Black Sheep Inn Ecolodge

Breathtaking Views Perched on a Hillside    Black Sheep Inn is located just outside of the rural village of Chugchilan at over 10,400 feet in elevation.  Accomodations offer all the comforts of home while exploring the real Andes of Ecuador. Property faces East across the Rio Toachi Canyon.  You do not have to go far to appreciate the beauty of the area, even our bathrooms have a spectacular view of mountains, plateau and canyon.

more property views

Enjoy the comfortable chalet-like lodge, relax around self-designed woodstove fireplaces, play scrabble and sip a glass of Ecuadorian Rum or a hot chocolate, pamper yourself with hot showers, delight in gourmet vegetarian meals, and after a long hike stretch out in the Yoga studio, have a relaxing massage or leave your tensions behind in the sauna and hot tub.

Rooms

Comforts & Features Woodstoves & Showers    At this altitude, nights can get a little chilly
(often as low as 8° C / 56° fahrenheit).  All private rooms have self designed efficient wood-burning stoves to keep things cozy. 

Showers are piping hot with all natural gravity fed water pressure, available 24 hours a day.

Sound Silent Sleep    All beds are top quality Ecuadorian orthopaedic matresses.  Nights are cool high in the Andes, so the blankets are thick, and you will sleep soundly far from the hum of any highways and city traffic noise.

The INN is Intimate    The charm of the Black Sheep Inn is in its size. We cater to individual travelers and families.  With only eight private rooms, each with two double beds (some rooms have more beds) and one shared bunkhouse.   You will notice personal touches all over the place.  

Capacity ranges from 10 to 35 guests.    Prices are per person because meals, tea and coffee and purified water are included.  Also enjoy home baked chocolate brownies, banana bread and oatmeal cookies.  We've tried to do everything possible to make your stay relaxing and enjoyable.  Dinner is served family-style in the home-like lodge around a large table.  We always encourage second helpings!  You will be part of the family at the Black Sheep Inn.

Rooms Types

Deluxe Private Rooms Private Bathroom and Shower
High on the property with a fantastic view we offer four rooms with attached (ensuite) private bathroom and shower.  Like all of the bathrooms at the Black Sheep Inn, these feature enviromentally friendly composting toilets and 24 hours a day hot water.  There is also one Deluxe Private Room closer to the lodge.  All Deluxe Private rooms have woodstove fireplaces in the room.

more room photos

Deluxe Private Room private bath & shower    including 3 meals per person, per night	Single	Double	Triple	Quad+
	$60	$60	$60	$60

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Standard Private Rooms Private Room, Shared Bathroom and Shower
Our standard private accommodations are tucked into a wooded area of the hilside.  They share one composting toilet and a shower (24 hours hot water) between three rooms.  All Standard Private rooms have woodstove fireplaces in the room.

more room photos

Standard Private Room shared bath & shower    including 3 meals per person, per night	Single	Double	Triple	Quad+
	$50	$50	$50	$50

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Bunkhouse Shared dormitory, shared bathroom and shower
Our bunkhouse offers 10 beds in a three story a-frame house with a great view.  Matrimonial beds are available for couples.  The shared dormitory does not have a woodstove in it, but there are plenty of blankets.

more room photos

Bunkhouse   including 3 meals shared dormitory shared bathroom & shower per person, per night

$ 20

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Food, Services and Features

Gourmet Vegetarian Meals Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included in the prices and all meals are wholesome vegetarian.

Dinner is served family style, promptly at 7 pm, and it is a feast to remember.  Here is a sample of what awaits you at the dinner table.

    -- Vegetarian Shepard's Pie
        (with lentils, quinoa, corn and oats)
    -- with Wild Mushroom Gravy
    -- Steamed Artichokes with a Dijon Mustard Dip
    -- Fresh Tarragon Tomato Salad

    -- Eggplant Parmesan
        (beer battered eggplant, homemade tomato sauce
         and local mozzarella cheese)
    -- with Herbed Garlic Mashed Potatoes
    -- and a Fresh Garden Salad with a Red Wine Vinaigrette

Coming Soon by popular demand: Black Sheep Inn Cookbook!!

Jazz and Pancakes
Every Sunday at the Black Sheep Inn we serve a special breakfast of Pancakes & Jazz.  Don't forget to bring your saxophone!  Thick, American pancakes piled high with fresh fruit salad, homemade sugarcane syrup, butter and jam.  And always plenty of strong steaming hot coffee and tea while listening to Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, Preservation Jazz Hall Band, Stan Getz and Ella Fitzgerald, just to name a few of our favorites.

