Reviews:

Inns and Retreats Magazine
Summer l998 issue

IN ECUADOR’S CLOUD FOREST
by Dorothy Askamit

At 9500 feet, Casa Mojanda seems to float in an ethereal atmosphere where the line between real and imagined blurs. It’s a destination for those seeking the quiet center of the world, where the best activity is watching voluminous clouds play hide and seek with the mountains.

Diego Falconi picked me up in Otavalo, 25 miles north of Quito in the Ecuadorian highlands. As we bumped along the three-mile road to Casa Mojanda, he told me how he, an Ecuadorian, his American wife Betti, and their two daughters moved from New York City to this Andean paradise about two years ago.

The logistics were daunting he said, but they were sustained by their dream of creating an environmentally friendly inn. Together with Quito architect Manuel Perez, they built Casa Mojanda from scratch, using rammed earth, wood and other natural materials.

A substantial percentage of their profits from the inn goes toward conservation and reforestation efforts as well as community health and education initiatives. “We’re seeking to explore ways that socially aware travelers to interact with the local communities,” he explained. “We view travel as a way of building bridges and fostering respect for traditional ways of life.”

At 9,500 feet we came to Case Mojanda, a collection of tile-roofed whitewashed cabins perched on the edge of a gorge overlooking the sacred mountains of Imbabura and Cotacachi. Below the cabins in a breathtaking setting was a small circular amphitheatre, the perfect stage for amateur productions.

Betti met me in the main house where Maya, 12, practiced the piano and Sofie, 6, practiced her karate chops. A few painting and ceramics by local artist decorated the house, but the scene-stealer was the mountains, viewed through wall-sized arched windows. The adjacent country kitchen is the Falconis’ pride and joy with plenty of tile and a commercial gas range.

Upstairs is a video room and a separate cabin has a well-stocked library with a computer for guest use.

Cabins are simply furnished with handmade cedar pieces designed by the Falconis and decorated with local art. Some have fireplaces and all have private baths with showers, and patios for mountain viewing.

I was traveling solo, and the Falconis took me under their wing. I was just staying one night, so couldn’t take advantage of the many recreational possibilities, but Betti graciously drove me 10 miles up the winding road to the Mojanda Lakes area. Along the way she told me of the day hikes, horse treks, kayaking, overnight biking trips, bird and orchid expeditions, visits to local Indian villages, and, of course, free transportation to the Saturday market in Otavalo. With advance notice, they can also arrange classes in Spanish, Quechua, weaving, Andean music, cooking and gardening.

We reached the first lake at dusk, and the spinning world stopped. It was still and silent, as billowy dove-grey clouds collapsed like giant hot-air balloons on the surrounding peaks. I hated to leave but darkness was falling fast. My stay at Casa Mojanda was brief - just enough time to make me long to return.

From the Charlotte Observer, Sunday
June 28, l998, Travel section

ANDES INN GOOD FOR GUESTS, VILLAGERS
By Rebecca Allen Kuhn, Staff Writer

On a mountainside 9,500 feet up in the Andes, a woman from Brooklyn and her Ecuadorian husband are building their dream.

Betti Sachs and Diego Falconi met in 1985 in Quito, Ecuador, and a year later settled in her hometown of New York, she a Legal Aid lawyer, he a translator and editor.

Over the next fourteen years Casa Mojanda was conceived. They would build an inn in the Ecuadorian Andes, pretty enough to attract international visitors, and use part of the proceeds to improve the living conditions and preserve the ecology of this beautiful, but very poor area.

They found the land, 25 acres, on a visit to Falconi’s family in 1991. Construction began two years later.

Gradually the guest cottages, built the old-fashioned way with rammed earth and red clay tiles, spread across the hillside. Sachs and Falconi took turns traveling to Ecuador for a few weeks at a time to supervise.

In 1995 the family moved in, then spent a year finishing construction details, decorating, landscaping, and launching the farm and garden.

Today guests are welcomed to a family home, complete with the couple’s two daughters, dogs, cats, llamas, rabbits, horses - even a resident grandmother (Betti’s mother). The guest adobe cottages, painted traditional white, have tile floors and are decorated with Ecuadorian handcrafts and artworks. Each has a grassy terrace overlooking the mountains. Water in the modern bathrooms has been chlorinated and is safe for tooth-brushing - a luxury in Ecuador. Flowers bloom all year-round on the walks.

In the kitchen, Nancy Elder of Durango Colorado, and her indigenous helpers prepare delicious meals using a variety of local fruits and vegetables, many of them grown at Casa Mojanda. The meals are mostly, but not rigidly, vegetarian - a treat for the foreign visitor, since fresh produce, even in many restaurants, is chancey for American digestive systems.

Only three miles down the hill is Otavalo, a market town well known for its Saturday crafts market. The indigenous people for miles around make their living with these sales, so you can buy and feel good about it. Textiles, ceramics, baskets, jewelry, panama hats, woodworking . . . It’s a shopper’s paradise.

A few miles further on is Cotacachi, the leather town. The main street is lined with shops offering locally made jackets, handbags, briefcases, luggage etc. Excellent quality and inexpensive by American standards.

