Salinas de Guaranda

Salinas, at 3,550 metres in Bolivar province, was among the poorest villages in Ecuador in the 1970s, living off salt springs that gave it its name, when a Salesian priest and the community began building cooperatives, and the result is one of the more remarkable community economies in the Andes: dozens of small enterprises owned collectively, making cheeses that are sold nationally under the Salinerito name, chocolate, dried mushrooms, wool sweaters, soccer balls, herbal products and more, each in its own workshop, with the profits reinvested. Visitors tour the workshops, taste and buy, and the model is studied by development people from elsewhere. The village sits in dramatic broken country below sandstone towers.

What you actually see

• The Salinerito cheese plant - the cooperative that started the model.
• Chocolate and wool workshops - the range of village enterprises.
• The salt springs - the original livelihood the name comes from.
• Sandstone towers above - the broken country around the village.

When to go

Year round. A day. Workshop tours run on weekdays when production is working; weekends are quieter and some shops are shut. The road in is rough.

Honest expectations

It is a working village, not a visitor attraction, and tours depend on staff availability. The road from Guaranda is rough and slow. Altitude and cold surprise people. Accommodation is simple.

Nearby

Guaranda is south-east; Chimborazo lies east.