
Located in the central highlands of Ecuador, the remote village of Guamote has plenty going for it from a traveller’s perspective.
It’s perhaps most famous for its non-touristy indigenous market on Thursdays. And at 3,050m (10,000ft) above sea level, you can enjoy the stunning Andean landscape.
It’s also located in one of the poorest regions in Ecuador. And it’s not a coincidence that the local population is 95% indigenous (compared to 25% nationwide).
Having suffered from long-standing discrimination going back centuries, it’s no secret that Ecuador’s indigenous people are, in general, poorer and less educated than their mestizo (mixed indigenous and European ancestry) counterparts.
I first learned of this from Lonely Planet’s Ecuador guidebook. And it was later confirmed by what I saw firsthand, and the people I spoke with there.
A brief history
See that white house in the distance over there?
That’s the former hacienda of a large-scale land-owner. Up until the 1960s, the indigenous people of Guamote were essentially slaves to these land-owners. Without having any rights, they had no choice but to toil on land that wasn’t their own.
Following the first round of agrarian reforms, they were gradually able to own the land they worked.
But Guamote’s climate isn’t the most friendly to agriculture. It’s dry (and climate change is making it drier). Worse, less-than-ideal farming practices had depleted the soil.
So many were forced to migrate to the cities and towns to find work, while those who stayed eked out a living. Even today, 30% of the children can’t afford to go to high school.
Inti Sisa Foundation
In the 1990s, two volunteers from Belgium arrived and were shocked by the dismal living conditions of the indigenous people in Guamote. They asked the locals what they could do to help. And so they started the Inti Sisa Foundation.
The foundation aims to improve the lives of the people of Guamote, particularly those most vulnerable. They focus especially on girls and young women, who often get no training beyond primary school.
The foundation’s projects include:
- an education centre where women come for sewing, computer, music, and English classes;
- a kindergarten where women can drop their children off while attending classes at the education centre; and
- providing healthy school lunches (and an annual pig!) to primary school children in Guamote and the surrounding mountain communities.
When we were there, they had just started a new project: teaching local women to make soap. The handcrafted soap would be used in the guesthouse and available for tourists to purchase.
I love that the foundation is driven by what the locals want, not what well-meaning outsiders think they want. This, I think, is the key to responsible tourism and truly making a difference within the community.
Inti Sisa Guesthouse
The foundation was initially supported by donations, but in an effort to make it self-sustaining, they opened a guesthouse in 2004. They recently expanded it and opened a new wing, so there are now 23 rooms.
The rooms open up into a communal lounge area where you can sit by the fireplace and chat with other guests. (Also, the wi-fi is strongest here!)
Don’t you just love the colourful, cozy ambiance? It truly felt like we were staying in someone’s home.
Revenue from the guesthouse goes towards supporting their projects. The guesthouse also employs mostly indigenous staff and pays them a fair wage (unlike many employers in the region).
It’s incredible how much of a difference it makes when employees are treated fairly. The guesthouse staff were some of the most friendly and cheerful I’ve ever met – not just in Ecuador, but in all my travels.
Ecuadoreans are, generally, quite reserved. Especially in the rural areas, where I saw firsthand through 6 months of volunteering how shy many of them are. So I can imagine what working for Inti Sisa must have done for these people’s self-esteem and confidence!
In addition, the guesthouse sells handcrafted bracelets and other products made by local families.
Helping the Monte family
One such family lives across the street from the guesthouse. Maria, the 31-year-old mother, has to single-handedly support her 7 children and 1 grandchild on an average income of US$50 a month.
It’s not enough to live on.
Inti Sisa sometimes helps her with food, and recently they worked with a Dutch foundation to teach women like Maria to make beads from recycled materials. The beads are then made into bracelets and sold at the guesthouse.
You can read more about this project here. The bracelets were really pretty, but I didn’t buy any because I hardly ever wear jewellery. How I wish I had at least taken a picture of them though!
