"Very nice place with a lot of atmosphere and history. The garden beautiful and well maintained as is the whole place. Service is excellent: at 7pm the fireplace in your room is lit and the bed fitted with hot water jugs.
There are also large fireplaces in the saloon and restaurant which creates a welcoming atmosphere.
The restaurant serves tasteful food with a broad selection of dishes and very friendly service."

Dion Boerrigter

"Wow, this was an amazing stay. The staff throughout the hotel was on point and super friendly. The welcome drink was delicious and the food at the restaurant (breakfast/dinner) was some of the best I had while in Ecuador, the taxo ice cream is a must. Plan on spending several hours exploring the property from the gardens and monastery to the library, everywhere is beautiful. I felt relaxed the entire time there.

My only complaint was one of the front desk ladies who was a bit cold and forgot to call my taxi (pre arranged in writing) and I ended up missing my flight. The evening lady was great though!"

Jennifer Bartaszewicz

"A little backstory: My husband and I (Americans) came to Ecuador October 10th to see my father who is an expat who was in the hospital in Ibarra. We got notice the day before that he was dying and probably has only 1 day left. We never been to this country before, but I just had to get the next available flight to try to see my dad one last time.

No time to prepare, no time to research. We arrived in Quito Friday night, and was told about the protests between the Indigenous Ecuadorians and the government (due to diesel fuel subsidy)which means lots of highways and road closures due to road blocks , they were not allowing moterized vechicles through. We were advised it was best to stay in Quito for the night and try to get to Ibarra in the morning during daylight when it would be safer.

Saturday morning we went from Quito to Cayambe (over an hour drive) Then we hit the 1st road blockage. We were told there is no way around it and we would have to continue our journey by walking. We found a place to leave or car rental and most of our stuff and packed a few things in a backpack and then we walked and walked and walked.

We walked for about 22KM (13.5 miles) between 5/6 hours. Through the mountainous terrain (unprepared- not the right shoes, caught early in a thunderstorm, we were walking wet most of the way) We made it to San Pablo when it was getting dark, we were tired, our feet hurt bad. I'm already drained emotionlly from worrying about my dad, wondering if I will make it to him in time. We asked someone is there any places to stay for the night they pointed to a direction and said walk two blocks. We did and didnt see anything , so we decided just walk a little more then we started seeing sighs for Hacienda Cusins and thinking that is probably where we can stay, we followed the signs, came to a gate that was unlocked started calling out as we walked though as we didnt see anyone but saw a beautiful building in a beautiful garden. It was so quiet but thinking maybe it was closed due to the road blockage many people probably couldnt make it there. I sat on the steps while my husband continued looking around for someone. After awhile my husband didnt come back I went looking for him, (unknown to me he did find the reception area and it was open, and the wonderful angel who worked there named Maria was looking for me. I evently found them and we were able to get a room.

The room, it was beautiful and nice, it had a fireplace that someone came build a fire for us. There was a nice restaurant, with great food, the veggies I ate they said was grown in their garden. Another lady came to our room with two hot water bottles to place in the bed to keep us warm. The people who worked there were all so amazing! Everything was so top notch, they knew our situation and showed great empathy for us. The place was absolutly beautiful. I really wished under different circumstances that we could stay here longer and fully experience everything they had to offer.

This place was a hidden gem and I truely believe God guided us here, especially to meet Maria. LIke I said before she is an Angel sent by God! She went WAY ABOVE and BEYOND to help us.

It was rainy Sunday Morning and after breakfast Maria walked us to the store and helped us get what we needed. We knew very little spanish , and Maria knew English , she even helped us get a Taxi that was able to bring us to the next road blockage. She offered to help us with translation whenever we needed it by calling her and trust me we took her up on that offer! At one point we found a truck dropping someone off at a road blockage heading opposite direction and we asked for a ride to next blockage ( we were about 7-9km away from the hospital, we called Maria to help translate, turns out this guy knew some really good sides mud roads to get around the next few bloackages and was able to get us all the way to the hospital, saving us hours of walking.

Running out of space to type, but we made it to my dad. He did improve a little and currently still alive."

Amber M