...Little House NOT on the Praire....
Trip Start
Mar 25, 2008
1
20
54
Trip End
Nov 22, 2008
Vilcambamba,
Ecuador
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
.....Vilcabamba a small town of 4000 people in the deep south of Ecuador located in a valley surrounded by massive mountain ranges. For some reason this wee spot has become the mecca for aging hippies from the US, generally, and other places I'm sure, to live & retire or start small business's. It is a very well kept sweet little town with a lovely parque de centro with lots of trees and flowers.
This area is known for a few reasons...ONE being the Valley of Longevity...so I hope that one pays off for Frey and I in the time we have been here....TWO being close to the boarder of Peru it is a place people come when they are heading either north or south through South America...THREE being the fantastic hiking in the spectacular mountains surrounding the town- which is in the valley hence VALLEY of Longevity, and with that probably came sore muscles so up sprang the 4th thing
Central Park, Vilcabamaba Ecuador
. They are well known for lots and lots of massage therapists. There is a natural healer on every corner offering massage, reike, facials, saunas, spas, steam baths....you name it you can get it....actually we don't even need to leave our HOSTEL as they have a spa on premises offering lots of relaxing , muscle straightening and soothing treatments!! Yep a hostel!!!... We are staying at the Izhcayluma Hostel... said Ish-kai-luma ...and let me tell you 'dis place is flash man!!! :o) Just google it and see www.izhcayluma.com The views are amazing over the valley as you can see from our pics...the restaurant is rated as one of the best in the town...brekky is included with your US$9 stay...and that will get you 2 eggs or crepes, fresh baked bread, jam, juice, coffee, ham, fruit salad, granola , yogurt, assorted teas and the best view in the world! BARGAIN!
Anyway as per usual with us if we see a bargain we choose to upgrade rather than save money and stick with it...hmmm oh well....so we pay US$14 for our own private room with private bathroom, brekky and a spectacular view with hammocks hanging outside for us to enjoy it all from. *grin* and we love it!
We took it pretty easy here for the first few days...you know, wandering around seeing the various hand craft and art shops...catching up on internet...finding the best restaurants in town...hence our girls doing lunch photo...unfortunately there appears to be no lunch and worse than that no vino....but please don't all cry for us at once as it was just still coming!!
Views from near our Hostel
!I had read that there was some great horseback treks to be done in the area and none rated higher than Gavin of Gavilan's Horses..."the guy from New Zealand" which is posted on his sign. So the kiwi dude has set up a horse trekking business and he was one of my first stops when we arrived to book a two day tour!
Gav wasn't in the shop when we arrived but his Ecuadorian buddy Wilson soon had him on the blower saying there were two chicas wanting to go out on a trek so he was about 15 mins in coming around to chat to us... Gav had just pulled up from a hard night...lucky...or unlucky haha,....for him a crew of 17 kiwi's had blown into town and the day before he had taken them all out on a 6 hour trek, ....and bless them they had taken him out on the booze...Gav would be in his 50's from the math that he has a 30 year old daughter.....now their average age was 25 so he was on the hard end of the stick ...but certainly a man to handle his own he was regaling us of the stories of the night before and mentioned that half a dozen of the Kiwi's also wanted to do the two day trek so we made it a full boat and the deal was done!!!
The sun was shining the birds where singing and horses were neighing....we all got saddled up and now I was no longer Indiana Jones ....but Sigrid Thornton from The Man from Snowy River heading to the high country....and man those mountains were high!
Streets downtown
! We rose well over a mile in altitude and rode maybe 30 miles....it took half the day...forging thru streams and narrow mountain paths with sheer drops further than I would like to think about falling especially with a big horse coming down with me.My horse, Tocito was great he was a good all rounder and could climb like a billy goat, jump like show horse and lay his ears flat and gallop like crazy....we had an awesome time. The ride to the refuge...Gav's little house NOT on the prairie was about 5 hours...once we got there there was a spread put on for lunch, the horses watered and saddles taken off ...we laid on the grass and basked in the afternoon sunlight while the horses rolled around and ate the grass.
Later on Gav took everyone for a walk to the cloud forest, which was filled with tons of orchids and other pretty flowering plants. Then time for chopping some wood to get the fires going to cook dinner and the bonfire for later.
Gav is a great host and supplies the drinks too so it was sundowner time with the fruit...passionfruit, oranges and limes we collected on the ride up the mountain he made the perfect mixer for vodka
Girls lunching in downtown VCBA
. Yummmm best vodka cocktail I have ever had...more please!!!!There were many a laugh had on this trip and the food was hearty, tasty and filling cooked by Gav...the cocktails brillant for taking the chill off the cold mountain night and guaranteeing a sound sleep!!! :o)...There is kinda a bunk house with beds and thin sponge rubber mattress's for dossing down on...all very rustic...those that don't like the great outdoors probably shouldn't go as there is plenty of things to see that might curl your toes and make sleeping a little uneasy...without the voddies!!!
We watched a blue wasp sting and stun a huge trantula and then drag him back to his nest to lay eggs on and become the host to the lava's....the spider was easily 2-3 times as big as the wasp...it was certainly a mother nature show at it's best! The Kiwi's of course not having any poisonous spiders of their own were pretty impressed with this one of their first views of the creepy crawlies. There is supposedly bears in the national park which Gavs property boarders on but we didn't see any and Gav said the last one he saw was 20 years ago...still makes going outside to pee in the middle of the night more interesting listening out for bears!!! Haha..something I have never had to do before....Frey was a little concerned that as I was closest to the door and sleeping lower to the ground I might be worried she didn't shut out bunk house door properly...I was more concerned about being too cold to get up to close it fully so that was that on the bear terror when all was said and done....zzzzzz.
