Chakana

Located just outside the Chimborazo Reserve next to a waterfall and a dramatic rocky canyon, Puruha Muskuy Lodge offers guest accommodations and a separate restaurant. The lodge has a living room with a fireplace, whitewashed bedrooms with wooden-beamed ceilings, Andean-themed fabrics, thermal blankets and private bathrooms. Here you will have the opportunity to dive into the culture of the Puruhás, who inhabited the Chimborazo region before the arrival of the Incas, and whose descendants still live there today.

It is possible to hike to a sacred cave on the flanks of Chimborazo, said to be the ear of the volcanic deity, where for centuries people have conducted rituals asking for blessings. We’ll visit communities of campesinos to discover how the Puruhás live today, perhaps trying our hand at milking the cows or harvesting traditional Andean crops such as potatoes, beans, quinoa, melloco and corn. As we explore, we’ll stop to converse with shepherd women in bright shawls, their faces bronzed and lined by the sun, who spin wool as they watch their flocks. We’ll visit gardens of medicinal plants and see the thatched adobe chozas (huts) that some families still live in. We’ll meet some of the region’s most iconic four-legged residents, its llamas, and have the chance to buy some beautiful handicrafts and garments made from wool, hand sheared, spun and knitted by local women.