Ecuador, Hot Springs and Roses » The Roaming Rountrees

Hot springs? Yes, please!

After returning from the Amazon, we had a couple of days in Quito before we had to fly again, so we took a break to enjoy volcanic hot springs about an hour outside the city high in the Andes Mountains. The Papallacta Hot Springs was beautiful. We arrived before our room was ready, took a hike along an adjacent nature preserve, and enjoyed the hot pools while the front desk held our bags. We soaked in the warm water and watched the clouds crawl across the mountains for most of the afternoon. It even rained pretty hard for about an hour, but we didn’t care. The cold raindrops felt nice as we floated in the steamy water. It was very peaceful and relaxing.

The next day, we took a spontaneous side trip to visit a rose farm. Roses are one of the top six exports for Ecuador, which makes production very important for this region of the country.

Sacha Rose Farm is located in the heart of the Ecuadorian Andean region at 10,500 feet above sea level. Natural springs, rich soil, and the perfect amount of sunlight are needed to produce the biggest roses on the planet. And boy, are they big. Some stems can be over 6 feet long and the bud base as big as you fist.

In Ecuador, you can purchase 25 long-stemmed roses of any color for $2 US. Yes, only two bucks. Try to get away with that this Valentine’s Day!

We took a tour of their flower beds and the production facility. It was fascinating to see how they were sorted for various markets, prepped, boxed, and stored for shipment. We were told it takes only two days from harvest to arrive anywhere anywhere in the world for customers to purchase.

The farm exports to major distributors for 50¢ to 90¢ per stem depending on the rose. That’s quite the markup when buying roses from your local florist.

We didn’t know what to expect when we decided to visit this farm, but the tour turned out to be a nice surprise.