A Short Time With Long-Lived People

The plan for Saturday was to bus an hour and a half south to the town of Vilcabamba. The town is known for its many residents who live ripe, old lives. It is thought the residents live so long because of the slow pace of the city and the beautiful, natural surroundings. We wanted to hike around those beautiful, natural surroundíngs. And maybe see a really old person or two. With nothing else to do in Loja, this was our plan for the day.

Except we got a late start. I went off in search of a cyper cafe early because I couldn`t sleep in. When I returned, my travel buddy was no where to be found. So I walked around a bit and returned 45 minutes later to find a note saying she was at another cyber cafe. After eating breakfast and getting a shower, it was already after 11:30am. So we packed up a few things in a bag and jumped in a cab to the bus station. There was a bus leaving for Vilcabamba in 10 minutes. Well, more like a short bus. Or a big van. We hopped on to the crowded bus/van and off we went. Continually stopping to pick up people along the way.

When we arrived in Vilcabamba it was already 2pm. Not really enough time to go for a hike. We also immediately realized we had no map of the city and no real plan - other than to come here. The first problem was solved by walking one block over and seeing the town was tiny. The second problem; well, the town was tiny. What do we do now? Aside from feeling a bit absurd. From the central plaza we spotted a restaurant with outdoor seating and decided to have a beer and watch for old people. We ordered fajitas and a large beer to split and started watching. There were three gringas sitting beside us and I asked them what there was to do in town. One answered hammocking. Right. They also said there had been several muggings along the hiking trails. Scratch that too.

Lunch took an hour. We saw one old person. And a teenage boy hanging out with his friends while holding a rooster. That was about it. We decided to shift our perspective a bit and move to a park bench in the central plaza (maybe 30 yards away). There we saw another old man. And a guy who looked (and dressed) like Ralph Macchio in the Karate Kid. And a large German girl playing a harmonica. This killed another hour. It was decided we needed to plan trips better. And that it was time to catch a bus/van back. We found one immediately and headed back to Loja. A road trip for lunch. That was our day.