Last week I went to Vilcabamba, it took 2 buses and 6 hours to get there. Vilcabamba is reputed to the valley of longevity where the people live stress free lives in fresh clean mountain air. I stayed at Hosteria Izhcayluma located on a hilltop about about 2 kilometers south of town. The hosteria has sweeping panoramic views of the valley, great food served in an outdoor dining area and a wellness center that offer massages, facials and other treatments. They also maintain well marked trails throughout the valley and hills for some great hiking.
The area's stunning scenery, perfect weather and clean fresh air has attracted many retirees from Canada, U.S. and Europe. Their big new homes dot the hills surrounding Vilcabamba. Vilcabamba itself is a very small town, you can pretty much see the whole place in a couple of hours. It does seem to cater to the retirees in that there are a lot of restaurants and lots of places for massages and such.
I really enjoyed my stay at Izhcayluma. I spent an entire afternoon after a long morning hike snoozing and reading in the hammock on the front porch of the cabin I rented. Wonderful.
I met more Canadians there, Barbara and Paul who are from Montreal. We took a horse ride together and Barbara and I had massages on two of the days and a facial. What a treat. The 4 hour horse ride was something else we climbed high up into the hills along the ridges our destination was a waterfall. We had to park the horses after about 2 hours of climbing and hike down into the area where the falls was located, it was beautiful and so worth the strenuous hike. Barbara and I had one of our massages afterwards. A perfect day.
I spent 4 days there and felt that was enough and was ready to go back to the city. A fantastic place for a vacation. (The photos do not do it justice)
Cost for my stay was $134. which along with the cabin included all my meals, full body massage, back massage, facial and reiki session and horse ride. Bus was $18. return.
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