I'm in love. not only is Hosteria Izhcayluma ridiculously cheap for a dorm bed ($9 USD pp), it is essentially a resort. The setting is gorgeous, set in the hills outside of Vilcabamba, but not far, and with a great view of the valley and town itself. There are flowers everywhere, hammocks to relax in, a big DVD collection, a bar with billards, foosball, ping pong, darts, a laguna pool, parking, and an open terrace restaurant. the food is cheap and really delicious! they also have free-use bikes you can take around town, self guided hiking maps, and can connect you with great excursions. i did the full day (7 hours) horseback riding trip through vilcabamba's countryside and the Podocarpus national park. it was amazing! and only $25 USD including lunch. Izhcayluma also has a spa center, where you can sign up for some of the cheapest spa treatments I've ever heard of. I got a package of hair masque and massage, facial and reiki for $21 USD. Other travelers told me the massage they got ($18 for 75 mins) was the best one they've ever had. the breakfast buffet that is included is outrageous. fresh fruit every day, sometimes with homemade granola and yogurt, homemade bread, your choice of eggs (any way you want) or crepes, fresh squeezed juice and real coffee. We only stayed 3 nights...I could have stayed forever.

Vilcabamba is a tiny little town of 5,000 people in the far south of Ecuador. It has a much warmer and wetter climate due to its lower altitude and is very popular among foreigners, attracting many to take up permanent residence. Supposedly, the fountain of youth is said to be located somewhere nearby and perhaps contributes to the health of the local population, as many people live very long and healthy lives. There are a few restaurants and shops in town but other than that there really isn´t much else. Nearby is Podacarpus National Park, but nearby is relative term meaning a full day of hiking and then whacking your way through the brush with a machete for hours on end, but it is supposed to be very beautiful. Closer and much more accessible is the trail up to Mandango, a mountain ridge that provides outstanding views over the town and is hiked in about 3 hours round trip. Other than that, Vilcabamba is a good place to relax and do nothing for a few days, especially during the rainy season, as it seems to rain all afternoon and most of the evening, definitely limiting any outdoor activities that you might want to undertake. The big happenings in this small town include the arrival of a man from Spain who is planning to open a brothel in town. Despite the fact that there are already two on the outskirts of town, this has all the townspeople up in arms and they were saying things to him in various languages, generally indicating that they weren´t welcoming him into the town, to say the least. But, dressed in his velvet sportcoat (what else would the owner of a brothel wear?) he seemed unperturbed by these insults and glided around town with an erudite air, chatting with the few people he had not yet alienated. I found it hard to believe that a town of 5,000 people could support three whorehouses, but I suppose with all the travelers and increasing influx of people that maybe this could be the case.

Next: South to Peru

Hello all,
Today I woke up to the sound of a rooster crowing. Problem is, it was about 4:30am. Thankfully I was able to get back to sleep and pull off a full night's worth. The hotel I'm staying at is beautiful, and the rooms surround a wonderful, mature garden next to a pool and hot tub.

I took the three block walk across town to the small bus terminal.  I bought a 8:15pm bus ticket to Loja, and an 11pm ticket from Loja to Piura, Peru.  So that left the day for me to explore Vilcabamba and the surrounding area.  I went out to ask the Montreal native manager what there was to do around town, and grabbed a Peru tour book to get an idea what to expect when I get there.  The only Peru guide book he had was in German, so I had to flash back about 20 years to my college German courses for the info.  Aside from not being positive about the difference between the abbreviations for Saturday and Sunday, the book was still helpful.

Another guest happened to be asking the same question I was about hikes in the area, and we decided to take a hike together.  Brianne is from British Columbia, and is touring Ecuador in the opposite direction as I.  We took a three hour hike up the foothills of a mountain.  After talking to somebody on the trail, we decided our destination was some mineral springs a bit further along the trail.  We got to the spot, and there was a nice fence built, and a sign asking $1 admission.  Problem is, there was nobody there to take the admission fee, or to open the fence.  After testing the possibility of climbing the fence or going around, we headed back towards town.

