Yunguilla

Situated against the stunning backdrop of Ecuador’s Andes just north of Quito, Yunguilla is a village that has wholeheartedly embraced community-based tourism. Here, nearly the whole village is involved in the community project in one way or another, either by providing accommodation to tourists or by manufacturing foodstuffs, such as milk, cheese, yogurt and Chigualcan jams, which benefit not only travelers enjoying meals at the community restaurant but also locals – reducing their dependency on imports from Quito and making the village both sustainable and self-sufficient.

Travelers who visit Yunguilla can stay at a variety of homes and enjoy traditional, local foods and enjoy nature walks along old smugglers’ trails, with the possibility of spotting hummingbirds as well as migrating tapirs, big cats and Andean bears in the cloud forests of the Yunguilla Nature Reserve. Once home to the now extinct Yumbos people, the region around Yunguilla continues to preserve its indigenous heritage and this homestay experience is an opportunity for cultural exchange.

The VSocial Foundation supports this project by supporting the management of its tourism project and bringing the international market closer to the project. That is, it takes tourists through the alliances that the foundation has with several international agencies seeking that the organization be a sustainable project through tourism.

In addition, it is the first project certified as community-based tourism of all our projects and now we have there community advisors who work with other projects that want to strengthen taking into account the experience that has Yunguilla for more than 20 years.

Yunguilla is a community of approximately 400 people, with the project is able to impact at least 50% of the total community. Not only with the tourist project, but with the company of jams, cheeses and now with a new restaurant, all these processes with 100% skilled labor of the community.