Kim hammock chillin
Vilcabamba proved to be a lovely place to relax for a few weeks. It’s quite a bit more expensive than Peru had been, partly because they use the US dollar for currency, but mostly because of all the foreigners living there. It’s still much cheaper than living back home. Where in the US can you get an amazing massage for $10/hour?
We spent a few nights at El Jardin Escondido, which is probably the nicest moderately priced hostal ($22 for two people) close to the center. It’s run by a Canadian I think is named Marcel. That’s where I got my first massage from a woman named Piedad. There’s a ton and a half of massage places, but we were told by a few people that Piedad was one of the best, including Piedad herself. It’s a Swedish massage style, which I normally don’t care too much for, but she’s strong so it’s good. Besides the massage I swam in the pool, chilled in the hot tub, relished eating decent Mexican food and good bread again and finished reading Catch 22 again.
Cool Window at Madre Tierra
After roughing at the moderate priced place we decided to spring for what we had heard was true luxury – Madre Tierra. It definitely is luxurious and beautiful, but we were more than a little annoyed at the terrible communication at the reception desk. We got there and nobody could tell us prices for rooms. Apparently only one person at a time knows the prices and she was out of town for a few hours. You’d think they’d have a price list. Some guy brought us to a room and told us it was $30 a night. We figured that wasn’t too bad so we set our stuff down. Then we clarified and found out it was $30 per person. Finally after threatening to leave they offered to let us have a room for $20 a night – per person of course. Not the one they first showed us though. It was pouring rain and we had to see what this place was about so we stayed. At the end their credit card machine didn’t work and they said that they hadn’t included IVA (tax) in the original price. I think everyone else includes IVA in their price, so I was pretty fed up by this point. Anyway, onto the good parts.
Swinging from a Jungle Vine
The stay includes breakfast and dinner, which were very good. We did a spa treatment that lasted 5 hours and was $45. That included a facial, a steam treatment, a salt scrub, a mud bath, a foot and head massage and probably something else that I’ve forgotten by now. We were in there being pampered for a LONG time. We came out very relaxed – until trying to check out and dealing with the reception desk…
We also quickly undid all the relaxing by heading to the Neverland farm, which I’ve broken out to a separate post. After returning from the farm we spent a few nights at a hostal out of town a couple kilometers called Izhcayluma. This was my favorite place overall. It has an awesome view, beautiful buildings and a terrific atmosphere. The atmosphere is mostly due to all the cool travelers you meet there. Adventurous, crazy, interesting travelers seem to congregate there, and the onsite bar makes for some hilarious and fascinating conversations. One Scottish guy kept offering people $100 to bring back the ears of robbers who have been plaguing some of the local hiking trails. A lot of the staff is volunteers from European countries, so the service is way better than with local running things, sadly.
Piling into a pickup to go for a hike
We went on a hike with a local guide whose name I don’t remember to Podocarpus National Park one day. It was a very pretty hike, but nothing spectacular. The ride there was notable due to riding in the back of a pickup through very pretty scenery. That night we stayed at a cheap hostal ($5 per person) in the center to be close the next morning to leave on our horseback trip with Gavin, which was a blast. That’s also a separate blog post.
Once we got back from the horseback trip we spent a night at another hostal run by some French. Funny how all the interesting hostals are run by foreigners. We also both got another massage. This one was from the lady at Shanta’s bar whose name I forget and she does a lot of physical therapy type stuff where she makes your body crack in all sorts of ways I’ve never experienced before. By the last night we noticed that we knew a ton of the people walking around the central plaza, especially after talking with Gavin. The town was starting to feel a little too small and weird once we knew enough about the crazy foreigners living there. Fortunately we we’re on our way back to peru now.