Western Slopes to the Pacific Coast - Adventure Guide to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands - page 250

Where to Eat
The best restaurants in Santo Domingo are associated
with the better hotels in town, particularly Hotel Tropical
Inn and Hotel Don Kleber. Most meals are organized in
conjunction with accommodations or a set tour itinerary.
The lodges at Bellavista, Maquipicuna, and Tinalandia, for example,
serve food to their guests. Meals must be prearranged at places like
the Río Palenque Science Center and Friends of the Mindo-Nambillo
Forest Riverside Shelter.

Hotel Tropical Inn , Av. Quito on the main highway east of town,

2-2761-771 or 2-2761-772, fax [phone], houses a good restau-
rant catering to foreign travelers. Prices are fair and the food is tasty.
The menu selection is good, although it's mostly seafood.

The modern, clean, and comfortable restaurant at Hotel Don
Kleber , a mile north of Santo Domingo on the Quininde-Esmeraldas
Highway,

2-2761-956, offers various Ecuadorian dishes, including
tasty coastal cuisine.

For Chinese food, there are plenty of chifas in town, but most are of
poor quality. One exception is the Chifa Tay Happy near Parque
Zaracay. It's nothing spectacular, but it's not bad by Ecuadorian stan-
dards.

The EliteRestaurant , onAv. Quito and Sachila, is the place to go for
a quick and inexpensive meal.

The North Coast

When I first thought about going to the coast fromQuito, I didn't
know what to expect. My only other experience with the Pacific
Ocean was in the Galápagos, so you can imagine how my pre-
conceived notions were blown away. Upon descent from the
Andes (at nearly 10,000 feet), several short hours produced a
massive land and climate transformation. Immediately, we
were whisked along steep mountain ridges and through thick
clouds blanketing lush tropical forest. Strangely enough, the
land changed againwith the blink of an eye. I foundmyself star-
ing at an endless expanse of African oil-palm plantations. Per-
haps evenmore noticeable was the transformation in the people,
the communities by the wayside becoming predominantly Afro-