101 Ricaurte Street between Morales and Colon
06 292-0185
email: hgeranio@hotmail.com
| The owner, Gilberto and some hammocks
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From the street
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Inside courtyard
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Inside Kitchen
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Outside Kitchen, Big oven
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One of the rooms is used by this foundation, Cielo Azul - Blue Sky
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Two of the family, Cristian and Janet with the hostal bird, "Monkey", and the little boy whose mother works here.
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Bathrooms
Like most low price hostals, they don't have hot water for the sinks. They did have toilet seats on the toilet that was near my room though, unlike some hostals and most schools etc. in Ecuador. They did have a mirror in the bathrooms though.
One thing I don't like is the electric things in the shower to heat the water. In my experience they don't heat the water fast enough, so if you want hot water you have to turn down the tap so the water comes out more slowly. These are very common in Ecuador. They are better than cold water, but I prefer the gas hot water heaters.
And in the downstairs shared bathroom there was a hole in the ceiling and the cold air came in while I was taking a shower so I was freezing!
| The cheap electric water heaters in the shower
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The hole in the ceiling where the cold air came in. I talked to the owner, Gilberto, about this and he said they would fix it. They might also put gas heaters in a couple of the private rooms.
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One thing I like about this hostal is they give you a key to the front door. Most hostals in Ecuador have a bell you have to ring to get in at night. Sometimes the doors are even locked from the inside so if you want to leave during the middle of the night you have to wake someone up to let you out. So having a key to the front gate is nice.
The manager, Gilberto, seems very accomodating. He put a desk in the room for me so I could work on the computer.
The foundation seems interesting. From the first impression it seems like a good program which is not just taking mony from foreigners like so many foundations here are doing. He told me this is the only office they have and they have no employees, every one is a volunteer. He said the volunteers can live in communities and get free food and accomodation. This sounds better than some "volunteer" programs in Ecuador where you have to pay to be a volunteer!
The foundation has a website: www.cieloazul.ch
$3-5 dollars per person
Last review: August 26, 2004
Pictures taken August 24,25,26, 2004
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