| May 12, 2006 - Vilcabamba, Ecuador
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 | | show all 33 | | Gavilan's wife & daughter | | Another of mom and daughter | | This time with Gavilan in the shot | | |
| | Vilcabamba is a place of such peaceful tranquility that may travellers come here and stay for extended periods, despite the area's relative lack of offerings compared to other hotspots on the Gringo Trail. It is a nothing more than small village, surrounded by beautifully lush green mountains perfect for single-day or longer excursions, while its location is a perfect blend of altitude and lattitude so that the climate is an enjoyably mild 70-something degrees year round. Perhaps due to these factors, or perhaps due to a rumored fountain of youth in the area, inhabitants of Vilcabamba reputedly live to be 100 years old and thus the area has gained the nickname 'the valley of longevity'. Regardless, it was the perfect first stop for me after such long and arduous travelling over the past few days.
I arrived on the night of Friday the 12th, checked in to a hostel, and went out in search of food. I quickly met New Zealand expatriot Gavilan, who has relocated to Vilcabamba after marrying a local and started the his own successful tour company in the area offering hiking and horseback riding tours. We got to talking for a while, and I met another expatriot from Germany who also had moved into the area. It ended up being a fun night hanging out with the two of them and seeing a bit of the local culture in this small place.
The next morning I wanted to do a small hike, and met Youssef from France who was staying at my hostel and had similar plans, so we decided to set out together. We visited Gavilan's office after a late breakfast just to get some advice on the hikes in the area. There is a mountain just on the edge of town, with a cross on each of its two successive peaks, that is a typical day hike for people visiting the valley. It is supposed to be not too demanding, but enjoyable and beautiful on the top. It sounded great, except that some tourists had just been robbed at knife-point on their way up the day before we arrived, which ws a very rare occurence for Vilcabamba. This created a problem, so we asked for some more advice. Gavilan's guide was, of course, willing to escort us up the hill with his machete and therefore act as a deterrent to any would-be robbers. But this too would come at a price, and both Youssef and I were working on very tight budgets. After much thought and discussion we decided that it wasn't very likely these guys would strike again so soon after this first incident, especially since awareness had been raised and the police were on the lookout. So we figured we could go it alone, and just not bring anything of serious value along with us. Well, I wanted to bring my camera, obviously. But my compromise on that was that I took my small memory card that came free with the camera and didn't hold many photos, as opposed to my 1gig card that already had a lot of pics from my trip and was considerably more expensive. If they got anything, it would just be of some monetary value, but nothing too important.
And in the end it all worked out fine. It was a beautiful hike and a wonderful day. We were perhaps a bit more tense than needed as we passed other hikers, but thats it. And Youssef was a very cool and interesting guy to have along. After my recent bout of solo travel it was nice to have a companion again.
We got back in the late afternoon and relaxed around town for the rest of the evening. After dinner I met back up with my new friends from the night before and spent some more time together. I asked the German guy about his decision to move here and it was a fascinating conversation. Turns out you can buy property on the wooded mountainsides surrounding the town for only $10,000 an acre. He bought some land next to a plot that Gavilan owned and now was building a house where he could live. I must say I was very attracted to the idea, but knew I did not have the time or money to investigate it further.
Anyway, the next morning after another slow and lazy morning I caught a bus heading back toward Loja where I would then connect to another bus for Cuenca. Vilcabamba was a beautiful place, and a wonderful pit stop on my jaunt back north. I would have stayed longer if time permitted, but was thankful for the time I got to spend there. |
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