On arrival Quito, the 1st recommendation I got from everyone was to travel to the Secret Garden Cotopaxi hostel.

After 5 wonderful days, I’d rank it the best hostel in the world ➙ for ME. 😀

Ecuador is fantastic for outdoor recreation. BUT logistics of getting to and from the trailheads is difficult.

Over 5 days I signed up for these easy logistics adventures:

• Waterfall Walk (free)
• Cotopaxi Base Camp & glacier (5000m). Mountain bike down.
• Pasochoa summit hike (free)
• Horse Riding
• Rumiñahui summit scramble

Secret Garden Cotopaxi is at an elevation of around 3,800 metres (12,500 feet) directly facing famed Cotopaxi volcano. If arriving directly from sea level, you might suffer some altitude symptoms. Especially minor headache, stomach, or sleeping problems. I was OK having been above 2800m for over a week.

Here’s my best photo from the hostel.

A gorgeous location.

Food is fantastic. They have a stone pizza oven. Healthy ingredients, many grown on site. Excellent vegan and vegetarian alternatives.

The hostel has high speed starlink internet — but guests get only about 1 hour / day of slow wifi. They don’t want you on your phone. 😀

Without question, it’s a hippie vibe.

I considered renting a Hobbit House for one night — but $165 was too steep.

It’s fun feeding the resident llamas.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

And another video.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.