Rates
This is one of the more expensive places we stayed in during our Ecuador trip. But I think prices were reasonable, considering the services and amenities provided.
The rates per night are as follows:
Single room: $50
Double room: $65
Triple room: $80
Family room (4 persons): $95
Family room (5 persons): $111
Dorm room: $25 per person
Rates include breakfast.
You can also opt to have lunch and dinner for $8 and $15 per person, respectively.
(Source: Inti Sisa’s website, October 2017)
Things to do in Guamote
Thursday market
Try to make sure your visit coincides with the Thursday market. The town, usually rather sleepy, comes alive and there’s a general flurry of activity everywhere you look.
We arrived around mid-afternoon, and most of the hustle and bustle had already faded somewhat. The animal market, for example, had already closed. (Unless you count adorable lambs stashed at the back of pick-up trucks!)
But we still saw plenty of stalls, with vendors selling everything from fruits to textiles.
I was quite taken aback to see (apparently fresh) fish being sold this far from the coast!
And possibly even more astounded to see these tailors plying their trade in the streets.
The market is a great place to have lunch and stock up on fruits. I had a quimbolo and a grilled plantain for just $0.25 each.
(I’d been dying to try grilled plantains, which are often sold on the streets in cities like Quito and Otavalo. But I balked when they wanted to charge me $1 per plantain. So I was super excited to finally try it, for just $0.25! It’s delicious.)
I also bought a bag of about 8 mandarin oranges for just $1.
Recommendation: Try to arrive on Wednesday or very early on Thursday, so that you can enjoy the market at its height!
Visiting the mountain communities with Inti Sisa
Inti Sisa offers a range of activities. One of the most popular is visiting the communities in the surrounding mountains. This takes about half a day and costs $40 per person.
Our tour was led by Eva, a long-time volunteer-turned-employee of Inti Sisa from Belgium. She’s been there since around 2011, if I recall correctly, and you can see the close bond she shares with the locals.
Kindergarten
Our first stop, before venturing up to the mountains, was at the kindergarten run by Inti Sisa.
My first reaction:
A far cry from the school in Intag where I volunteered, where my classroom looked like this:
They even had little cubby holes for each kid to put their homework in!!
I was like, wow, these kids have it GOOD, man!
(The schools in the mountain communities were even less well-equipped than the one in Intag, making the contrast even more stark.)
One of my funniest memories from Ecuador took place right here.
It was the end of our visit and the kids had gathered to say bye to us – in all the languages they knew! Spanish, Kichwa, English, French, German, and Dutch – not bad at all, huh?
I decided to add Mandarin Chinese to their impressive repertoire. The teacher, by way of introduction, asked them (in Spanish), “Have you heard of Mandarin?”
And with unbridled enthusiasm, this little boy yelled out, “MANDARINA!!!”
I don’t know if they remember how to say bye in Mandarin, but I hope they remember that it is NOT a fruit!
Communities up in the mountains
The ride up was beautiful, and eye-opening.
Eva told us about how tough it is to make a living from the land here – see how dry it is, and how sparse the vegetation is?
To make matters worse, villagers have planted non-native trees like pines and eucalyptus for their wood. Firewood here is a necessity – modern heating systems are just a pipe dream for them. But these trees make the soil acidic, thus rendering it even more infertile.
Even though Inti Sisa has helped the villagers immensely, it’s clear there’s still a long way to go.
The schools
Most primary schools here only have one teacher.
The first school we saw was closed, because the sole teacher had to attend a meeting elsewhere.
The second school was open – it was fortunate enough to have two teachers.
It had about 40 students. The older kids were building a pig pen (Inti Sisa gives each school a pig every year) while the younger ones played.
Check out the super old-school hat worn by the little girl on the right! Even the teacher (an indigenous woman herself), remarked that it was rare to see people wearing these nowadays.
(And don’t you just love the chickens running around the place as if they own it? Talk about free-range!)
The family that weaves together…
After that, Eva brought us to visit a family of weavers (that’s her on the right!). They’re one of just a handful in the region who make traditional clothing (ponchos, rodeo trousers, etc.).