Hostel
.The dunny of course was a longdrop...something I am well familiar with from early farm days at home. ... but the view was never so good in Toodyay!!! This toilet, for those that don't know what a dunny is...only had a roof and one side wall...the side facing the house for privacy reasons of course....it was the size of a small shed no feelings of being hemmed in, the back wall was the mountain and then there was no need for a front door as it overlooked a 1000 metre drop and mountains, still much higher than we are perched, surrounding us...so you looked out over this fantastic valley!!! *grin*...sure took your mind off things!!!!!!
In the morning after some of the yummiest pancakes and coffee for brekky we got saddled up and it was time to hit the trail for town again....the great decent...worth thinking about as it is very very steep...some peeps got off their horses and walked down a bit as you really felt your horse was using all its concentration to find the right footing...or at least you hoped it was!!!
We arrived back in Vilcabamba in the early afternoon...Gav stopping to buy us all a beer at Craigs book exchange, somewhere we have to go back to to swap out our reading books...
Classic shot!
. And then the race was on...the horses were raring for the final gallop home....you would have sworn it was spring carnival the pounding of hooves and yeahaaaaing of 7 aussie and kiwi cowboys and girls hurtling thru the sleepy streets and dusty roads of Vilcambama...it was a fantastic finish to the few days out! *grin* highly recommend it to those that don't mind a bit of outdoor adventure with only basic rustic comforts...we were well looked after, the horses were great, the sleeping simple but warm, the hospitality generous and interesting tales told, the food hearty and filling and the cocktails delicious!!!..oh and the views AMAZING!!! We had a blast!Now as part of the deal I have to go hiking with Freya...oh boy...5 hours tomorrow... hope those mountains aren't as steep as they all bloody look!!!! We all know I prefer mountain bikes or horses to having to get my own butt up a mountain...I lived at zero altitude for goodness sake!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhh!!!! I have already told Matteo at the front desk of the hostel if I am not back in time for my massage which I have booked at 3 pm then we are lost and to come get us....he promises to clear out my room and sell my stuff so not much hope there!!! Haha!
Oh I didn't mention we have been taking Spanish lessons everyday....not JUST lazing around galloping up mountains and stuff...and I feel any day now a spanish sentence may spring forth from my lips....we do 2 hours a day and we do home work too...I have made games to make learning fun....I cant believe I just said or admitted to that...but the scissors in my first aide kit have come in handy to cut up word cards and picture cards ...we play that game where you have to match two things the same by turning cards over ...I can't think what its called but I am sure someone out there in nerdy land will tell me...
view from the hostel restaurant
. :o)anyway it works in learning words ...not so much for making any sentences but soon come as they say!!! I mean once upon a time a long time ago I didn't speak English yet and now look at me...hard to shut up!!! *grin*......the HIKE.... Lets just say AWESOME!!!...and that's pretty big coming from me ...we started early...and me grumpy as I was still a bit sore from the 2 day riding and let me say it again we started early!!!! So sore, early and hiking don't usually go down so well with me when I am very tired as well! But anyway once I found my sense of humor all was good in the world. The hike took us to 2100 metres...which meant a bit of climbing and you should see some of the places we climbed...OH BOY.....
We walked along a ridge that was only about 18inches wide with a huge drop off of at least 500 ft either side...lucky the wind didn't blow too much....and then the next ridge had collapsed and left a gap of about a metre in the path and a drop off of a couple where a landslide had taken it out...the landslide had slide maybe 700 metres down the side of the mountain..Frey climbed a little further down the mountain and then back up thru that crevice and used her spider woman skills to climb up the rocks on the other side...I was already at the ridge drop off so I had to do the leap of faith as only wonder woman can and of course made it to the other side as well...I can say our hearts were beating pretty fast but there was little options as the skinny ridge walk behind us was the least attractive option
view from our room
. ...and this was our last ridge crossing and then we where home and hosed to walk another million miles down these bloody mountain on steep horse paths zigzagging....the views were amazing and we stopped to take a gizzilion pictures...some of which have been posted here. Once we finally got to the bottom after 4.5 hours we walked thru the river bed...which was flowing but only narrowly - leaving us plenty of river rocks to climb over and walk along for another hour and a half. So the 5 hour trek turned into 6 but it was well worth it ...and really it only blew out bcos we spent so much time taking pictures.
We arrived back just in time for Spanish...which for me was unfortunate as I could hardly concentrate with no lunch and being knackered!!!...I got to skip away a little early from Spanish as I had a back and foot massage booked at 3 so of course Frey is now a few more verbs in front of me on the Spanish race and pretty pleased with herself...I of course was just please to skip class and be pampered!!!!! *sighhhh...
All in all mums and dads you can breathe easy we are off the mountain safe and sound....and really being mostly sensible we were never at risk..unless we slipped of course!!!!
Gav the horse man
! Uh ohhh! :o)Today is our last night at Izhcayluma Hostel we are moving back to the town for our final night in Vilcabamba, as we need to be in a taxi for Loja...a bigger town on Tuesday morning at 5.30 am!!!...so we can then take the 9-10 hour bus (oh joy!!) to Guailquil, big city, to catch our flight to LaPaz, Bolivia....highest city in South America...so we can ride down the world most dangerous road and go to the Amazon Jungle....boy do we have stuff to do ..*phew...but that's all in the next edition of Nene and Frey's fabulous adventure's in South America.
I can guarantee you other than moving house tomorow I WILL DO DOING NOTHING!!!!..xx
