Vilcabamba, Ecuador: the last refuge of the Days

This is what Vilcabamba feels like on week days: tranquil, peaceful, slow pace... Weekends are more busy with young people from Loja coming here and partying until late at night.

Someone on the bus from Guayaquil to Loja had asked us if we were going to Vilcabamba. Someone else at the tourist office in Loja told us that it's easy to get to Vilcabamba. We were not even asking about Vilcabamba. So we thought we'd give it a try after two people kind of told us to go there. It's only one hour from Loja.

Vilcabamba is in the South of Ecuador, 140 km north of Peru. It is a low valley of the Andes, at only 5000 feet elevation (1500 meters) and the temperatures stay around 70F year-round (20C). It feels and looks much better here than in Loja. Vilcabamba is where the Andes mountains meet the tropics.

This is the old town gate, from before they built the new highway. This street used to be the only road to Loja.

 our hotel for the first few nights. One night is 45 dollars and includes an excellent breakfast. Our room is nice and we have our own bathroom. Rates in this town are 10 USD per night per person.

We found out that travelling by bus in Mexico, Guatemala and Ecuador costs 25 USD per person per day. This includes the bus fare, hostel nights and meals, except in the big cities, where a hotel night for 4 can reach 80USD.

swimming pools are not heated around here and they are very cold

In this town, a meal goes from 2.5 USD to 5 USD depending on the restaurant

this hostel has two charming cats they use to deter rats from the kitchen


the spring water here has remarquable healing properties. It is said to be one of the reasons why people live up to 130 years old around here. Which is debatable anyway, is anybody not telling the truth, or do they even know for sure what year they were born? The younger generations do not look that healthy any more and they are exposed to more pollutants, so most probably they will not live to be that old

The central plaza by the church features nice exotic trees and the park is well maintained.

It is a very tranquil place. "Es muy tranquilo aqui"

 The trees in the plaza are gorgeious.

 Horses here are gorgeous but they look a little sketchy to us. The horse on the right is called "Barbie". These are "Paso Finos".

 this is what you do when your computer gets stolen. Louis and Angelina still keep up with their math studies on Khanacademy.com at the internet cafe. One hour of internet cafe is 1 USD per person

 The scenery and the climate here are similar to Hawaii, but the elevation is 5000 feet. It is also mellow. Only 3500 inhabitants in this village. Louis and Angelina both say that it feels like home here. Louis adds that it is luxurious. Lots of tourists, mostly Americans, Italians and French. The four of us like it here a lot.

The Mandango is a 4 hour hike.





We noticed that there is not much art or traditional music around here. Just some jewelry. This is surprising considering that there is so much of it just 40 km south, in Peru. We're wondering why.

It is common to see lots of chicken in the streets.

The plaza was improved last year with this pedestrian area. Their plan is to make the whole plaza pedestrian in the near future. Nice!

Flowers grow on top of roofs.