Vilcabamba: The Uncharming Gringo Town

By Connected Horizons

Right in the heart of the Valley of Longevity there’s the small town Vilcabamba, an usual stop for all those on the way out of Ecuador from the little known border crossing on La Balsa.



Nice mural near the central plaza

After coming back from out trip on the Pacific Coast (Puerto Lopez and Silver Island) and a short break in Cuenca for the second time, it was time for us to get to the last stop of our trip to Ecuador: Vilcabamba. Lots of the travellers we met were saying positive things about the place but our first impressions were not the best.

Colorful church in the main plaza

Of all the places we visited in Ecuador, this probably felt like the less ehm… ecuadorian, with very little traditional vibes. For the first time in this country, by walking around, english was actually more in the air than spanish; europeans, canadians and lots of americans were actually making the most of the people around.

Central park

Languages aside, we found the town to be pretty expensive and apart from the main plaza the area has very little charm. One block all around the centre, there are some shops and hostels but go further than that (especially during a short night walk back to your place) and you’ll be lucky to even find streetlights!

Emptiness of the back-alleys

Initially, we planned in staying for some days and do some hiking (waterfall hike, cerro modongo, Rumi Wilco and etc…) in the surroundings before leaving for Peru but after a day we opted for leaving earlier and spend time somewhere else. It wasn’t really the place for us!

Local Market at the terminal

But not all was black. The Hostel Don German, where we spent our two days there was a lovely place with even lovelier owners. Our room was big, the bathroom was huge (and with hot water) and we even had a balcony to enjoy some views of the city lights. On top of that, the owner was so kind to phone the Namija Bus Company several times to make sure that the bus was actually doing the route through the border and stopping in Vilcabamba. If you do come here, we suggest staying here for the night (15$/double room), you won’t regret it!


PLANNING A TRIP TO ECUADOR? CHECK MORE POSTS BELOW!


[pt_view id=”5006ac3gqi”]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *