Vilcabamba, Ecuador
The Specs
hostal: Izhcayluma
rating - 10/10
Dormitory price - $9.50 per night (2 night minimum)
location - located on a hill overlooking the town, a 20 minute walk to the main plaza
view - great view from the dinning room of the surrounding hills and village
breakfast not included - $3.90 for lots of fruit, granola, yogurt, toast, eggs, juice, coffee and tea
yoga - free morning yoga class everyday you are there
you must get a massage - my 90 minute massage for $22 was such a treat
Very comfortable beds, hammocks, great wifi
A pool & beautiful gounds
note - they run a package deal that includes travel from cuenca
departure:
Vilcabamba >>> Loja >>> La Tina Border crossing
could go anywhere - cuenca, quayaquil, banos, quito
Vilcabamba:
Quiet, hippie getaway in Southern Ecuador
small central town surrounded by nature
Many gringos from Europe and the US live here
Arrival: private taxi by hostal
leaves from hostal la cigale in thr morning >> 5 hrs >> vilcabamba
price - $15 p.person
local bus route - Cuenca >> 6 hrs >> Loja >> 1 hr >> Vilcabamba
price - approximately $10
favorite vegan spots
united falafel organization - really good humus, beautiful gardens out back, some vegan cakes or torts
THe Juice Factory - delicious smoothies, juices and a really good vegan chocolate chip cookie!
also ate at Agave blu - not great but did the trick before a night bus
avorite vegan spots
THE STORY
Cuenca was a hard to leave. With beautiful historic streets to walk, shops to peak in and delicious food to eat, this tranquil city offers so much. However, travel requires I keep moving. Along with six others, my new travel group, I hopped into a van and headed four hours south to the town of Vilcabamba, my last stop in Ecuador.
Traveling in a big group was really nice. It is pretty cool that six complete strangers, who have known each other for a only few days, can get along so well. We spent the whole drive chatting away until the van pulled into a long drive way leading to our new hostel, Izhcayluma. Again, hostel doesn’t quite paint the right picture here. This places reminded me of a resort in Thailand I went to once with my best childhood friend and her family. For my entire stay I kept thinking to myself, "this is like Thailand", and I liked it.
All checked in, the gang and I were lead from the reception, across the dinning room (a massive outdoor patio overlooking the town and surrounding hills), down a path lined with flowers and bamboo, past a pool, a bar, a sign that read "massage" with a little yellow arrow pointing down an intriguing little path, and finally, to the dorms. The path merged into a little patio with several colorful hammocks hung between some pillars. There were two dorm rooms consisting of six beds each, three on the ground level and three in a loft. Always happy to find myself in a little loft, I climbed up the wooden stairs and settled into my bed.
Thinking there would be a communal kitchen we had stocked up on dinner supplies back in Cuenca, planning to make a big pasta meal together. There was no kitchen, yet with everyone pitching in we managed a really nice dinner spread: bread, cheese purchased on the journey down when we stopped for a few moments at local cheese shop, salami for those inclined, tomatoes, avocado, onion and enough wine and beer to go around. It was quite a civilized affair. To keep up the class, dinner was followed by a drinking game that resulted in me eating an entire raw red onion. Weeks later I still find myself pushing any and all raw red onion I come across to the side of my plate. We sat around chatting until one by one we retreated to our beds.
The following morning I jumped out of bed at 7am, late for yoga. I quickly changed, slipped my bare feet into my smelly vans and with foggy eyes still trying to wake and crazy bed hair, I stumbled down several paths following signs that read, "yoga shala". Late, I snuck into the back row of the class being taught by a beautiful Ecuadorian woman in a space overlooking rolling hills, the tops of which were light by gorgeous yellow pink morning sun. Yoga was so needed. To stretch and move felt unbelievable for despite my fare share of hiking, I have been doing very little exercise. Mid class I vowed to take the free yoga class each morning I was here, and hoped to make a habit of it after I left.
Post yoga, the gang resumed at a large breakfast table in the main dinning room. I helped myself to an enormous breakfast of fruit topped with a delicious mixture of nuts, seeds, shredded coconut and oats. Several helpings and three large green teas later, I was very well fed and ready to head into town. The walk into town was only twenty minutes, but it felt much longer in the scorching hot sun. We walked parallel to the main road, totally barren of trees and their shade, though we would later discover a more pleasant path into town). Very hot and sweaty we arrived in town and made our first stop at a farmer's market, perhaps more excited by the shade than the fruit. Most of the group did buy fruit to enjoy back at the hostel, Janis bought a poncho, and then we continued the last couple blacks towards the main square.
My first impression of this town was that it seemed rather sleepy, I didn't get the feeling there was much going on. However, as we approached the main plaza it was buzzing with cafes full of people and an interesting mixture of people at that. Several young european mothers enjoyed green juices and a chat while their tiny white haired children ran around playing. At the next cafe, a huge group of loud American retirees occupied a large table. And turns out the shop next door is owed by a German woman and her partner. I walked around people watching, browsing the shops, and then settled myself in a cafe with a very large green smoothie. The cafe also had its fair share of vegan treats, including one of the best vegan chocolate chip cookies I have ever eaten.
It was probably the really good cookie, but I felt comfortable here in this strange, slightly random hippie town in the south of Ecuador. As I sat making my way through my cookie and smoothie, I wondered what all these foreigners were doing here. Did they visit and end up staying, or did they hear of this town and decided it was where they wanted to be? Back at our hostel, I met an American man who helped answer part of that question. He was visiting Vilcabamba to sample the retired life here, trying to decide between Cuenca or Vilcabamba. His priority was finding a house with space and soil for a garden. It is Ecuador's climate that drew this man here in the hopes of spending his days growing and tending to a lush garden. We ended up sharing several conversations and meals together in the next two days. He taught me a lot about essential oils, a topic I have always wanted to learn more about, but best of all was the bright yellow harmonica he gave me as a parting gift.
On my third day in Vilcabamba it was time for our lovely travel group to split up. Two of the gals headed north, one back to Cuenca and the other to Latacunga. The two guys, including my long term travel partner Janis, left to head into the Jungle. A very sad goodbye. And then six became two: myself and a Dutch women who I would travel across the Peruvian border with.
We would actually be a group of three crossing the border, but our third, a German gal, went to the next town over to get a tattoo. We would meet her there, but before leaving we enjoyed one last afternoon by the pool and at 3pm I walked down the little path to the massage house for a 90 minute full body massage. I had be thinking about it since I arrived and decided that since I would be spending the next two days on a bus, it was worth it. Oh, was it worth it.
With just a few hours left in Ecuador, Marloes (new travel partner) and I walked into town to find our last supper. We hit up a placed called United Falafel, because Mediterranean is always kind to a vegan but more so, they have an epic back garden. The perfect place to sit as evening cools things down a bit. I enjoyed the falafel plate and a really good home made Kombuca served in a wine glass. But the best part was the humus.
It wasn't particularly special, but it felt like such a treat since humus isn't something you see very often here in South America. Our evening continued to improve with a slice of complementary cake (they make several vegan cakes), and then completely satisfied we headed back to the hostel to collect our things.
At 8:30pm, Marloes and I boarded what would be the first of four buses, a journey that would take us over 1,000 Km south to the mountain town of Huaraz, Perú. Very early the next morning, I crossed the boarder just four days shy of spending one month in Ecuador.
I knew nothing about Ecuador before arriving here and never would have expected to stay so long. Yet, for such a small country the diversity is endless and worth every day.