Ecuador’s Flowering Plants—Blooming Beauty Beyond Belief
February 2-9th, 2008
 

February 2, Day 1: Quito
We arrived at the Airport in Quito at various times yesterday and all were met and driven to their hotel. The brand new hotel Dann Carlton was an exceptional masterpiece of architecture designed and decorated in the English style. The breakfast was excellent and so was the service while here.
Web: http://www.danncarltonquito.com/


February 3, Day 2: Specialty Flower Plantation and Bellaflor Rose Plantation
We met the owner of Bellaflor, Hanspeter Hug, at his home for breakfast before he took us over to the plantation for a tour. What a beautiful home and such hospitality. We so enjoyed ourselves visiting with his family, having a wonderful brunch and seeing how passionate he is about his business.
http://www.bellaflor-group.com/

This place was huge and so perfectly run. Hanspeter loved taking us through the various areas of growing, production and shipping. Of course we loved all we saw.

After lunch, which was a barbeque, we saw the packing and preparation for shipping of roses, so you are really going to have a chance to see what production and preparation is really like, as well as participate in a course about the latest trends in flower bouquets – as they discovered, Bellaflor was much more than roses! The current offerings include more than 80 new varieties of roses and a huge selection of hard to find tropicals and specialty items. They ship all over the world. Much of the fertiliaing is done with compost and I have included a few pictures to show you the quality of that as well. What a way to start the tour off! This company has some great incentives for its workers as well as meeting the basic needs of housing and medical for the workers.

In the evening, we then enjoyed a wonderful meal at the Theatrum, the restaurant that is located in the same building at the Theatre.