We stopped by a nice Belgian owned vegetarian restaurant for lunch, and a delicious blended strawberry drink I headed back to the hotel.  It was a perfect time to put some of my good Japanese anti-itch cream on my dozen or so bites.  I then crashed for a few hours of napping.  I woke up to have some dinner with Brianne, the manager, and two other French-Canadians before checking out and wlaking to the bus station.

The two other canucks were also heading to Piura, but they were catching a later bus from Loja.  The bus rides were uneventful until we reached the Peruvian border.  The Ecuadorian exit procedures were easy and quick, although most people in the line were being dive-bombed by june bugs during the wait.  After the exit procedures I walked the bridge over the Rio Macará into Peru.  The bridge was entirely covered with June Bugs as well.  Every step found nearly 10 of the creatures crunching under foot.  I was very strange.

Upon reaching Peru, I was the third person from the bus to get there.  There appeared to be nobody home at the Peru admisisons building, but the women ahead of me were pounding on the glass of the building tryng to get somebody's attention.  I was amazed to see a flicker of light, and then a woman appeared.  She was carrying a candle and walking over to the window.  I then realized then other then for one street light, this whole area was without electrical power.  I filled out the entry form, and crossed the street to be checked in, by flashlight, by the National Police.  I had never seen anything like this crossing before.

We pulled into Piura, Peru at 7am exactly.  I then began my search for a bus to Tarapoto.  The German guide book I read said that there were only three of them per week, and only one company ran the route.  Piura has no central bus station, and all of the bus companies are spread out on both sides of the street over a three block area.  I found the company I needed, but was upset to find that the building was closed.  I checked a few other bus companies to see if I could get to an intermediate point, but the next open bus was still about 3-4 hours away.

I then saw some life in the Sol Peruano bus company's office.  I ran across the street with all of my gear, and got there just in time to ask about the bus.  There isa bus to Tarapoto today, and the office would open at 8:30am.  I was waiting when the doors opened, and got my $20 ticket.  The bad news...  the bus leaves at midnight, and it's 16-17 hours long.  For the second day in a row, I will check into a hotel for a day, and grab the night bus.

I found a hotel that was more money then I wanted to pay, but the A/C is great, and free wi-fi is always good.

Later, Phil

Hello all,
Today I woke up early for some reason. I grabbed an early breakfast at the hostal, and then headed out. I needed to find out about a flight to either Loja or Machala in the south. The 15 hours bus would certainly be cheaper, but I think the time saved will be better. I was told that there was a TAME office nearby, so I walked there and bought a ticket for the 4:30pm flight. I returned to the hotel for a nap, and then packed everything up in order to be out by Noon.

I hauled my stuff down to a nearby cafe for some lunch, and the also had free wi-fi. I killed about 90 minutes calling a few people on Skype. And I even hooked up the webcam to show Henry the nice cafe and the Quito street. It is amazing that I can just sit there, talking on the phone, through my computer, in Ecuador.

I was still in money saving mode, so I grabbed a bus to the airport. 25 cents and 40 minutes later I was checking in for my flight. While waiting for the plane I met Don from Idaho, and we agreed that when we arrived in Loja we would share a taxi into town. The plane was a two month old Embraer 190. The Brazilian manufacturer's new midsize plane should begin making appearances all over the world before too long.

We were in the air for a short while when the pilot made an annoucement. "Out of the left side of the plane you can see Volcan Tungurahua." I was wondering why, at check-in, the nice woman insisted I should be on the left side when I asked for a window seat. Thank you nameless TAME counter agent! Tungurahua is an active volcano that looms over the tourist hot springs town of Banos. There were clouds all around, but they broke just enough to see Tungaurhua. Also above the clouds there was a huge sheet of brown smoke.

