What is Hostería Cananvalle ?
We are a family-owned, family friendly hotel on a rural, 10-acre property overlooking a river canyon and a railroad bridge, operated with social responsibility principles.
Where is Hosteria Cananvalle ?
We are located 10 minutes from Ibarra, the capital of Imbabura, in an Andean valley of northern Ecuador, 20 minutes north of Otavalo, 115 km north of Quito and 125 km south of Tulcan.
Our GPS location is: 0.357778 (0 o 21’ 21” north), -78.150083 (78o 9’ 0” west)
How do I Get There?
You can take a private vehicle, a bus from Quito (or another city) to the bus terminal (about $7 from Quito) and then a taxi ($3), or, from Quito you can take a shared taxi with the company Hatun. The fare each way to and from Quito on the shared taxi is $15-20. You need to reserve the taxi about 4 days in advance. We can help you with the reservation.
To get here, follow the Panamericana until you get to Avenida Vacas Galindo, which runs parallel to the railroad tracks, and turn west (left if coming from Quito, right if from Tulcan). Keep going along Avenida Vacas Galindo until the divided road ends and you cross the railroad tracks. At that point, take the first paved right. You’ll cross the railroad tracks, and as you pass the Pensionado Atahualpa school, do not follow the paved road to the left but instead go straight on the cobblestone road. Follow the signs for the last 900 meters.
Click on the map if you want to download it / print it / zoom in.
History of the Property
The hotel is located in an area named “Cananvalle”, or valley of (sugar) cane, the crop the area was known for in the latter half of the 1900s, and also the name of a large hacienda that the property was a part of. In the 1980s, the site had a sugar cane mill and brown sugar processing facility, or “trapiche”. The hacienda was divided, and beginning in the 1980s, the properties in the area began diversifying their products, as sugar cane was no longer very profitable. The predominant crops in the area are now corn, beans, alfalfa, broccoli, other vegetables, and fruit trees. The land has been in the family since 1995. At the time, it had not been in production for about ten years, and it didn’t have a single tree or building. The idea of turning the property into a hotel grew slowly over time, crystalizing into a firm plan in May of 2008 when Carlos and three fellow students in a post-graduate course in “turismo rural” (rural tourism) offered by the University of Buenos Aires completed a feasibility study for the project.
About the Owners
Owners Carlos, Doreen, Nicolas and Martin are committed to operating the business with social responsibility principles, in relation to the environment, the community, their employees, and their business partners.
Carlos has an undergraduate degree in business administration from the Catholic University of Ecuador, a masters degree in urban environmental management from Wageningan University / IHS, Netherlands, and a masters degree in tourist destinations and sustainability from Universidad de las Palmas de Gran Canarias, Spain. He is working on a PhD thesis focusing on social responsibility in the tourism industry.
Doreen has an undergraduate degree in both civil engineering and chemistry, and a masters degree in environmental engineering, all from the University of California at Davis. She has eight years experience in wastewater treatment planning and design, and over ten years experience in development work. She designed the septic tank based on design principles developed by a professor in Costa Rica, and she’ll use her solid waste management experience to be sure that organic waste is composted, as much waste as possible is recycled, and the rest properly disposed.