And they do everything the traditional way, from shearing the sheep and spinning the wool to weaving the clothes.
It was lovely to see how strong old traditions still run here. Many here still speak Kichwa primarily, and Spanish as a second language. I’ll never forget the grandfather proudly showing me his Bible – entirely in Kichwa!
This is one of the families that Inti Sisa supports. They bring tourists (like us) to visit and you can buy one of the woven goods if it takes your fancy.
If they don’t sell anything (and there’s no pressure to buy at all), Inti Sisa pays them a small fee per visit. Great system, right?
An unexpected gift
The next community we visited was an unscheduled stop – it was intended to be no more than a quick drop-off of some prizes for an upcoming festival.
The villagers were in the midst of preparing a feast for the festival. Think vast quantities of mote (boiled corn), potatoes, pork, beef and chicha (a fermented corn-based drink).
Warning: photo of huge slaughtered pig follows.
And despite our strenuous objections, they insisted that we stay and eat a little.
I was really touched by their generosity. They only have meat and chicha on special occasions, and they unhesitatingly shared it with us. (To be honest, I felt bad accepting food from them, but they were really insistent.)
Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos of the food!
A traditional hut
Our last stop was to visit a family living in a choza – a traditional hut made of straw, clay, and sometimes dried cow-dung.
Not too long ago, almost everyone in Guamote lived in chozas. They cooked in it and the building materials trap the heat, making it very warm. Perfect for the cold nights here, although not great for lungs and eyes.
They live with their guinea pigs (a local delicacy)! (Read about my experience eating cuy here.)
Other activities
Inti Sisa offers many other activities, includes visits to the nearby Chimborazo volcano and the undiscovered lakes of Ozogoche, and cooking classes. Check out the full list of activities here.
How to get to Guamote
From Quito, take a bus headed for Cuenca and get off at Guamote (about 5h). You’ll be dropped off along the Panamericana. The main plaza is about 1km away, but we got a cab ($1.50).
From Cuenca, it’s the reverse – take a bus headed for Quito ($7 as of March 2017).
From elsewhere, take a local bus from Riobamba (outside the bus terminal). You might have to ask around for the bus to Guamote. We took one heading for Alausi ($1.25 per person).
(In case you were wondering, I have no affiliation with Inti Sisa and didn’t receive any compensation for writing this. I just really love what they’re doing and wanted to share it!)
If you’re interested in responsible travel…
For Ecuador: check out Salinas, these 3 Amazon jungle lodges, Llullu Llama along the Quilotoa Loop, Otavalango museum (Otavalo), and Cloud Forest Adventure (Intag).
Elsewhere, check out why I support shark dives in Fiji and my homestay in an indigenous Karen village in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
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This post is part of The Weekly Postcard hosted by Travel Notes & Beyond, California Globetrotter, Toddlers on Tour, Two Traveling Texans and TravelLatte – check out what’s going on elsewhere!
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Very fascinating to read about the indigenous people of Ecuador! Starting that foundation is such a great way of giving back to the people and so great that the hotel portion helps to keep it all self-sustaining! Thanks for linking up with #TheWeeklyPostcard!
My sentiments exactly! What they’re doing is so inspiring, isn’t it? We’ve all heard about the evils of mass tourism – it’s so good to see how tourism done right can actually make a huge positive difference to the local communities 🙂 thanks for stopping by, Lolo!
I must admit, I had never heard of this place before. It is eye opening that up until 60ties they still had slavery there 🙁 But it is good that things are changing for the better and your pictures show that clearly! It’s not often I come across blogs with this kind of message of helping the world we live in, and your post was really eye opening.
Honestly, I admire you for being able to volunteer in this part of the world, thank you for your courage and dedication to make this world a better place!