I was very thankful that I had brought my camera in my carry-on, and I was able to get several great shots out the window. I was actually chatting with Henry about the possibility of seeing the volcano on the flight. He's gonna love this one!

After a short time more we descended towards the airport at Catamayo. We seemed to be just about to land when we made a sudden hard bank to the right. We made about a 60 degree rigth turn before correcting and leveling out mere hundreds of feet from the ground. It was an amazing landing, and I felt like giving the pilot a round of applause. After landing, it was easy to see why that manouver was necessary. Near the end of the runway the mountains rose up defiantly, blocking any attempt at a straight shot landing.

After collecting our bags, Don & I hooked up with two Loja locals to share a taxi for the 30km ride to Loja. While riding there I was trying to decide where to stay. Loja is a city of about 170,000 people, and is one of Ecuador's oldest cities. I didn't really feel like staying in a big city, so I homed in on Vilcabamba one hour south. The taxi dropped me off at the bus terminal, and less then 10 minutes later I was on the bus to Vilcabamba.

This was some beatiful Andean scenery, and I wished that I was taking this drive in the daytime. I got off of the bus in tiny Vilcabamba (after trying to get off in the previous city) at about 8pm. This is a mellow, laid-back town of almost 5,000 people set in a tranquil valley. I picked a place to stay in town, grabbed some food, and hit the sack.

Later, Phil

nach langer fahrt (5h von trujillo bis piura, 8h-nachtbusfahrt von piura bis loja, sowie 1h-taxifahrt von loja nach vilcabamba) sind wir gut in ecuador angekommen. wir uebernachten in einem kleinen netten hotel mit schoenem garten in vilcabamba, einem dorf in einem sehr fruchtbaren tal voller tropischer pflanzen (bananen- und avocada-baueme, bambus und tropische blumen). das viele gruen ist eine schoene abwechslung, nach den tagen an der staubigen kueste. zusammen mit unseren amerikanischen freunden heather und ben, welche uns seit hunachaco begleiten, machen wir eine kleine wanderung, essen leckere crepes und erholen uns insbesondere von der langen nacht auf den unbequemen bussesseln.

Vilcabamba is rumoured to be have the ´fountain of youth´. Not in reality of course, but apparently scientists have studied the people in Vilcabamba and they are the longest living people in the world, with people living to 120 years. We sure haven´t seen any really old people though. Apparently it´s the clean air, diet and exercise they get while living here.

Vilcabamba isn´t the nicest place we have been to, we were expecting something like Banos or Salento (in Colombia) but both places we rate nicer than here for reasons such as the beauty of the landscape and town themselves. The town of Vilcabamba is nothing striking. It does have a nice plaza but does have a lack of charm and the craft shops here are more expensive than Banos which is well know for it´s tourism.

We aren´t overally dissappointed though, although the rain has made it hard! We walked up to the first cross on one of the mountains yesterday. A really nice but at times challenging hikes due to it´s steepness and narrow path. A woman had been robbed at gunpoint just last week so we weren´t that worried, but nonetheless only took our cheap camera and no money. There had been 3 men, of which one has been arrested so we thought that it would be pretty safe as they would be in hiding anyway.

Since we have been here it´s been a lot of lying in our bed at the hostel watching DVDs and walking around (oh, and I even have had a few massages from Nathan, very nice)! We had bought a ticket to Macara which is at the border to Peru for last night, but we had heard that Peru were in the middle of counting votes for the elections which means that everything is closed and people aren´t allowed out of their homes until 6pm tonight (Sunday). This seems common practice here in South America, so we had to change the ticket until tonight. We hop on a bus to Loja first at 8pm tonight and the overnight bus doesn´t leave for Macara until 11pm, then we get into Macara at about 4am tomorrow morning. Gives us some time to get across the border (it´s opened 24 hours), change some money and get in a taxi (hopefully) to the bus terminal on the Peru side to finally get to Chiclayo. If all else fails we will get to Piura which is 3 hours north of Chiclayo. It will be a long night, but luckily we have both mastered the art of sleeping on the bus! 

