Sometimes you just need to get out to the campo. Or at least if you are like us you do. We get our energy from being out in nature and so a quick little weekend away on a farm near Cotopaxi National Park was exactly what we needed. An AirBnB find a mere hour plus away from home couldn’t have felt further from the city once we arrived and settled in.
Our hosts, Carmen and Guillermo, were extremely welcoming and made us feel like part of their family from moment one. Their farmstead, La Campiña, sits above the Rio Pita valley and directly faces the north face of Cotopaxi. From their house they can see Cotopaxi, Sinchalagua, Antisana, the slopes of Pasachoa, and to the north Quito, Pichincha and even Cayambe. With lovely farmland all around, it is a bucolic location perfect for slowing down and feeling the embrace of nature.
Their land encompasses two houses, a caretaker’s house, and a semi-stables building. Semi-stable because they have four horses and eight to ten cows, but they live out in the fields and only come to the building for milking and grooming. In fact, for humour, there is little better than watching a city slicker try and milk a cow! The caretakers will watch on with bemused looks of somewhat disdain as we harmlessly, but incompetently pull on the cow’s udders! But with kids especially, it’s a great experience.
Beyond milking cows you can also feed the cuy (guinea pigs), collect eggs from the chickens, and pull carrots and cedron from the large veggie patch. The latter is perfect in hot water with some honey for when you are feeling a little poorly. Doubly so in front of a fire when the wind and rain are crashing down outside!
We have now gone to this lovely spot five times – enjoying it with family and friends. Kids get horse rides around the house and a chance to really experience a small farm, without the true headaches of farm life! Adults get to relax and go on some lovely hikes. Or just drink whisky in front of a roaring fire! The views will spoil you, as will the hammock and jacuzzi tub – though so far only children have enjoyed it.
The location really can’t be beat with hiking at Condor Machay, a canal along the lower slopes of Pasachoa, Pasachoa itself, and of course Cotopaxi all very close. It is exactly what you want from a weekend escape – convenient, different, and beautiful. We haven’t been back in a while, but we will be once more before too long! Thanks Carmen and Guillermo for always being the perfect hosts, and thanks to all our friends and family who have enjoyed this beautiful place with us.
Scenes from the farm La Campiña…
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