Avenue of the Volcanoes

Leaving Otavalo, we headed south for quite a ways, following the "Avenue of the Volcanoes." But it was cloudy as usual, so they were a little difficult to see.

We left very early - before breakfast - then stopped to eat at a fancy hacienda. The Hacienda La Compania is a traditional Ecuadorian hacienda which has been in the family for more than a century.

But it is most famous for its extraordinary rose plantation.

Besides the delicious breakfast, we got to enjoy all the roses in the house.

Outside in the garden, you can barely see that the water in the fountain is covered with rose petals.

After breakfast, we looked around the house a little -

And then went to see the chapel on the property.

Of course there were roses there too.

Then we went to the rose plantation, first seeing the roses in their showroom.

These are specialty dyed roses for the customers in China.

We were each given a long-stemmed rose. Notice how the roses grow straight up here at the equator.

Then we went to see where the roses are grown.

Very long-stemmed!

We also saw how new varieties are grafted onto old ones.

Then we toured the packing and shipping facility.

The roses have a 10-day freshness guarantee, no matter where they are shipped. If you want to order any, their website is www.roses2give.com

After breakfast and the tour, we continued down the Avenue of the Volcanoes. We could occasionally see one.

Here, above the blue bus, you can see a little bit of the glacier on this volcano. Imagine - glaciers at the equator!

Pretty soon, it was time for lunch, so we stopped at another hacienda. I could get used to this...

This time we were entertained by a local band.

A view of the gardens in the back -

And this one had a chapel too!

It was a long day, and we didn't get to our hotel in Riobamba until 5:00.