I loved Vilcabamba!! Its easy to see why the myth, that the average Vilcabamba resident lives for over 100 years, exists. The weather is usually balmy year round, the mountains surrounding the valley are stunning and well, the people and life just doesnt move that fast.

We stayed in almost the best hostel of our trip. Called Izcayluma (spelling??), it is run by a couple of expat Germans and has awesome rooms, a pool, a restaurant with great food and what must be the best view in town, a great bar with table tennis and pool, loads of hammocks for relaxing, awesome gardens throughout and all for $US10....what a bargain!! Needless to say we lived it up there for a couple of days.

But it wasnt really the hostel that made Vilcabamba a definite highlight, it was a couple of adventures that were enjoyed while there:
- The Mandango Loop. A trip into the nearby Podocarpus national park which fell through proved a blessing in disguise. Not wanting to sit around twiddling our thumbs all day we got some information from Izchayluma about a walk called the Mandango Loop. Taking about 4 hrs it initially rises steeply for 1.5 hrs until the summit of Mount Mandango which has a 360 degree view across the town and surrounding area. The scenery was just stunning and with a blue bird day we couldnt have asked for anything better. From there, it was 2 hrs of walking along a ridgeline roughly 50cm wide with steep drop offs either side, again the views were spectacular. After which we dropped down to the valley floor walking underneath the forest canopy and back home. The walk was made even more adrenalin pumping by the fact that the lady at the walks entrance told us not to carry large amounts of money or expensive cameras as there had been several robberies in the last year. Well I wasnt going to leave my camera behind so much to Annas amusement, I picked up a couple of stones which I thought would make a nice sound as I threw them into the would be robbers head. Carried them all trip without incident. It wasnt until a couple of days later that we found out the robberies were actually made at gun-point!!
- The Gavilian Horse Ride. An amazing amazing horse ride up into the mountains on the edge of Podocarpus national park. We went with Gavilian Horseback tours ($70 for 2d/1n) which is owned by a NZ expat (there are alot of those in Vilcabamba) called Gavin who has been living in Vilcabamba for 25 years. A top bloke, a real cowboy, and best of all he owns 250 hectares of stunning wilderness on the side of a mountain (paid $4000 for it!! Unbelievable) which he has built a hut and a bunk house on. It would be our accommodation for the night!! The ride up to the hut was just brilliant. After my previous experience with horses in Chugchilan I wasnt really looking forward to the ride but its amazing what properly trained horses will do, I actually felt like I could ride. We rode alongside an awesome river, we rode across the river, we rode along cliff edges and we rode up very steep hillsides. All the way the views were just unbelievable. After 4 hours we reached the hut, high in the mountains and looking back down the valley to Vilcabamba it had the best view of all....an incredible place and just as incredible was how he managed to get all the material up here to make it. That night we watched the sun go down drinking home made cocktails and eating auderves (chips with guacamole and olives...class) before having an awesome fire cooked meal and some casked wine. Then it was down to some good old fashioned story telling by Gavin and Frank (a bloke from Quebec) which included tales about the effects of San Pedro (boiled cactus) and how to escape a bear.....I night I will long remember. And a trip I will long remember. Would definitely recommend Gavins tours in a heartbeat, he is easy to find, right near the main square in the middle of town.

Yep I loved Vilcabamba. And I loved Ecuador. Hopefully we will be back one day soon.

Hasta luego Ecuador. Hasta pronto Peru.

Well Loja turned out to be a small version of Cuenca, but less ostentatious in its showing of wealth and more of a normal small-town feel, so I liked it.  A few pleasant parks/squares with colonial buildings and churches to admire (briefly) but little else to actually do there.  The best thing I visited was the bridge and fortress-style look-out that marks the main entrance to the city, where a small art exhibition was being held. 

Other than that I used Loja as a base to do a day-trip to Vilcabamba, and as the place to start off on the bus journey that would take me to Peru (see subsequent enteries...).

