Vilcabamba
Vilcabamba is a village in the southern Andes of Ecuador with about 1,000 people in the village and another 3,200 in the surrounding valley.
Its name apparently derives from the Quichua (language of the Incas) expression “huilco pamba.” Huilco denotes the sacred trees that inhabit the region and pamba is a word meaning “a plain”. It was therefore called the sacred valley and its historic use was as a retreat for Incan royalty. It’s been more recently known as the Valley of Longevity. The village was introduced to the world for the first time in 1973 because of the supposed large amount of centenarians. While that original research has since been disproven, the reputation caught on.
Now there are large numbers of expats living here who enjoy the clean air and water, warm Spring like weather, and abundant outdoor activities of this pleasant 1,595 meter (5,233 feet) high location. Some people now call it Gringolandia. One local I talked to said about 50% of the expats are great and 50% are a little nutty. My Airbnb host, who’s family is from South America, but who grew up in the US, said pretty much the same thing. And from my few days here, it seemed the same to me. Some expats seemed really nice and some wouldn’t even look me in the eye when I’d say hi to them on the street.
It was also a bit of an adventure getting here. When I was in Cuenca, Ecuador’s Indigenous federation, called Conaie, starting protesting around the country over high gas prices and other economic demands. Roads started being blocked. A tour I had scheduled to some waterfalls in the south got canceled. I was originally going to take a 4 hour bus to Loja and then the 1.5 hour bus to Vilcabamba. But the road to Loja was closed. So I ended up having to get last minute flights to get down here. As I’m writing this there are protests and street demonstrations in Quito. Thankfully, this is all happening on the back end of my time in Ecuador. I leave for Peru this coming Tuesday.
I stayed in an amazing 2 bedroom Airbnb with incredible views nestled in a hill about 15 minutes outside of town
With the exception of an incredibly beautiful main square, the town itself was pretty basic.
I did a few really cool short hikes in the surrounding area
Loja
Loja is a medium sized city of about 180,000 people located at 2060 meters (6758 ft) above sea level with a mild Andean climate. It’s known as the music and cultural capital of Ecuador. It has a noted music conservatory and has two orchestras. It is also home to two major universities. The main local orchestra had a Mozart concert and some other series just before I arrived. Alas, nothing was happening the weekend I was here.
Overall, it seems to be a tyical Ecuadorian city. Nice and relaxing for its size in a beautiful natural setting, but nothing that really stands out architecturally.
I stayed in a nice, comfortable Airbnb apartment right in the center of the historical district.