Aww, thanks so much for your sweet comment, Alina! For a long time now, I’ve been rooting for the underdogs, the little independent mom-and-pop shops against the giant international chains, so it was easy to translate that into how I travel as well 😉 I think we’ve all heard about the evils of mass tourism, so it’s good to also hear about how tourism can make a positive impact on the lives of local communities! Visiting places like Guamote is an easy way to make a difference with our tourist dollars 🙂
I really enjoyed reading this! I have central america on my radar but never see much about Ecuador in general as I research where I want to go and what I want to see. So thank you for the inspiration 😉
So glad you enjoyed this, Hannah! 🙂 Yeah, it’s strange – most of the people I met while travelling in the region passed over Ecuador (or passed through very quickly) in favour of its apparently more glamourous neighbours (Peru and Colombia), haha. I’m a little biased because I spent so much time there, but I think it has a lot to offer and is definitely worth the time!
Wow, this is such a great post! Thank you for sharing the history and realities of Guamote!
Aw thanks so much, Bianca – really glad you enjoyed it! 🙂 It’s a really little-known village, even within Ecuador, but I think it’s really worth visiting!
The hotel looks gorgeous. I love the local bright colours, how clean it appeared and the great prices.
Though I’m not sure I would buy the “fresh” fish from the market laid out on tables with no ice.
Inti Sisa’s guesthouse was definitely one of the prettiest I’ve ever seen. Couldn’t stop taking pictures of it! And yes, I side-eyed the fish too. Although in the Ecuadorean Andes, all anyone ever seems to do with fish is deep-fry it. So I guess it’s good enough for that! Thanks for stopping by, Sally 🙂
This is amazing! Thank you for sharing all about Guamote. The community tour and guesthouse all sound fabulous and it’s heartening to hear of the positive impact that’s been made. Hope I’ll get to visit Ecuador one day!
Yup, with all that has been written about the evils of mass tourism, I think it’s so important to remind ourselves of the good that tourism can bring to a community, when done in the right way. It just takes a little more effort on our part to search out these projects, but so worth it! Hope you get to visit Ecuador some day, Brooke – it’s a really great country and I hope you’ll love it as much as I did 🙂
Another uplifting story – I love it! That foundation is such a great thing, I don’t want to think about what would have happened to those people without it. I wouldn’t mind paying a higher price if I know the money is going to a good cause. The guesthouse does look really cute, I just love the colors. Thanks for sharing on #TheWeeklyPostcard.
Glad you enjoyed it, Anisa! Thanks so much for your kind comment 🙂 I think we’ve all heard plenty about the evils of mass tourism, so it’s important to remind ourselves of the good that tourism can bring to a community. It takes a little more effort, maybe, to search out these projects, but it’s so worth it! I have exactly the same philosophy as you – the slightly higher price is fine as long as I know it’s going to be used to help others, paying them a living wage, etc. 🙂 And yes, I couldn’t stop taking photos… Read more »
This looks like a great village to visit and glad to hear that an organization is involved in helping the people. Staying in the guesthouse is definitely one way any traveler could give back a little if visiting.
Yes, it’s an easy way to give back a little, while enjoying yourself at the same time. Travel is an incredible privilege and you feel it even more keenly in places like this. But so glad there are organisations like Inti Sisa which are doing genuinely good work! On a selfish note, it definitely helps me sleep a little better at night knowing that I helped a little, haha. Thanks for stopping by, Jessica 🙂
This looks just so colourful. How wonderful.
#TheWeeklyPostcard
The guesthouse is one of the prettiest I’ve ever seen – I could’t stop taking photos, and still wish I’d taken more! Also wish I’d taken more photos of the village itself – the houses are made of brightly-coloured adobe, very striking 🙂 Thanks for stopping by, Esther!
