......we arrived in Vilcabamba, Ecuador after a long and hair raising bus journey from Cuenca, transfered from the bus to a mini bus for the last hour or so and then arrived in the village of Vilcabamba.
We had heard about Madre Tierra so we got a take us back up the hill and we finally sat on a chair that wasnt moving and decided to stay for a couple of days.
There is a health spa right next to our room and the price included amazing vegetarian 3 course meals made from everything they grew in the garden, as much fruit juice as you could drink, a free jaccuzi everyday and half price in the spa for stuff like massages, steam baths, skin treatments and the old favourite colonic irrigation
The place had recently been taken over by an American couple; Carol and John who were both super nice and as we were about the only ones staying there we had dinner with them that night. It was funny how they told us about everything we ate or drank was organic and grown right there but it was all so nice and tasty that we ended up telling other people who came later the same thing.....The next night while we were looking at a poster for Woodstock with an original unused ticket stuck at the bottom Carol came over and brought out a small tube with white powder in it. ¨Meet Dr Timothy Leary¨she said as she handed us the tube....there was a sticker around it with Dr Timothy Leary hand written on it. Carol it turns out was more than just a hotel owner. Timothy Leary sat there as we ate our spinach parcels with mashed potato and heard about Carols friendship with Timothy Leary.
We spent a few hours riding horses around the valley and finally managed to leave after 4 days and head south to Peru. We might go back there one day to top up on fresh air and the best food of the trip so far.