The Valley of Longevity

Dec 12

I was not disappointed by the jungle mud as I skidded out and fell over with both bikes trying to get up the hill to the road. The 3 staff men all helped push the bikes up the hill then stood back in wonder of how we travel on such unpractical large machines, and these are our small bikes. We say our heartfelt good-byes to Elizabeth and Dorris, and a grateful gracias and adios to the workers, once moving I am reassured that we have the right bikes for the job as they chew up the jungle road with ease. We find our way South towards the Valley of Longevity and the town of Vilcabamba, but for today we are happy with our progress to Gualaquiza, a small mountain town that seems to thrive on tourism, agriculture, and the army bases.

Some sights along the way.

We enjoy the quiet and friendly little town, have supper on a sidewalk restaurant, then walk around looking at the market squares and the small shops. Our room is quiet and clean, but a little warm without an a/c unit. We have gotten used to this as well and the little fan on the wall provides enough air circulation to make it comfortable.

About the biggest excitement was meeting the local authorities at a roadside checkstop. They wanted to see the documents for the bike and our passports. This is the usual protocol but it is the first and only time we have been stopped in Ecuador.


We are on the road early the next morning with the aniticipation of arriving in Vilcabamba. Dorris recommended a hostel 2km South of town called Izhcaylum.

Entrance to our room, part of a tri-plex

View from our terrace

Bedroom with screened windows in two directions for fresh mountain air. 

Modern bathroom with hot water.

It is owned and operated by Peter and Dieter, German brothers who came to valley 16yrs ago and never left. The place is awesome and we too recommend that anyone visiting this area should consider staying here. The rooms are very clean with comfy beds and buffet breakfast is included. The ladies here start in the kitchen early and make all the bread onsite. There is also unlimited coffee, real coffee not instant like the rest of the country, fresh fruit juice, and depending on the day either ham or granola/yogurt, and to top it all off your choice of eggs or crepe. But we would have to wait until tomorrow to discover all this because we did not get to the place until about 3pm, we did manage to have a late lunch of German goulash. Very tasty indeed. While walking from the room to the restaurant we had a chance meeting with a lady due to a large caterpillar on the path, I joked that we seen some of his friends in the market for sale as “light snacks”. She laughed and that started the conversation, Carolyn and Clyde are from Seattle and are in the process of moving to Hawaii, their stuff is in transit so they decided to take a little stress relief break. Carolyn told us of a fund raiser party for the local children tomorrow night and it sounded like a great way to spend part of my birthday.