Vilcabamba (July 20 - 22, 2006)
Tuesday, July 25, 2006 at 4:32PM :: July 20 ::
We arrived in the Ecuadorian town of Loja this morning at 5:45am. We sat around the bus station for a while, trying to wake up and get our bearings. At 6:30am we caught a bus to Vilcabamba, a tranquil little town set amidst rolling green hills. We arrived there at 8:00 and looked for a place to eat breakfast. Most places didn’t open until 8:30, so we ended up at the only place that was open where Lincoln had a typical local breakfast of chicken, rice, corn, and tomatoes and I had some boiled eggs and a roll with a big hunk of cheese in it (most of the cheese I didn’t eat – it was too much). At 9:00 we caught a taxi to Madre Tierra Spa and Resort, where we had decided to treat ourselves for three days. The cost per night is a hefty US$56 for the two of us, but this includes a full breakfast and dinner every day. Travelling and being on the go constantly every day wears you down after a while and we needed a nice quiet place to recharge our batteries. Madre Tierra (www.madretierra1.com) is a gorgeous little retreat in the hills 2km from Vilcabamba. The rooms are in cabins that are wonderfully decorated and each has its own patio with a hammock and table and chairs. Ours also had a couch which is a great place to sit and read. The meals are all made from organic products, most of which are grown on the resort.
After a night of very little sleep on the bus we needed a day to do nothing, which is precisely what we did. We napped, read, swung in the hammock, walked around the property, and updated our journals. Just listening to the wind in the palm trees was very relaxing. The resort has a beautiful spa with many different treatments and I made an appointment for myself for the “special package” on July 22nd (our three-year anniversary of the day we met). It includes a facial, head massage, mud bath, hydro treatment, salt rub body exfoliation, body massage, and foot massage. All this for only US$50; how could I refuse? Vilcabamba is known as the valley of longevity because the people in this area regularly live to be over 100 years old, with several living to be 120 to 135 years old. Theorists think it is because of the composition of minerals in the water, the climate, or because the people here eat all organic foods with no chemical contamination. Whatever the reason, indulging in the local spa treatments sure can’t hurt!
:: July 21 ::
We couldn’t bring ourselves to just sit around and do nothing but relax for three full days, so today we went for a 15km hike outside Vilcabamba. Our original goal was to hike to some waterfalls that the locals told us was somewhere between 2 and 3 hours away. We never did get to the waterfalls (turns out they were probably four hours away!), but we did have a nice walk through the countryside surrounding Vilcabamba and along a nice river. We passed lots of coffee plants, orange trees (we ate some), and colours of bougainvillea that we hadn’t seen before. We stopped and had a snack on some boulders in the river and decided to head back since we had been walking for three hours already. On the way back through the town we shared a sandwich at a restaurant and Lincoln had a big beer for $1 and I had a fruit shake. It is strange to be using United States currency here (Ecuador switched a few years ago to try and improve their economy), but things seem to be quite cheap so we are happy with that. We made it back to Madre Tierra around 3:00pm, enough time to relax and read for a while before dinner. The meals here are very good and they always have a vegetarian option. Just before dinner, we went to the spa to use the Jacuzzi, which is free with the room but you have to reserve a time. The Jacuzzi was very nice and relaxing, especially after our hike, and even had bubble bath in it.
:: July 22::
Happy Anniversary to us! It has been three years since we met, although it seems both longer than that and shorter than that at the same time, if that makes any sense. We have done so much together in the past three years, and probably travelled more than most people do in a lifetime, but it also seems like it was not that long ago that we met.
Today was also my spa day, starting at 10am. It was not quite as relaxing as I had hoped, although moments of it was. It started out with the lady telling me that I couldn’t put on my bathing suit and had to go through the whole ordeal naked, which made me uncomfortable. I had a robe to wear around in the public areas, of course, but that lady sure got to know my body well. The first thing she did (she never told me her name so I will just call her “she”) was put a pile of green slimy goo in my hair and squish it all around and the wrap it up with a towel and a shower cap. I would wear this green slimy helmet throughout the rest of the treatments. Next was a hot towel on my face to open up my pores, then a facial mask of some sort and cucumbers on my eyes, another hot towel on my face for a few minutes, and then removal of the face mask. All this part was very nice.
Next came some sort of torture chamber where she made me sit inside of a steam box (naked, remember) with only my head sticking out of a guillotine-type hole in the top and hot steam pouring into the box. She left me there for about ten minutes and then let me out of the box and told me to stand with my arms out while she proceeded to wipe me down with very cold towels that she did not warn me about. Yikes. Then it was back in the steam box for another ten or fifteen minutes. The next time she let me out she made me sit in a small pool of cold water while she splashed me with it. Not very pleasant. Back in the box again. The whole time I was in the box the steam kept getting hotter; the first two times she came in and asked if it was too hot and I said no, it was okay. The third time the steam was getting too hot, but she never came back to ask me if I was okay. It seemed like she was gone for much longer this time, and I was starting to feel light-headed so I opened the box a little bit to let more steam escape. Finally she came back just before I was about to pass out, and then made me stand with my arms out while she sprayed me with a hose (cold water of course), and don’t forget that I am still naked here. The process was similar to the hot-cold treatment at the Chelsea spa in Ottawa and the spas in Europe, but I must say it was less pleasant.
Following this ordeal was the full-body salt scrub. Yes, full body, except for my face. First she put lotion on me and then sprinkled what seemed like road salt on me and proceeded to rub it in as hard as she could, everywhere. This was not very relaxing at all, as you can imagine. My skin must have been very well exfoliated, but it was not happy. With the salt still on me and my skin stinging we went to the mud bath room. She put the hot mud on my back and then left me alone to put mud on the rest of my body while sitting in a large uncomfortable tub. She told me to put all the mud on and wait for her to come back to tell me I could clean it off. I think she went for lunch. She was gone for at least half an hour while I was covered in mud from head to toe (except for my green slime helmet of course), getting cold, and very uncomfortable. I was just about to start rinsing myself off anyways when she arrived back and told me to take most of the mud off in the tub and then have a shower and wash my hair, after which I felt much better.
I came out of the room in my robe and needed to use the washroom but there was nobody around to ask where it was. I poked around a little bit (hoping I wouldn’t open a door and walk in on someone getting a treatment) and found it and when I came out the reception lady was walking by and told me to sit in one of the reclining chairs to wait for the lady to come back and finish. I was thirsty so I asked the reception lady for a drink, which she brought me. I waited for around 15 minutes and finally my lady returned. I was the only customer there so I have no idea what she was doing. Probably went back to finish her lunch. The last part of my treatment was some kind of oatmeal-like stuff on my face, more cucumbers on my eyes, a very nice foot massage and a facial massage. This part was very relaxing, and I almost fell asleep. Then she said “finito” and left. I was going to give her a tip but she disappeared so fast and was gone when I came out of the change room (finally not naked anymore). All in all it was an interesting experience, although not one that I am going to repeat any time soon. Maybe just the facial and the foot massage part, I liked those bits. You don’t have to be naked for those.
I met up with Lincoln again at 1:00 and was feeling very relaxed at this point so I had a nap in the hammock for an hour or so. We went to the pool area and had a drink and played cards for a while. As the day went on I was feeling progressively sick and by dinner I couldn’t really eat much and was starting to get a fever. We had some wine to celebrate our anniversary but unfortunately right after dinner I went to bed. I don’t know what caused my illness, but I had a fever all night and the following morning still could not eat.
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