Cloud Forest Hostal: "searching for the perfect beat" Top 5 Page for this destination Laguna Quilotoa Nightlife Tip by richiecdisc

Nightlife in the Andes is pretty slim. That’s okay, it’s really a place to relax and get away from the hustle bustle of everyday life anyway. There are not a lot of sights but there are lots of roads to walk down or up as is generally the case in the mountains. After a day of exploring on foot kicking back is about a perfect an activity as you’re likely to find. So, sitting around the hostel and talking to fellow travelers is common. At the one in Chugchilán they had a great space for this resplendent with a wood burning stove that fought off the chilly night mountain air. Since the rooms were very small and really only good for sleeping, everyone congregated in there as close to the fire as they could get. They had beer, wine, soft drinks and even hard alcohol which you drank on the honor system and a nice old movie popcorn machine which was gratis as long as you were drinking. We spent a few fun nights in there but the best was when a contingent of small local girls came by in traditional dress and danced to folk music typical of the area. They were incredibly cute and by the end everyone was up dancing with some gentle cajoling from them. Some of the tunes were particularly catchy and we had met a couple of English travelers prior to coming to Chugchilán who were madly searching for one song in particular to no avail. They sang it out to us and once we heard it in person we too became enthralled with it. We never found it either but it remains one of the great auditory memories of the trip. Maybe someday we’ll hear it again. I hope so.

Dress Code: The little girls dressed in traditional garb but we opted for something warm though once the fire got going we could peel off a layer or two.

Theme: Dancing