Getting well in the Valley of Longevity

Trip Start Jun 07, 2008
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Trip End Sep 14, 2008


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Where I stayed
Valle Sagrado
(Vilcabamba hotels)

Flag of Ecuador  ,
Tuesday, July 8, 2008

I arrived in Vilcabamba eager to enjoy the outdoors in this milder climate and was enthused about the first blue sky I'd seen in a week. Unfortunately, I was just entering phase II of my illness from Cuenca, so I spent a couple days convalescing instead of hiking. The town is a little gringo haven and has been on the tourist radar ever since the 50s when Reader's Digest published an article about the unusually long lived residents (upwards of 130 years). Turns out that was mostly bogus of course, but it is a beautiful setting and much warmer at only 5000´.

This was my last stop before Peru and after a full month in Ecuador I was eager to get going, so once I felt up to it I left despite having not done much beyond walking the few km out to Craig's Bookstore. It's more of a book exchange really, and one of the best in the country as far as I can tell.

As you may have noticed if you've been following along this past month, I've covered much of Ecuador with two significant exceptions:

1) the Galapagos Islands - This is just about money. A one week trip there would have almost doubled my budget for this 3 month journey. Just not feasible right now, so I guess I'll call it something to look forward to in the future.

2) the Oriente - This is Ecuador's Amazon region (notice the big blank eastern area on my map), which is supposed to be beautiful, but since I've already been here a month and have two more countries to go in which to visit the Amazon, I decided to skip it.

I did take a few photos in Vilcabamba, which are now on flickr.
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