This Hostel was so special! It’s perfect to relax, enjoy the beautiful nature and get in touch with Ecuadorian people! The animals were so cute and the volunteers were very nice, helped me a lot. I will definitely come back.

Beautiful place, lots of animals around included one pregnant Lama. If you want to help a bit, you could buy some dogfood in the shop, sometimes a little help can change a lot :) Ivan is a great manager, he knows a lot about the area, ask him about hikes around. It's 10 minutes only by bus to Otavalo. The kitchen was well equiped, even sometimes it was a bit crowdy but it was fun to use it with lot other guests.

We wish we could stay longer...

Peaceful

Need sunlight in the bedrooms

There is no service or internet at the actual hostel. This is nice for stepping away and exploring the beautiful property. The family running the place is all very nice and offered to prepare a beautiful, organic breakfast for $3 a person

The hostel has an "office" in town (small town with few shops/restaurants) with a public location on Google maps. However this is not the hostel, once you get to the office they call a cab for you to get to the hostel. Once you learn your way it is an easy 10 min walk to town but can be intimidating and hard to find if you don't pin save the location of the actual dormitories. PS no internet at the actual hostel so our working remote plans didn't work out. We were not comfortable working in the small "office" 10 min away with wifi.

Very friendly hosts; great if you like pets (cats and dogs), nature and tranquility

El Tio really put a lot of thought in this place. It is a cosy hide away with a beautiful surrounding, but it is also really rustic. So you have to enjoy brushing your teeth outside camping style to enjoy that place. What I really loved was the herbes garden. They explain a lot about the plants growing there and you can use them for making some tea.

I did not like the fact that the dogs ate out of the cooking pots in the evening. Unfortunatly the super sweet grandma used them for that purpose. Also you have to defend your food from the cats. They are not afraid to eat through your bags of food even when you store your bags in the cupboards. And I did not enjoy the cold shower. It was supposed to be hot, but the difference to the cold water was minimal. Also there is no Wifi. That's not a problem but it is something you have to be aware of.

Friendly and helpful with cancelation

What a great escape from the city! Our family of 3 stayed for 3 days in our own little cabin, and loved the welcoming atmosphere. José was a wonderful host, there to great us at reception and help us get settled, brought us fresh breakfast each morning and helped arrange taxis for longer journeys (for example, returning to Quito after our stay). Iluman and Otovalo are easily accessible by foot or bus. Our son loved being surrounded by the animals and squealed with excitement when interacting with the dogs. We would definitely recommend El Tio to others, and hope to return again some day.