Lovely Vilcabamaba

Dear Family and Friends,

Posting to this blog without my crutch (pictures) is a challange.

The hostel that we are staying in, Izhcayluma, is more than a mile, straight up, from the town of Vilcabamba. The views are incredible. The flora is breathtaking and the birds are always singing. I have heard that this is the best place to stay in Vilcabamba and although we haven't researched other places, we believe this to be true.

Each day we have been here we have taken the more than a mile down hill walk to town. As I have mildly (smile) mentioned my calves are so sore. It is amazing how my muscles that have been so quiet during our Cuenca walks have started to howl about a little downhill walking. Actually, today my calves do not feel as sore.

Every day when we have walked to town we have had an adventure. We've seen close up all sorts of animals and birds. Cows, donkeys, horses, pigs, dogs, chickens and many beautiful birds and also butterflies.

We are continuing our good cup of coffee research today by going to yet another place that has been recommended to us as having the best coffee in town. The coffee we had yesterday was good. The owner of the cafe was an ex-pat and although the coffee was good, the price of it included listening to all he had to say about world politics.

It seems that everyone we have met that lives here has strong views and are more than willing to share them, even if not asked. We listen, sip our coffee and thank God that we can live each moment as it comes without worrying about who is president of the U.S. or the world economy. We just look at ourselves and know that we are in a beautiful place and that we are safe and happy. We do not need to open ourselves to being disturbed about things that are not a part of our present.

After we finish our email here in the internet cafe, we are off to continue our coffee research project. It is so good to have a purpose to your day.

Love,
Nancy