A short distance from Loja (another wonderful bus ride through the undulating Andes) is the small town of Vilcabamba which has, according to my trusty guidebook (Footprint South America, very good apart from its occasional habit of making up restaurants that may have once existed in the past but don´t anymore, leading to me walking round the same streets a number of times to see if it really doesn´t exist and to work out where does, leading to locals thinking I´m either mad or a good target for a mugging) is one of those places that has become an established route on the Gringo-trail.  So I thought I´d go and have a look, much better than spending any more time than was necessary in Loja!

Also according to the guidebook a ´pleasant´walk is to climb Mandango (´The Sleeping Woman´) - one of those hills that would be described as a mountain in Britain, but at only around 2000m high its a hill here!  Anyway, pleasant doesn´t describe it properly - it was a tough walk, but rewarded us# with the most fantastic views I have seen in Ecuador.

# I say ´us´ because by some amazing coincidence when I entered the small cabin that marks the beginning of the walk, the old lady who indicates in rather too-quick Spanish the path that you should follow (and issues a threat that if you don´t tell her you´ve returned she´ll be forced to call the police and report you missing, or something like that) was talking to a Danish couple (Christian and Louise) who had left Baños on the same bus as me and who had then taken part in the endless hassle of trying to get tickets for the bloody Riobamba train (with the final result that they rather sensibly decided not to bother).

Anyway, it was very good to catch up with them again and have climbing companions.  And they said they had a map too, which would allow us to make a round trip.  Agreeing to interpret this sketchy map and ambiguous  directions with them looked for a while like being a mistake as we ended up coming down the hill via a path that led us first through a field of potentially aggresive though fortunately passive huge, horned bulls; then close to a house where 2 extremely aggressive dogs came bouding out barking (the map&directions we had even warned us about the dogs, so Louise had large rocks ready to chuck in their direction and I had a large stick to beat them off with).  These dogs managed to get under the fence we´d  confidently predicted would be our shield and so we were chased down into a steep bit of land where most vegetation had been burnt and only some dense charred bushes reamined.  This was perhaps the most bizarre landscape I´ve walked though.  After a while we found the path again, and after much debating the various possible interpretaions of the map found our way back to the main road.

Anyhow, apart from this adventure the walk was fantastic because of the 360 degree views over the small town and surrounding hills.  These were the best ´vistas´ I´d seen on any walk in Ecuador (which are easily the best I´ve seen anywhere), I hope the photos go some way to indicate how beautiful the area was.  And in addition it was at times as dsngerous as the Pichincha climb had been, with very narrow and steep paths with a huge drop on either side.  Still,  that just adds to the fun in retrospect (if not at the time!).

Oh yes, and Vilcabamba itself was nice enough too - a typical quiet small town with a central park and not much else!

Another week, where is time going and what have I been doing! I got the train last Wednesday from Riobamba to Alausi and rode on the roof - it was great. I heard people say that it wasn´t so good but both Tara and I enjoyed it, it was certainly better than travelling south by bus because we went right through the countryside and got to see people going about their business in some really remote places. Riding on the roof was fun too. We got on the roof at 6am but it didn´t leave until 7, we endured an hour of vendors trying to sell us scarves and gloves, although everybody was already wearing them! When we eventually pulled out of Riobamba we had the most amazing view of Volcan Chimborazo, it didn´t look real and sadly my photos don´t do it justice. It was really difficult to take pictures from a bumpy train, with little to cling onto! I thought we would get bored of the journey because it was so long but we didn´t (although we had stops, we didn´t actually get off the train until after 1pm) the countryside kept changing and there was plenty to look at and lots of people to wave to. There was a group on the train, who tied lollipops to balloons and threw them to the children in remote areas, so we cashed in on the idea and bought some too. I let Tara do the throwing after I hit one girl on the arm!

