Hacienda \åsyen’da\ [Spanish] 1. a large estate in present or formerly Spanish-speaking countries. 2. a farm, a ranch dwelling typically with low rambling buildings and wide porches.

Cusín \koo-zeen\ [Quichua] 1a. an Indian chief who valiantly defended his culture. 1b. A derivation of cuso, an edible beetle. 2. a mountain in Northern Ecuador. 3. a place of tranquility with fine food, gardens, pastoral walks and horseback riding. A special place for travelers. 4. a hacienda in San Pablo del Lago, Ecuador. 5. verb, to valiantly uphold a belief, e.g. I Cusín, therefore I am. Cusíner.

Hacienda Cusín was purchased in Spain in 1602 by the prominent Luna family at an auction from Philip II, King of Spain. The estate comprised the two valleys of Gualavi and La Rinconada, and all the land between the valleys and the lake. The property amounted to approximately 100,000 acres, held until its divisions in 1945 and 1964.

The Hacienda was named for the mountain, Cusín, at the head of the valley of La Rinconada. The source of the mountain’s name is difficult to ascertain, although two possibilities are likely. First, tradition has it that Cusín was the name of an indigenous chief who fought against the Incas in the first decades of the 16th century, just before the Spaniards’arrival. The second possibility pertains to a type of white beetle that appears two days every November. Considered a delicacy, the insect is prominent in this immediate area, lending it some fame. In Quichua the beetle is called cuso (cut-so), and it is possible that it has given its name to the area. Cusín’s coat of arms, found on all dishware and stationery, has been modeled after the cuso.
During the last 400 years, Hacienda Cusín remained, for the most part, in the hands of two different Spanish families. Cusín was operated as a farm until converted into a hotel by Eugene Metz, a North American who married into the Chiriboga family that held ownership of Cusín. The PanAmerican Highway had not yet been built, and the Quito to Otavalo journey took serveral hours. During this period, the artisan market opened for only a few hours early Saturday morning, and house-guests were apt to stay for long periods. These over-stays inspired the need for a hotel.

In 1966 Metz began building the Main House on the spot where the grain storage shed had been. Guests were then charged 35 Sucres (approximately $4) per night with dinner. All 14 guestrooms were furnished with antiques. Black tie was obligatory eveningwear, and pre-dinner entertainment included a piano rendition of a Broadway musical, followed by a procession of servants leading wild animals into the dining room. The animals were kept in the barred cages in the lower part of today’s library patio.

In 1970, when tourists were rare, Metz sold the hotel, ending three centuries of ownership by the Chiriboga family. The Creightons, the new owners, attempted to build a rose plantation, sold all of the surrounding land, and allowed Cusín to fall into disrepair.

By 1990, the rutted-earth approach to Hacienda Cusín, lined by collapsing adobe walls, was frequently flooded. Cusín, an ambient trash-heap with 14 odious rooms, serveral with jerry-built bathrooms in the corners, was a challenge to behold. Aged and diseased horses trampled the gardens. Most of the paths, if not cracked cement, were earthen and poorly drained. The sparsely equipped kitchen, a third of the size of that today, was a maze of small rooms with ceilings on the verge of collapsing. The new owners of the almost defunt neighboring rose plantation understandably cut off Cusín’s open sewers. A late 19th century wind-up telephone was connected to the ‘outside world’ by an autocratic San Pablo operator, straight out of Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood.

The dining room, lit by two large bulbs, had only one far-end window, and its small folkloric chairs fell over when guests stood up. Salon Bolivar was barely furnished and sun shone through tattered curtains nailed to the ceiling.

The Creightons sold Cusín in 1990 to the present owner, Nicholas Millhouse, who began the exciting and ambitious project of refurbishing the buildings, restoring the landscape, and constructing beautiful additions. With an eye on international tourism, Millhouse resurrected the Hosteria’s original name, Hacienda Cusín. The 1993 New York Times Travel & Leisure reviews of Cusín, followed by those of guidebooks, newspapers and international magazines dramatically increased occupancy. As a result, the additional income provided capital for necessary construction and for additional staff. Purchase of land in Gualavi valley gave space for Cusín’s horses and crops for the ktichen. The construction of El Monasterio in December 1995 provides additional space for guests, conferences, weddings and seasonal festivities.