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.

Loja, Ecuador

We got on the bus to Loja today. It's a 9 hour ride. We are the only gringos on board. Our computer got stolen while we were on a bathroom break or while we were asleep.

Banana fields are all over the place before the mountains.

We all got lunch at a small eatery. 2 USD each for the meal.

 

Upon arriving in Loja right after this grueling bus ride, we set out to find a hotel. All the stores, restaurants and cafes were closed already.  The town looked dreary. Usually, when we get off the bus in a new town, one of the parents sits at a cafe with the kids and all the luggage while the other parent goes look for a hotel. We decided Peter and the kids would stay in one place on the sidewalk with all the luggage while Christelle went looking for a hotel. Meanwhile, a man passing by got Peter to understand that this was not safe, being alone with the kids and all the luggage in the street like that. Christelle came back from her search and everything went well. It really did not feel right for Peter to be waiting like this since he could tell the place was not friendly at all.

 Our hotel is nice enough. It is close to the municipal market
Loja is not the place for us though. Now we are really wondering where to go next. Our travelling budget is almost done. We have about 10-15 days left to find a place to rent before we are out of funds! The clock is ticking and it feels like this is when the adventure is really starting.

 There are a lot of small eateries (comedores) in the municipal market. Main dishes go for 2.50 USD

There are a couple of nice plazas.

A few places are cute in Loja, otherwise it is pretty cold and dull looking but we later heard that Loja is actually a nice place to live in if you do not mind the cold dreary weather. This town is very classical music oriented. They have a wonderful symphonic orchestra and also lots of bands/singers.

Loja seems to be a place of culture and classical music. They have a wonderful symphonic orchestra and lots of music teachers.