After the train journey, we took the bus to Cuenca which took about 4 hours. We were so tired when we arrived that we settled for staying in the worst hostel I´ve been in yet. It was very dirty and noisy, so we got up and moved immediately the next day. Cuenca is a lovely Colonial city but apart from museums there isn´t a great deal to do there, I could have taken a trip to the nearby National Park but it was an expensive walk. We took a taxi out to a hotel that had a pool and steam room and spent an afternoon relaxing, whilst deciding where to head to next.

Tara has gone to Bolivia and I made the journey south again to Loja. I stayed in Loja for one night and really regret it. I was the only white person in town, the hotel was even worse than the one in Cuenca and I was on my own for the first time in ages. I was planning to take the bus from Loja to Piura in Peru but didn´t want to do it on my own and with no chance of meeting anyone, I decided to head further south to Vilcabamba, which  has turned out to be one of the best places I have stayed in Ecuador. It isn´t completely remote but certainly is a different way of life down here, the town has a small plaza and there are some great walks around here.

As soon as I arrived I felt better. I made friends with an Israeli girl, Aviv, who had just done the journey in the opposite direction and said that the border crossing was fairly straightforward, which was reassuring. We went into town in the afternoon because they were celebrating something or other, with stalls and music. I met a clown and his wife who is obsessed by Sinead O´Connor, both her and her 4 year old daughter have their heads shaved and she even performed a Sinead song, its so surreal! Lovely people though.

Yesterday I went on a walk with Aviv and a local guy called Nafie. He took us on a trail just outside of the National Park Podocarpus, named after the tree, which went along a river. We learnt alot about Ecuadorian  life and the plants. It was great to see people passing on horseback and driving mules up the hillside laiden with stuff. Our friend/guide, Nafie, kept stopping to pick some fruit, we had maracuya and something else which tasted like roses! He even brought along the coffee, which he grows at home and the biscuits. We are trying to convince him to become a tour guide because he is so good at it. He also took us to a stall which sold the juice of sugar cane, I was a bit dubious at first because it was a very green colour with bits in it and I heard that they have a drink round here which is hallucenagenic. Despite the colour the sugar cane mixed with Lemon was delicious and I checked with him first but its actually cactus juice which makes you hallucenate and have flash backs for years afterwards - he´s never tried it! On the walk we also stopped at a house where a guy was making drums from tree trunks and goat skins to sell at the market, it was really interesting to watch him work and we had a go too but its not as easy as it looks.

The hostel I am staying in here in Vilcabamba is amazing. I am paying the same price, 6 bucks, as I did for the other dumps but I am surrounded by beautiful countyside. The hostel has a dorm with comfy double beds, there is a pool, steam room and games etc, such a contrast. Today is hopefully my last day in Ecuador, I am making a run for the border tomorrow. I feel more confident now that I have spoken to others who have done it but have the added bonus of travelling with a handsome dutch guy I met in the hostel this morning. I am sure that others will get on the bus in Loja too.

So hopefully next time I mail I will be some way down the coast of Northern Peru, I don´t plan to spend much time there but there are a couple of Inca sites that I want to see. I will then need to get on my way to acclimatise in Cusco before doing the Inca Trail. I am also meeting up with Peter and Kate as they will have just completed the trail before I start and it will probably be the last time I see them. 

So, Vilcabamba. Where people live to be 130 years old. No joke.

It´s a beautiful town, and I stayed at the best hostal, by far: Le Rendezvous, owned by a French couple who fell in love with Vilcabamba during their travels 8 years ago and decided to stay. Hammocks outside all the rooms, incredible breakfasts with homemade bread and the best hot chocolate. I never wanted to leave.

While in Vilca, I did some horseback riding, which was incredible. We rode fast, galloping on dirt roads along the sides of mountains. It was so much fun.

Also got some good touristy food while in town...a great hamburger and chocolate milkshake, and some nachos (made with cheese Doritos..yikes). stayed for a few days, took in the sites, relaxed, and had a great time. Definitely will go back someday.