Vilcambamba

Dear Family and Friends,

Last Saturday while we were in Loja we decided to go to Vilcambamba. Vilcambamba is only a forty minute bus ride away. The story we have heard is that people live well into their hundreds in this particular part of Ecuador. The climate is milder and the water is very pure. I do not know if this is true or not, but many people are moving to Vilcambamba from the U.S. and other places. I would say that ex-pat to Ecuadorian citizen ratio in Vilcambamba is the highest in the country.

It was our observation that the people who decide to retire in Vilcambamba tend to be people who are health and environment concious. They tend to be people who eat mostly organic food. We met several people while we were there who had moved to Vilcambamba.

Vilcambamba is a very lovely place....much smaller than Cuenca. It is surrounded by beautiful mountains. It is much lower than Cuenca so altitude is not as much of a problem. I can certainly see why many people are immigrating to Vilcambamba.

This is the main plaza. The town has an American southwest feeling....like a very small Santa Fe. The white trucks in the picture are the taxis. They are called "mixtos".


Horses and burros are a very common sight in the center of the town.



We had lunch at a Mexican restaurant. It was part of a hostal. It is located just a block off the main plaza. The lunch was very good. They lady that served us spoke English and when we asked if we could have a tour of the hostel she was very happy to show us around.

Here is Chuck in a common area. It is outside under a protective roof. The weather is so mild there that it works year around.



The gardens there were so nice.
The sleeping rooms were nicely decorated and the price was very reasonable. We will probably go a spend a week in Vilcambamba sometime and stay at this hostal. We really liked what we saw. Here is Chuck standing in the doorway. The name is Jardin Escondido Hostal.

We went up into the surrounding mountains and walked around looking at the beautiful views.

This is a view of the small town of Vilcambamba. It is in a very lovely setting.

We left by bus around 3:00 pm and went back to Loja for dinner with friends.

Nancy