Nature Archives - bbxmusic Ecuador

Zaruma Ecuador- A gem not far from Loja (part 1)

Español AQUI NO es una traducción humana!

Part 1

Zaruma is a small city of approximately 22,000 people in the province of El Oro. For those who don’t know, the El Oro province is just next to the Loja province and is one part mountain (sierra) and one part coast. Machala is this province main city and is on the coast whereas Zaruma is in the mountains.

How to get there

It is extremely easy to go to Zaruma from Loja. Everybody knows how to get to Catamayo which because it is where the airport is located. From Catamayo one needs to drive to San Pedro de la Bendita, then to El Cisne and finally to Portovelo/Zaruma

It takes about 4 hours from Catamayo to Zaruma however I recommend to allow more time because there is a lot to see in between.

Zaruma El Oro Map — How to get there : Loja -> Catamayo -> El Cisne -> Portovelo -> Zaruma

Zaruma in just a few words

For the impatient here is what Zaruma is all about:

a wonderful climate, warm just like Vilcabamba or even better with more water and greener vegetation (a bit like Zamora but not so humid)
stunning architectural landscape made out of traditional wooden houses and buildings
lovely relaxed atmosphere
friendly people
not expensive (unlike Vilcabamba)
not far from Loja, if you can go to Zamora and think it is not too far, then going to Zaruma will not look like the end of the world
food traditions and great coffee
gold, silver, copper and other minerals

On the way to Zaruma

The great thing about going to Zaruma is that the trip is really nice. Here below are a few photos that I took on the way

El Cisne

Regardless of your personal religious beliefs, if you saw what I saw, you’d have to admit that the display of faith that can be seen in el Cisne in September each year is something truly amazing. I was told that 1.5 million people visit the cathedral each year around that time. What can be seen on the right side of the first photo above is a line of parked buses. There are hundreds of them. People sleep anywhere they can, on the floor, they sell esteras (straw mats) to sleep on. Every single room or corner of a room is for rent. It is an unbelievable display and I was so lucky to drive through El Cisne just at the right time of the year

In the clouds

After El Cisne, we drive to Ambocas which is the boundary between the Loja province and the El Oro province. The road is unsealed for approx 30 km. I don’t understand why with such an important event taking place each year in El Cisne, they still haven’t managed to seal this important connection between the coast and Loja. Going from Loja to El Cisne is a breeze but going from Zaruma to El Cisne requires about 1 hour of unnecessary suffering on this 30 km long stretch of dirt road. The remaining part after that is perfect all the way to Zaruma.

Immediately after El Cisne you find yourself on high land with absolutely stunning views above the clouds that are close to impossible to convey with photos.

The peace and the silence are impressive. An eagle was flying above us and granted us enough time to take a good shot of him. In Spanish Eagle is “Aguila” hence the design below.

From there we drive though a few small villages like Santa Teresita and get to the end of the Loja province. We cross a bridge and we are in Ambocas.

Ambocas

In Ambocas there is a nice waterfall well worth visiting. It is only 15 minutes from the main road (5 minutes by car and then 10 minutes walk). There you can relax, have a picnic and take a dip. On week days it is deserted but on week-ends the place is quite popular, so beware !

Zaruma

From Ambocas, the road is very good again and in no time we get to Portovelo then shortly after to Zaruma.

Portovelo is nothing really special at first sight and we did not spend any time there. Zaruma is different. It has this “wow factor”. It is really pretty, quite stunning I would say.

Here is a view from the distance:

As you can see, Zaruma is perched on a hill. It is actually quite steep, full of narrow streets, pedestrian steps etc… One has to keep fit to live in Zaruma !

In the distance on the left side of the photo above you can see “the dark side of Zaruma” as I would call it, the green looking ponds containing the effluents of the mining industry. Of course these ponds leak and they contaminate the aquifers. How serious is the problem I don’t know. I haven’t done any research but this is something that is mentioned on web sites (e.g. http://www.elcomercio.com/tendencias/zaruma-ecuador-ciudad-atractivos-turismo.html).

Zaruma Downtown

Wandering around downtown Zaruma is fantastic. The buildings, the clocks, the museums, the churches, the streets, the shops, the restaurants, the hotels everything is pretty. One could almost feel like being in Switzerland. Actually, one of Zaruma traditional dishes is called “Tigrillo”. It is quite a cheesy dish I must say, not as much as the Swiss Fondue but pretty close. So yes, Switzerland is not too bad a comparison.

Zaruma El Oro Ecuador - Parque Central — Zaruma Ecuador- A gem not far from Loja

Even the internet cafe is different, all wooden, all traditional, pretty.

To be continued …

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Simple tips to identify dangerous snakes in Vilcabamba Loja Ecuador

English version

Español AQUI

Let’s be clear and upfront. I am not a snake specialist. I live near Vilcabamba, a small village in the Loja province of southern Ecuador. My house is on a large piece of rural land (una finca) surrounded by beautiful wilderness and yes there are snakes (and scorpions and spiders).