Or guests can just enjoy the Andes Hiking, fishing in one of the several nearby lakes, horseback riding on the hills. (Casa Mojanda can supply horses).

But entertaining guests is only one facet of Casa Mojanda. A big part of the dream was to be socially responsible, and that has translated into the nonprofit Mojanda Foundation. Its goals are to help the community surrounding Casa Mojanda in three areas education, health services and environmental protection.

Already the foundation operates a health clinic and a kindergarten and assists at a local rural primary school. Volunteers also teach special programs in environmental education, art, music, health, and English.

In March, volunteers from Princeton University spent their spring break planting almost 500 native trees, painting and help to raise the roof for a new community building.

The Foundation’s projects are all staffed by volunteers, mostly north Americans, who stay from a few months to a year. Donations are essential to keep it all going.

The Boston Sunday Globe,
May 25, l997

From: Ecuador: not for glamour seekers
You'll find no glitz - just a colorful intriguing culture

“Less than 3 miles outside of Otavalo, off the bumpy cobblestone that leads to the Mojanda Lakes, is Casa Mojanda. An ecologically oriented inn opened in early 1996, Casa Mojanda was a highlight of my visit to Ecuador.

Looking out at the often cloud-covered Cotacachi volcano and one of the last High Andean cloud forests, the Cushmirumi, I found the view from Casa Mojanda breathtaking.

Owed by Betti Sachs, a former Legal Aid Society lawyer and her Ecuadorian husband, Diego Falconi, Casa Mojanda draws guests who typically travel off the beaten path. About half the guests so far have been New Englanders. The adobe cottages are furnished with Ecuadorian antiques and handmade cedar pieces designed by Diego and Betti. Woolen blankets with Andean motifs, locally made weavings and baskets, views of Cotacachi (and sometimes their four llamas as well) combine to complement the rooms. It gets cold here at night. Some rooms have fireplaces. Casa Mojanda's Spanish-English library contains guidebooks and a computer.”

From International Living
Volume 17, number 1, May 1997
Unwind in the Andes

“About three miles from Otavalo, in the Andes sits Casa Mojanda, a mountain lodge finished last June. You can stay in a private adobe cottage with wall-sized glass windows overlooking volcanoes often capped with snow. It's quiet and cool, run by friendly English speakers, a woman from Brooklyn, her Ecuadorian husband and local workers.

Enjoy a library full of English and Spanish books, a video collection, and home-cooked meals served at a huge dining table. For dinner, we had an Indian meal, chickpeas with curry sauce and a mild salsa, cucumbers in yogurt sauce, homemade soup, and a cup of fresh fruit for dessert. For breakfast, we had pancakes made with wheat grown on the farm out back. Cover them with fresh mora (berry) sauce instead of syrup.

There's a lot to do here, but if you like you can just grab a book from the library and enjoy the quiet, fresh mountain air. We went horseback riding on mountain trails which included part of the Inca trail.You can also rent bikes, take self-guided hikes to nearby lakes and waterfalls, or try Sunday morning salsa classes. If you take your kids, Maya, the very grown up twelve year old daughter, will baby-sit.

Contact Betti Sachs or Diego Falconi, Casa Mojanda, Apto 160, Otavalo, Ecuador; Tel/fax (593-9)731737. If no one answers, try (593-6)921-176 or fax (593-6)922969. E mail: mojanda@uio.telconet.net. Call at least a few days in advance. Dinner and breakfast are included in room prices.”

From International Travel News,
June 1996 issue

“Equally impressive [as an eight day cruise to the Galapagos] was a ten day stay at the newly built Casa Mojanda, located three miles out of Otavalo, Ecuador, a breathtaking setting at 9,500 feet in the northern Andean highlands, 25 miles north of Quito.

Friendly and knowledgeable owners Betti Sachs and Diego Falconi offer superb accommodations in seven private cottages and a twelve-person dormitory. Cottages include breakfast and dinner. Menus feature traditional Ecuadorian cuisine. Food is locally grown.”

From The Educated Traveler,
September, l996 issue - Discoveries section

“Fortunately resorts where nature is an equal, if not principal, partner in recreation are on the rise. One of these is Casa Mojanda, an ecologically oriented inn and family farm located three miles from the town of Otavalo, in the Andes of Northern Ecuador. It is owned and operated by Diego, a native of the country, and Betti, a New Yorker. On twenty acres of farmland and forested gorge, Betti and Diego cater to specialized travel groups seeking beautiful and exotic natural surroundings. You can choose to stay in dormitory style or in individual cottages with private bath, garden and terrace and standard spectacular mountain views. Casa Mojanda is an ideal base camp for mountain climbing, biking, photography, botanical and bird watching expeditions. You may also choose to go on a day hike or out riding on their gentle horses or take a tour to a local village. Or you may want to curl up in front of the fireplace with a book in Spanish or English from the inn's well-selected library. Classes in Spanish, Quechua, weaving, lake kayaking, Andean music, cooking, natural architecture and organic farming are planned for the near future. Children are welcome.”

Transitions Abroad Magazine (June l998)