Relaxing Trip to Vilcabamba

Dear Family and Friends,

Chuck, Brad and I returned last evening from Vilcabamba. We bopped down there for a couple of days because Brad had never been and said he would like to go. Since we had just gone last month and had such a nice time, we were more than anxious to return. The only drawback is the 6 hours of travel to get there.

We stayed at Izhcayluma again. We love this hostel and will always stay there when we go to Vilcabamba.

Here is our little cabin.


Each cabin has a small front porch containing a hammock and a small table and overlooking beautiful scenery. Very serene.



The cabins are rustic, but very adequate. Here is Chuck starting to unpack in our cabin.


The grounds are beautiful with flowering plants, butterflies, and singing birds.


After breakfast on Monday, we started our trek to town. Because we read that the Ecuadorian government had issued a UV warning for the week we took precautions. We all used a parasol to protect ourselves.


The trip is always interesting because we have learned every walk is different. This time, among other things, we saw:

a sleeping pig


a grazing cow:


Mom and baby donkies:


and some horse back riders:


When we got to town we continued our coffee research that we had begun on our last trip to Vilcabamba. Chuck said that the coffee at the Cafe Cosmos was the best he's had yet while visiting there.


Here is Brad relaxing at lunch. We had Mexican food that was pretty good.


The weather was sunny and hot. We came back to the lodge after lunch to rest and relax... Chuck really got into the relaxing part.


On our way to dinner we met Charlie. Charlie has drive by motorcycle across the United States from D.C., then north to Alaska and is not going from Alaska to the tip of South America. In this picture, he had just arrived at Izhcayluma. Quite an interesting fellow.


As always, the dinner at the lodge is good and plentiful. The views are even better.

Here are a couple of pictures I made while we were having dinner.


The lights of the town below have come on as the sun is setting.


After dinner we went to the bar and enjoyed a night cap.


We slept soundly and spent yesterday traveling back to Cuenca.

Today we are going to have a new adventure.....eating cuy.

Love,
Nancy