Love this! In fact, another good example that comes to mind is that of Llullu Llama Lodge; they offer a true ecological option for staying on the Quilotoa Loop, generating their own electricity etc. They set up a fund helping the locals as well! I’m sure if you send them a message they are happy to tell you about everything 🙂
I’m so glad you mentioned Llullu Llama, Kate! I stayed 2 nights with them while doing the Quilotoa Loop and wrote a post about them teaching local women how to make soap, so that they could supplement their income (https://www.michwanderlust.com/2017/09/01/hiking-the-quilotoa-loop-day-trip-to-guantualo-warts-and-all/). Didn’t know that they generated their own electricity, though – that’s really cool. I really enjoyed staying with them and it sounds like you did too 🙂
Wonderful experiences and thank you for supporting this important work. I love the guest house!
The guesthouse is just so cheerful and colourful, isn’t it? It really lifts your spirits the moment you step inside! Thanks for stopping by, Elaine 🙂
It’s unbelievable how much poverty there is in Ecuador even today. Can you imagine living in a choza? How sad that only in the 1990s someone finally discovered how dismal the living conditions of these people were. So glad to hear about the Inti Sisa Foundation. They seem to be doing a lot of good in Guamote. #TheWeeklyPostcard
You know, Anda, I couldn’t stay inside the choza for more than a few seconds at a time because the smoke was killing me. As you’d expect, many of the older generation have lung problems from prolonged smoke exposure 🙁 I think as tourists, we’re often shielded from the “uglier” side of things, but you’re certainly right – there’s still plenty of poverty in Ecuador (and elsewhere in the world) today. On the bright side, at least there are foundations out there like Inti Sisa which are doing great work 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
‘Love reading about indigenous people and their way of life. I’m happy to see that a foundation exists to help them stay alive.
Sadly, as the modern world creeps closer, the independence and cultural existence of indigenous people in South and Central America, gets destroyed.
So true, Victoria. Globalisation and modernisation aren’t friendly to most indigenous cultures! It’s an uphill battle for sure but I’m glad that there are foundations out there like Inti Sisa fighting the good fight!
What a wonderful story! We need to see more like this to help people understand how tourism can be done well and actually be helpful. I think also, more of us need exposure to communities such as Guamote. I firmly believe there are a lot of misconceptions and prejudices that would not be here if we all had first-hand knowledge and a better understanding of our world.Thank you so much for sharing. #TheWeeklyPostcard
I can’t agree more – parochialism is at the root of so many problems today, I feel. Plus it really makes you realise how small your own problems are when you are exposed to communities like this. #FirstWorldProblems, indeed. Thanks for stopping by, guys 🙂
Guamote seems so picturesque and awe-inspiring, Michelle. Your pictures made me add it to my bucket list. Would you recommend it as a good budget travel destination?
Thanks for your kind comment, Agness! Hope you get to visit Guamote someday 🙂 Re budget destination, I guess it depends what your budget is – Ecuador is generally a cheap country, but by Ecuadorean standards I guess it would be considered mid-market level pricing. As you can see, a dorm costs $25 per person and the community visit is $40.
I had the privilege of visiting Guamote for a week as part of a Me-to-We excursion, to help build a school in Sablog (about 20 minutes outside of Guamote). We also stayed at Inti Sisa during this time and I remember many of my experiences as similar to what you’ve written.
I’d definitely recommend a visit here. Seeing the market change the town on Thursday, seeing the people just doing their thing on the streets and feeling the city just be ‘alive’ was an experience on its own. There’s lots to be said about this authentic, friendly town.
Hey Kendall – wow, you had a whole week in Guamote? It must have been awesome to make that your home base and explore the different communities outside it (I assume Sablog is one of the communities, though I don’t think it’s one of those we visited). Sounds like you did something really meaningful there as well – massive props to you! Totally agree that this town was one of the less touristy places we visited in Ecuador and just walking around is an experience in itself. Thanks for stopping by 🙂
It definitely makes a difference to stay in one area for a period of time. The hardest thing I find about travelling is balancing wanting to see ‘everything’ against the ability to really start to understand a place (and its people and culture) by simply staying put.
As for Sablog, yes it’s a very small community about 15 minutes west of Guamote (can’t even find it referenced on a map anywhere!) way up on one of the hills, around 12,000 ft elevation. I’d be surprised if the population was more than 500 people.