Having said that, I took some time to try to identify simple ways to tell whether one snake specimen is deadly or totally harmless, something that you must admit is good to know when you encounter one.

Like I said, I am no specialist and this write-up is no attempt to cover the subject exhaustively. It is rather an attempt to make simple and easy to understand something scary and apparently complicated. Readers will tell me if I succeeded.

I roamed the land for years without ever bumping into one of those creatures until one day finally I almost stepped on one very large Bothrops Asper, the one that they call here the Macanche, that was having a nap in the sun right in the middle of my road a few meters only from my front door. It was 2 meters long approximately (no I did NOT measure it with a tape) and its body must have been around 10 cm – 15 cm diameter. After a moment of sheer panic, I went to get my camera and since I could see that the creature was very calm and in no way about to jump on me, I sat down a few meters from her and took some photos.

I say “her” because I now know that only the females of that species can be that large. I had no idea then that I was looking at one of the deadliest snake on the planet, let alone a large specimen of it. My instinct was telling me that she could feel my energy and since my energy was good nothing bad would happen. I was very curious I must admit. So below, there she is just like I found her.

Equis Bothrops Asper- Macanche - Vilcabamba Loja Ecuador — Bothrops Asper – Here they call it “MACANCHE”

After a few years without seeing another Equis, recently I had my second encounter, a smaller specimen this time. I had a better camera with me with a better zoom and I took some good close-ups. On the photo below, the shape of the pupil can be seen and it is vertical which is an important parameter.

Todoloja - Simple tips to identify snakes in Vilcabamba Loja Ecuador — Todoloja – Simple tips to identify snakes in Vilcabamba Loja Ecuador

On the photo just above as well as the almost all of them, two reddish dots can be seen between the eyes and the nostrils. This is one of the most important identification attributes. These are called “loreal pits” or “Jacobson’s organ” and are part of the sensory organs along with the tongue that my friend is precisely pulling out in one of the photos above. Using these organs they can sense you and I guess this is also how they “feel” your fear or lack thereof maybe through the pheromones that you emit I am not sure.

To identify a snake one has to look at the shape of the head, the shape of the eyes and the tail, easier said than done I know but that is what it is.

The head and the eyes

Equis has big triangular flat head that sticks out. That is a bad sign. Whereas harmless snakes have a spoon shaped head.

Equis has elliptical vertical pupils as opposed to round pupils. That is another bad sign.

Equis has the two reddish dots, the pits, and that is yet another bad sign.

To compare let’s have a look at another friend who I found comfortably sleeping in my roof right above my head. Our house is a rustic house made of adobe blocks with a sugar cane straw roof and it had been left empty for a long time which is why the snake made it its home.

Harmless snake - Dormilona — Harmless snake – Dormilona

The head is smaller and spoon-shaped rather than sharply triangular, not that much wider than the body, meaning that there is no room inside this snake’s mouth for the venom glands. It also has round eyes.

The one below which we found in a stack of timber in our shed is also harmless. It is a banded cat-eyed snake, totally harmless. It is called cat-eyed because … hmm … it has eyes that look like the eyes of a cat. It also has a relatively small head that does not stick out so much.

The tail

Admittedly the tail is not often easy to see because snake have a natural tendency to make a tight roll of themselves.

Below is the same macanche but this time we can clearly see that her tail is thick and short.

Bothrops Asper- Macanche - Vilcabamba Loja Ecuador — Macanche – Thick and short tail

On the other hand, this one which I found in a water reservoir that I was letting dry in order to do some maintenance has obviously a thin and very long tail. That is good. Equis has a short and thick tail, meaning that the body does not get thinner and thinner over a large part of the body but stays pretty much the same thickness and then ends in a short tail. On the specimen below it is clear that roughly as much as 25% of the body length could be considered the tail.

Harmless Snake - Vilcabamba Loja Ecuador — Harmless Snake – Vilcabamba Loja Ecuador

It is also green and has a small head. Another thing I noticed is that to make matters worse, the bad guys don’t move and just sit completely still whereas the good guys tend to run away. Too bad it is not the other way round.

To sum it up

Look at the head: flat, big, triangular, sticking out IS BAD
Look at the eyes: round pupil is GOOD, elliptical vertical pupil is BAD
Look at the pits: two reddish dots between the eyes and the mouth is BAD
Look at the tail: long and thin is GOOD / short and thick is BAD (*)

(*) A trick to remember which one is what is to think about the rattlesnake that everybody knows is dangerous and makes a rattling sound with its tail.

It would be hard to shake the tail and make that sound if the tail was long and thin, much easier with a short one.

So to remember: short and thick = DANGER, long and thin = SAFE.

Unfortunately there is one exception

Hey, life would not be fun if it was that easy, would it?

In Ecuador, we have the pleasure to host a wonderful and deadly snake that is called the CORAL

One day we were enjoying our breakfast on the porch when this guy just “walked by” as if nothing. I followed him and took some shots. Here he is:

Serpiente Snake Coral (this one is dangerous)

As can be seen it has a long thin tail and we cannot see it on the photo but it also has a small head. However it is very easy to identify because of its beautiful colors.

