was off to my favorite hotel in the world...La Mirage Garden Hotel and Spa in Cotacachi, Ecuador. Again...an amazing success. On Dec 29 driving from Cotacachi to the hacienda that they had picked for their final New Years stay...Hacienda San Augustine de Callao...they were informed that even though we had prepaid in full, arranged all kinds of activities for them and including special meals for the children...that their rooms had been sold out from under them.

Do you know what it is to find another hacienda that can take 17 people inside of a couple of hours? Haciendas are small and very much like boutique hotels. They are the homes of former aristocrats that for whatever reason have had to open their homes and take in guests. There are many of these lovely places in Ecuador. I have stayed and written about my favorites....HACIENDA ZULETA(residence of the former president of Ecuador Galo Plaza. There is also HATO VERDE where Cesear and Maria and the family greet guests and take them on horseback adventures into Cotopaxi National Park. There is the HACIENDA MANTELES with its wonderful glowing fireplace and gracious hospitality and where the meals are prepared using the recipes of the early owners of this hacienda. There is also HACIENDA UMBRIA where the owner has gone to school to learn to be a sommelier. You should see his wine cellar!

And then we have Hacienda San Augustine de Callao. Built on Inca ruins....it has always been hailed as one of the better haciendas with lovely rooms and a lovely atmoshphere. Now they even have "lovely" prices for their services.......not at all in keeping with the other haciendas in the area. So I guess all this fame and fortune has gone to their heads. Evidently they don't care about their current reputation with the travel industry or business community in Ecuador.

In the end....we had to bring my lovely friends...yes all 17 of them...back to Quito and organize activities for them from the city. Thank you Susanna Garcia and friends from the HILTON COLON for providing special services for them.

Tonight...the family goes to a friends home and hacienda in the hills overlooking Quito. HACIENDA RUMILOMA is one of my favorites and the owner Amber (an Irish girl married to an Ecuadorian)...will be there to provide this family with a great meal, fun and fireworks to end the year in a special way. Thank you Amber for your help too.

I hope my party of 17 has a great evening and can return home from their holiday happy. I for one will toast an extra toast to them tonight.....and wish myself
a Happy New Year. I will also never suggest Hacienda San Augustine to another living soul as long as I live!