Vilcabamba Blessing

Vilcabamba is purported to be the valley of longevity, where many indigenous people live to be over 100 years old.  This is our southern most Ecuadorian exploration - then we head north again.

Traveling southward in Ecuador continues to open vistas of high paramo and green valleys, steep mountainsides with some sloped valleys.  Unbelievable that these people actually cultivate corn, sugar cane, bananas and whatever else on slopes steep enough that a cow would topple down head over tea kettle.  Makes us dizzy to think about.

On the way southward we passed Malacatos, a small pueblo that barely notes a mark in tourist books.  Nevertheless, it appears (from the bus window) that there may be a piece of heaven here with large nearly flat cultivated farms and many well kept large modern homes.

When we arrived in Vilcabamba we looked at several hostels, settling on Hostel Jardin Escondido, owned by a Mexican.  A real artist designed this place with charming rooms and BRIGHT colors.  The Rooms surround a somewhat overgrown garden complete with a nice Mexican restaurant.

Alright, so this much was just great.  But then we walked around the perfectly adorable main town square to see what action was going on.  What we found was a bit off-putting, if not embarrassing.

In Vilcabamba there are expats/tourists all over the central downtown area wasting time and talking loud, drinking all day.  I don't just mean ten or twenty.  I mean that it appears that the locals own the stores and nearly everyone else are foreigners. . . and that many of the locals aren't altogether pleased with the situation (based on their abrupt attitude).

Sure the central town square seems a bit like a movie set - however the rest of the town is about 50% destroyed and 30% under construction. Piles of rubble are the rule, with quite poor care for appearance. Sadly we were not feeling any true Ecuadorian center or heart in Vilcabamba.

Two nights here is enough.  Vamos!!

Met young travelers at the hotel from Argentina, Bulgaria, Germany, Norway. Out for 6 to 15 months each. Awesome.

Loja High

(Loja is the name of Ecuador's southern state and it's capital city)

Directly behind us in the bus we heard laughing and rapid, loud talk - quite unusual behavior here.  Amidst a stream of garbled Spanish came the word "coca" several times.

Then a little pharmaceutical bottle about 3" high was passed from behind us to the man across the isle.  He opened the bottle, sniffed the ingredients several times, chuckled, nodded affirmatively and passed it back.

Curious about what was really happening, Jeff propped himself up to peer back and saw what appeared to be a daypack stuffed with coca leaves.  

Later when the group exited the bus we saw one man had 30-40 of the little bottles, 2 sizes, stacked up in a clear plastic bag for display as he walked down streets hawking his wares.  And there was the other man with the daypack that appeared to be full of coca leaves.

After we arrived in Cuenca we were eating dinner when we began talking with the man next to us.  We learned that he is a lawyer who used to be a prosecuting attorney in Ecuador, prosecuting those accused of money laundering and drug sales.  He only did this for a year and a half because of threats on his life.  This gentleman explained to us that there is a LOT of drug trafficing in the southern state of Loja, Ecuador.

And that´s where Vilcabamba´s located - where tons of tourists collect - way too many tourists, actually.  So Mr. Ecuadorian Lawyer, is there any connection between the tourists hanging out there and the availability of drugs?

Yes, but not just tourists; Ecuadorians too, according to him.

For real?  That explains a lot.  
Adios Loja.  Heading on.

Starr