First published on May 14, 2026 • Last updated on May 14, 2026
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Tierra Viva Expo
by Aymé Quijia
With support from:
David Quijia, Darío Quijia, Mayra Andrango, Maribel Quijia, Santiago Juiña
In coordination with: the GAD Parroquial de Nayón
The Tierra Viva Expo Fair is a gathering of producers, artisans, and knowledge keepers connected to the land. The fair takes place annually in December in Nayón, Quito, bringing together initiatives rooted in the land and in traditional knowledge.
This year, the Expo will bring together more than 60 local, national, and international initiatives, strengthening its role as a meeting space for those who cultivate, create, and share knowledge connected to the land.
Central Park of Nayón, Quito, Ecuador
December 12–13, 2026
09:00 to 17:00
Tierra Viva is a community-led initiative rooted in Nayón, the Garden of Quito.
Nayón, llacta of the mitimaes, a community shaped by peoples resettled under the Inca Empire, where family names remain distinct, where faces carry knowledge and identity, and where the land is like a deep breath that nourishes mind and spirit.
The town’s name means tiny, sweet corn, and is a reflection of the warmth and hard work of its people. Here, the community lives through its identity, its resilience, its resistance, and its ongoing process of cultural affirmation. At its core and in its roots, the ancient roles of traders and merchants remain vibrant.
Here, our ancestors forged an agricultural community that continues to sustain itself through the production of native crops and the cultivation of plants, with knowledge and wisdom, with artistry and long memories, all within in the Canton of Quito, Ecuador.
The Tierra Viva Expo Fair
Within this context, the local initiative Tierra Viva Expo Fair emerges, grounded in knowledge and wisdom in relationship with nature, strengthening and building upon the capacities of those who dedicate themselves to unique forms of production. Their work is infused with love for greenery and for the land, something that began as tradition and today also sustains livelihoods.
At the Tierra Viva Expo Fair you will find the art of bonsai, gardening, the collection of cacti and succulents, rare, aquatic and terrestrial plants, carnivorous species, grafting, seed guardianship, and crafts connected to Mother Earth. There is also the beginning of orchid production, the making of plant pots, and stone art.
Little by little, the Expo Fair has become an activity that gives identity to the parish. This is strengthened into a locally-rooted cultural activity that builds connections across the country with leading growers.
Tierra Viva is both symbol and recognition, a way of valuing the land, its cultivators, and those who carry knowledge and traditions through their hands and their work. It brings together local, national, and international initiatives. In 2025, there were 35 participants; in 2026, the goal is 60.
What You Will Find at the Tierra Viva Expo Fair
Bonsai Art
Their hands are their gift. They observe carefully, the shape, the trunk, the leaves, to understand potential. They shape, they care with love, they carve little by little, speaking with and connecting to each small plant.
- Mayra Andrango, Manaya Bonsai
- Santiago Juiña, SioBonsái
Guardian of Seeds
Their hands are marked with lines that show the passing of time. With their hands they open the soil, care for it, place the seed, nurture it, mound it, water it. Native seeds of their own. They are the reflection of the breath of the land and its wisdom.
- Maribel Quijia, Chi sinchi Tambo
- Rosita Luguaña, Eco Rosita
Cacti, Succulents, and Haworthias
In the brightness of their eyes, you know they have created something new, something unique, something to be cared for. Some with spines, others with varied colors and forms, some pointed, others undulating. They search for them, reproduce them, and their hands fill with thorns, with calluses that no longer hurt.
- David Quijia, succulent collector, Cactus y Suculentas Mía
- Darío Quijia, cactus collector, Jardines Josué
Exotic Plants and Orchids
Those smiles hold a treasure, green, variegated, in vitro, or in unique tones, produced by their own hands. They drain them, clean them, and when a new one appears or others bloom, their gaze shifts, becomes something else. Lotus flowers, among others.
- Aqua Garden Store
Grafting, Soil, and Pots
To create, to know, hands marked with lines and thoughts of how and when to do it. Experiments and unique experiences, how to improve production, how to do it better. It sprouts, it is planted, it produces, and life is brought forward.
- Vinicio Ayala, grafting expert
Stone Art, Seeds, and Jewelry in Connection with Nature
Thousands of years are held in memory. It is about finding the essence that sustains that connection with nature, through the gift of painting and the work of the hands, creating while remaining in relationship with it.
- Yazmin Guaita, stone artist, Susurrosmiu — Q’enti Galería Café
Nursery Growers
Sensitivity is present in every variety they create and produce, native and new. Colors, forms, and designs emerge through hands that carry knowledge and ways of knowing. Through seeds, cuttings, and other forms, life is given.
- María Teresa Gualoto, Vivero Laberintos and Vivero Jardín
- Jenny Lema, Vivero Las Orquídeas
