Some guest rooms have skylights for stargazing at night, others treat waking guests to crystal canyon views more eye-opening than two cups of local coffee. Hammerman has designed all of the buildings himself, and permaculture dictates that he use local materials as much as possible, so straw, adobe and Spanish tile dominate the propety’s aesthetic. Breakfast and dinner are included with a stay ($18-$38 per person per night), and these two can cook. Their all-you-can-eat vegetarian feasts are well known among the backpackers traversing this continent.

Most importantly, Hammerman and Kirby chose a stop-and-stare spot. The windows of the inn’s main lodge frame a stunning panorama of green canyon slopes, a patchwork of farms and the snow-capped 5,000-meter Iliniza Norte volcano. Most evenings, especially during the February to June rainy season, clouds float up at us from the deep Rio Toachi Canyon like steam from a city manhole. The sun sets behind the nearby mountain range, and the canyon lights up a glowing pink. Popular hikes in the area include exploring the spectacular Laguna Quiolotoa, a 3-km-wide active volcanic crater lake about an hour’s drive from Chugchilan. Another popular day trip is riding horses over the last spines of the Andes, as the mountains gradually bow toward the Pacific Coast, a mere 100 kilometers away. This descent is upholstered with lush cloud forest, which is mostly unexplored, unprotected and being logged too fast for Hammerman and Kirby’s comfort.

Humberta Ortega, a native of Chugchilan, leads horseback trips into the mystical cloud forest of his youth, where he grew up hiking the wet downhill slopes toward the Pacific Ocean. By offering an interest-free loan to buy  saddles, Hammerman and Kirby helped Ortega start his business as an ecological option to logging and farming the forest, and he’s thankful for it today. He is always sure to point out to his guests exactly why the forest is important to people like him, and why it should be important to visiting gringos, too. There are species of birds and plants in the forest that have never been studied. Clear cutting the cloud forest effects farmers from the sierra to the sea with changed weather patterns, he says. “The Black Sheep Inn has been very good for Chugchilan,” Ortega says, “it is showing people that tourism can be a good business and good for places like the cloud forest.”

The Black Sheep Inn started as a one-room show, with Hammerman and Kirby doing the cooking and serving in the crowded kitchen and then sleeping in the back room while their few guests slept in an adjoining cabin. Now the inn is a popular and plush stop in the remotest part of the Ecuadorian Andes, and the inn’s philosophy has expanded far from these ten acres. The couple has made a positive impact by introducing tourism to Chugchilan and by contributing time and money to local schools, opening a public library and helping the health clinic and water system succeed. Guests leave here relaxed and inspired – often aiming to effect their own little environment by recycling, volunteering or perhaps practicing permaculture.

Hammerman and Kirby’s idealism shows in every detail of the Black Sheep Inn. They live and work by the philosophy they can change the world with baby steps.  But don’t ask them how they developed their successful ecological oasis. They just live here.