Country Article / Postcards
The Last Natural Frontier
Date: 08/28/2003Dear International Living Reader,
"The tiny valley of Vilcabamba boasts the oldest people in the world."
I had read this before I arrived in Ecuador, and wanted to investigate for myself.
From Quito, we drove south for two days and arrived at the Hosteria de Vilcabamba (contact details below). It had a swimming pool, a sauna, a Turkish bath, marble floors, large hanging ferns, and bowls of huge roses everywhere. Our room was $20 per night.
In three days, we purchased title to a sacred piece of ground that once was the site of the ancient Vilcabamba Village.
Anything grows here, from potatoes to pineapple. The temperature ranges from 60 to 96 degrees Fahrenheit. Nobody goes to bed hungry or cold. There is no stress. The sun shines nearly every day. The food is simple, natural, and nutritious. The water has special health-producing minerals that come from high in the mountains. Even the children know which herbs to pick to fix a tummy ache or a cold. Throughout Ecuador, Vilcabamba is know as the "sacred valley" or "valley of the old people."
You can rent a house here for $250 a month…hire a maid or gardener for $7 a day, or a professional brick layer for $12 day…our taxes (property, etc.) are $24 a year, as are the water rates…a shared taxi to Loja (45 minutes) is $1. And right now, you can buy a 1,000-square-foot, two-bedroom quality home beside a stream for about $95,000.
Vilcabamba is one of the last natural frontiers, boasting exotic plants, birds and butterflies, with some of the lowest pollution rates in the world.
Bud and Jo Middleton
For International Living
P.S. Vilcabamba isn't the only place in Ecuador with cheap prices--in Quito, handcrafted items (woolen sweaters, Panama hats, oil paintings, intricate wood carvings, beautiful Persian rugs, llama-hair rugs, leather goods of all kinds) cost 75% less than we pay in North America.
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