Home Baked Snacks Oatmeal cookies, brownies and banana cake are included and available all day long.  For things like beer or wine or even rum, we run on the honor system, so you don't have to dig into your pockets to pay each time you want something.  Just mark it down on your tab and we will settle the bill before you leave.

We also prepare a great cheese sampler featuring cheeses from the local cheese factory in the high paramo.  Cheese plate includes apple, tomato, onion, dijon mustard and bread.

Beer, Wine, Liquor, Soda Self Service: Beer - Wine - Rum - or Cola!
We offer large ice cold Pilsner Beer (the most popular brand in Ecuador) as well as a wide variety of Chilean and Argentian red and white wines.  We also have a stocked liquor cabinet.  Beer and cola and even Rum are self service available whenever you are thirsty.  We are also happy to mix your favorite cocktail.  

Yoga Studio This big, open multi-function room is a great place for stretching and yoga, or for napping in the hammocks, or practising bouldering on the rock climbing wall, or for meetings, workshops, conferences and presentations, or for simply fixing yourself a cup of tea or coffee.  Relaxing is a priority.   All guests have a key to the yoga studio, so you can hang out here as late or as early as you like.

more yoga studio photos

Sauna and Hot Tub The Sauna and Hot Tub are woodfired; both are heated by a specially designed woodstove.   Hot Tub and Sauna cost $15 per group   ... ewe must request it in advance because it takes about 3 hours to heat up.

Black Sheep Inn sauna is an eclectic combination of a traditional Finnish Sauna and a Native American Indian Sweat Lodge.  Some people say that the Finnish sauna is for cleaning the body, and the Native American sweat dome for ritualistic purification.  At Black Sheep Inn both ways feel fantastic!  The hot soaking pool is first solar heated and then kept piping hot with the same woodstove that heats the sauna through a thermal siphon, this means there are no pumps or electricity used, just natural hot water.

more sauna & hot tub photos

Gymnasium Our newest addition is a gymnasium and sun deck that is perched above the main lodge.  We have home-made free weights, monkey bars, pull-up bars, benches for sit-ups, parallel bars and a bench press.  Climbing the steep hill up to the ridge is the best Stair-Master around!

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Friendly Animals The 10 acre farm is growing.  We've got a dog, a cat, pigs, chickens, ducks, llamas, and of course a flock of Black Sheep!  All the animals are friendly and love attention.  The llamas help mow the lawns and are in training for Andean Llama Treks. 

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And the Black Sheep... We started with a pair and learned that two black sheep will produce adorable black lambs.  They are the most majestic looking mascots imaginable.  We have sheared, spun and woven natural black blankets.

more animal photos

Book Exchange and Lending Library Upstairs in the lodge we have a book exchange, as well as an extensive lending library

Internet Black Sheep Inn is hooked to the internet through the telephone company's version of ADSL.   The connection is not blazing fast, but it's enough to check your email and surf the web.   Wireless is available in and around the Main Lodge.

Zipline On a steel cable slung between two of our biggest eucalyptus trees, the zipline flies out over the hillside.  It starts in the treehouse and travels 100 meters over the steep hillside, driveway and above the greenhouse. 

more zipline photos

Day Hiker's Paradise - Orientation Surrounding the Black Sheep Inn are amazing trails in all directions.  From our lodge you can take in the cloud forest in the Iliniza Ecological Preserve, the massive crater lake called Quilotoa and the Rio Toachi Canyon.

We offer extensive maps, advice from over 20 years of experience, and local native trail guides.  We arrange hiking and horseback riding trips, many of which start and end at our inn.  Check out the day hikes page for more on what's available.

Games Black Sheep Inn is proud to have built and maintain the world's highest frisbee golf course.  Designed by Robin White, professional frisbee golf competitor, our 9-basket course stretches out over the top five acres of our mountainside property.  See if you can beat the Par 34.

We also have a volleyball court, a horseshoes court, corn hole bean bag toss, darts and plenty of board games in the lodge.

Stars Of course we can't guarantee clear night skies.  However, when the clouds do clear, the stars are fantastic out here.  And you can see both the Big Dipper and the Southern Cross in our sky.   Bring down your telescopes - Great for an Astronomy Retreat.