Famous for its brand of Cheeses called Salinerito [
considered the country's premium range] as well as wool spinning and dye mills Salinas de Guaranda is just 90 minutes by car from
Guaranda. The area is surrounded by interesting salt formations left over from salt mining, in addition, it is also home to a major sweets industry and has beautiful walks and fishing areas along with horse riding facilities. The entry cost into Salinas is US$2.00
* and US$5.00
* for the various community cooperative based projects accompanied with guides.
Places ti visit. The Salinas style of projects acted as a catalyst and spread to other areas during the 1980s through a group from the town who transplanted their ideas to other towns. For example near
La Palma in an easterly direction a native cloud forest reserve called
Bosque Pena Blanca was procured along with a 300m waterfall, which has a lodge facility with 16 bunk beds, baths and cooking facilities just an hour's walk away in
Echeandia, along with hotels and restaurants.
The province of
Bolivar is around 70% Subtropical covered by western cloud forest while the lower section is more agricultural producing citrus and
sugar cane. Although not too frequented by tourists the bus ride from
Guayaquil into
Babahoyo is most scenic and you will often see agricultural workers hard at work tilling the fields. Also, of interest is
Chimbo 25km from
Guaranda which as well as producing guitars and various firework models it posses a Vatican type square built around a church called,
Santuario de Nuestra Senora de la Natividad which houses interesting pre-Spanish antiquities.
San Miguel further up the road is also worth a visit as is the old colonial town of
Santiago which houses some interesting local art paintings in its church. If you continue on you'll pass
San Jose de las Palmas to Bilovan there are a set of worthwhile caves to explore called
Las Guardias [
west] which then leads on to a waterfall and river type beach in
Balsapamba. The road then loops back to the aforementioned
Babahoyo.
Getting there. There is a frequent
bus service to Salinas de Guaranda with
Transportes Candido Rada leaving from Plaza Roja in Guaranda. Or, take a bus from Cuatro Esquinas, located on the road to
Ambato [
10 km north of Guaranda]. From there, take a
truck to Salinas [
20 km]. A
taxi costs around US$15
*. To go back to
Guaranda take any bus from Salinas' main plaza [
all of them go to Guaranda].
*The prices are approximately
