Vilcabamba

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The host family dropped me at the bus station in Cuenca early Friday morning in time to catch the bus for Loja. Once in Loja, I then took another bus to Vilcabamba. The bus from Loja to Vilcabamba took approx 1 hour.

Vilcabamba is a small and quiet town but despite it´s size it still has quite a few hostels to stay in. I´d opted for a place out of town (approx 4km) Cabanas Rio Yambala and is owned by a British woman (Sarah) and her American husband, Charlie.

The place is surrounded by mountains and next to the the river Yambala. The rooms (or Cabañas) all have a nice view of the surrounding countryside and you fall asleep listening to the sound of the crickets and the river flowing below. The promised hot water existed and food is available if ordered in advance.

There's plenty of walking to be done in the area. I stayed a couple of days and then moved on.

(I checked out a few other hostels which were in town, the best of which I looked at was Le Rendez-Vous. Unfortunately they were full but if I revisited Vilcabamba, that would probably be my other choice of place to stay - it's within walking distance of the town but far enough away not to be disturbed by any of the nightlife).

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