Coral snake - Loja Ecuador — Coral snake – Loja Ecuador

So beware of that one !

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Appreciated.

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Living healthy in Vilcabamba and Loja Ecuador

English version

Español AQUI

19 July 2016

With our sympathy and our love to our neighbor, Balbina Camacho, who died the 18th of July 2016.

“You are not wealthy until you have something that money can’t buy” .

Garth Brooks

If there is something that I have learned living in Vilcabamba since 2008 it is that health is not something that money usually buys.

This statement requires a little bit of clarification.

What is the secret of health?

Sure money can buy better medical care. With money, one can go to a private clinic like San Agustin in Loja instead of relying on the free public system (and get his prostate taken out to treat kidney stones as happened to an Ecuadorian friend of mine).

Money can also buy expensive supplements available from the Juice Factory in Vilcabamba or on line or get a full set of essential oils. Money can buy everything organic, usually at double or triple the price of the non organic equivalent.

But does health really depend on good private healthcare and on supplements ?

I live in a small village a few kilometers from the “buzzing metropolis of Vilcabamba” (:-)) and there one can still witness some people, not so many unfortunately, living the old way, wandering around on their donkeys, eating their traditional diet which they do not call “organic”, and certainly not “raw”, they don’t even know the word “organic” and have never heard of “raw diets”.

Life and Health in San Pedro de Vilcabamba — Living healthy in Vilcabamba and Loja Ecuador

These people look very healthy, they are skinny, they are fitter and stronger than 30 year younger typical westerners. Most are not rich and some are really poor.

These people represent what to me is the real “secret of longevity” that nobody will find in the Vilcabamba water or in the air or in the Iniger lab.

Old man in Vilcabamba – Every single day he goes really slow but still does his own shopping – Must be well over 90

The secret of longevity

The secret is a complex. multi-dimensional combination of factors involving lifestyle, diet, exercise, water, air, emotional state, stress, possibly genes and certainly others that I forget to mention or am unaware of.

What is certain is that money is not one of them.

Balbina harvesting yuca in Sacapo - San Pedro de Vilcabamba — Balbina harvesting yuca in Sacapo – San Pedro de Vilcabamba

Balbina is well known in Sacapo. I never remember her age although I have asked her several times. Is it 95? or is it more? It does not really matter in the end. She is skinny, too skinny now because she is getting old and won’t probably last many more years. She was a midwife and a reputable one.

Lily, Balbina Camacho y Martha Jaramillo

We asked her to be our midwife for our now 3 year old daughter but she declined saying that she could no longer handle it and no longer had the strength.

But ten years ago when she was “only 85”, she was very active, always out, walking along the river, always doing some physical work. She still managed to help my wife a lot during pregnancy, alleviating the back pain for example and putting the baby back in a good position with gentle movements and massages. She obviously knew what she was doing. She was very sweet and I will never forget her.

The point I am making is that her health, she does not owe it to money but rather to her lifestyle.

When foreigners come to settle here, my very first piece of advice is for them to keep a low profile, watch and learn and not come here to teach the people of Ecuador about their own beliefs. Everything is relative. I am sure that there is value in raw food diets and in gluten free diets and in vegetarian or vegan diets. However let’s not forget that we are here in the “Valley of Longevity” and that our hosts were here well before we had even heard about the place.

@bbxmusic.com
18 July 2016

Vilcabamba Ecuador Real Estate for the Health Conscious – Life the way it was designed to be

SEEKVILCABAMBA.COM

If you are looking for real estate in Ecuador, whether you want to live here or make an investment, Vilcabamba is definitely a place to consider.

There is a lot of real estate for sale in Vilcabamba, from apartments or houses in town, to small or large pieces of land with or without buildings. For sure, there is something for everyone. Prices tend to be higher in Vilcabamba than in other places in Ecuador. This is due to the popularity of Vilcabamba, the “valley of longevity” with its ideal climate, lifestyle, abundance of food and also its cosmopolitan expat community. People come here to live not only from the USA but also from the UK, France, Belgium, Germany among other countries.

If you are considering buying real estate in Vilcabamba Ecuador, we have something truly unique to offer: a “non-gated” property of 70 hectares subdivided into spacious and private quintas (lots), located in one of the best and safest areas around Vilcabamba (San Pedro) along the most pristine river (Uchima), right at the foot of the world famous Podocarpus National park, only 6 kms from the centre of the Vilcabamba village.

The property is called “Cutanapamba”. It has everything to offer to nature lovers and health conscious people while at the same time being close to town.

Fifteen (15) lots (called “quintas”) of sizes ranging from 8,000 m2 to 17,000 m2 are for sale.

From Vilcabamba, head towards Loja on the main road, turn right into the San Pedro village, then follow the dirt road to Sacapo and then before going up to the Sacapo village turn right and head down to the Rio Uchima.

See

bbxmusic.com/projects/cutanapamba/property.aspx

for more details