Vilcabamba

Enroute to La Balsa border with Peru and Ecuador
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After crossing the border into Ecuador, we tried to exchange the Soles we had left for US dollars (the official currency of Ecuador), but they exchange rate was very bad, so Tal walked back to Peru and changed the money there (and nobody seemed to mind that she had already received an exit stamp).

At 12:30 we got on a truck with wooden benches and were taken to Zumba, the first proper village in Ecuador. It was a rather uncomfortable 2 hour ride up the mountains, but it seemed to be the only means of transport in this area as it picked up lots of locals along the way (including kids going to school, motorbikes etc.). The views were amazing though (lush green forest and mountains) and we noticed a big difference in landscape. It was also the first time since Argentina that we had rain!

Church in plaza Vilcabamba
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In Zumba (another village of no importance) we had to wait 2 hours to catch a bus to Vilcabamba, so we killed time and had lunch in one of the very few restaurants and bought a bus ticket (and noticed that things are more expensive in Ecuador). At 4pm we got on a local bus and went on a beautiful ride up the mountains to Vilcabamba. Again, the journey was slow as it seems to be one out of 3 buses a day going from Zumba to Vilcabamba, so it picks up and drops off many locals along the way. Just as we were getting used to the slow, but beautiful journey, the bus stopped as the road was blocked by a landslide that made it impossible for us to continue. It was just getting dark and we saw ourselves stuck on the bus that night or sleeping at one of the locals´ rickety´houses. But one hour and a couple of mobile phone calls later, a fancy earth mover/digger came driving down the hill from the opposite direction and within 20 minutes we were ready to continue.

Interesting building on plaza
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Six hours later (11pm) we arrived in a dead quiet and deserted Vilcabamba. We looked for accommodation and despite a grumpy hostal worker (who reminded us again that we arrived very late...), found anice room around the main square.

The next day we were woken up by construction workers banging on our bedroom walls, so we decided to find another hostal. We found one of the best hostals ever, Rendez-Vouz, just outside of town.

Vilcabamba is a tranquil village set amongst some lovely private nature reserves and mountains. It has an agreeable climate (17C min - 26C max) and for us it was the perfect place to relax after our long journey from Peru.