In Otavalo, Ecuador, the Ali Shungu Mountaintop Ecolodge, 10 reasons to stay with us

PRINTABLE VERSION

RECOMMENDED READING

Touring/Guidebooks

Ecuador & The Galapagos Islands, Lonely Planet Survival Kit, by Rob

Rachowiecki (Lonely Planet). One of the best.

South American Handbook (all countries, Ben Box) and Ecuador &

Galapagos Handbook (Alan Murphy), Footprint Handbooks, Passport

Books.

Ecuador Handbook, Including the Galapagos Islands (Julian Smith),

Moon Travel Handbooks, new.

Ecuador, Galapagos Islands (Alain Legault), Ulysses Travel

Publications. Also is published in French.

The New Key to Ecuador and the Galapagos (David Pearson, David

Middleton), Ulysses Press. Emphasis on Natural History and Ecology.

Insight Guides: Ecuador, edited by Tony Perrottet, (APA Publications).

Beautiful photos, many contributing writers.

Climbing and Hiking in Ecuador (Bradt Publications, Globe Pequot

Press).

The Panama Hat Trail, by Tom Miller (Wm. Morrow, NY). A light

insight into everyday life in the Andes and the areas of the famous hat

industry).

Walking the Beaches of Ecuador, by Jose-German Cardenas and

Karen Marie Grenier.

Travel Amongst the Great Andes of the Equator, by Edward Whymper

(out of print in the U.S. but likely available in Ecuador). A classic l880

account of the region.

Savages, by Joe Kane. For interesting perspectives on Ecuador's oil

policies, written from the perspective of an endangered Amerindian

tribe.

The Amazon Stranger, by Mike Tidwell (The Lyons Press). Focuses on

Randy Borman, the son of U.S. missionaries who now lives with the

Cofan Indians and who has helped them win a number of battles with oil

corporations.

Living Poor: A Peace Corp Chronical (out of print); The Farm on the

River of Emeralds (out of print); and The Saddest Pleasure: A Journey

on Two Rivers (Greywolf Press, Minnesota). 3 books by Moritz

Thompson, the best accounts of peace corps life and an almost 30

years living as a foreigner here in Ecuador.

Otavalo, Weaving, Costume and the Market, by Lynn Meisch (a

foremost Anthropologist, who has specialized in Andean Textiles and

the Otavalen Indians for well over 25 years).

Costume and Identity in Highland Ecuador, edited by Ann Pollard Rowe

with text by Lynn Meisch, Laura M. Miller, Ann Rowe et al. The Textile

Museum, Washington, D.C., Univ. of Washington Press, Seattle. The

BEST there is for info on Ecuadorian Andean Indigenous textiles and

costume. Exquisite photos.

Digging up Prehistory, The Archaeology of Ecuador, by Karl Dieter

Gartelmann, Ediciones Libri Mundi (can be bought in Quito).

Witch Doctor's Apprentice, by Nicole Maxwell, Collier Books,

Macmillan Publishing, NY. An easy to read account of a woman's

travels amongs the Indians in search of healing plants.

A Traveler's Guide to El Dorado & the Inca Empire, by Lynn Meisch

(Penguin Books). Full of interesting details and sketches on the

textiles, crafts, peoples, markets, fiestas, archaeology and travel

etiquette of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.