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Thread: Anyone know anything about Vilcabamba?

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    Default Anyone know anything about Vilcabamba?

    Does anyone know what Vilcabamba, Ecuador is like?
    Have you been there?
    Is it easy for Europeans to live there?
    Is there a like-minded community, who know roughly what is 'going on'?

    Just wondering...any input would be appreciated!
    Thanks
    Tony

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    Default Re: Anyone know anything about Vilcabamba?

    Hello!
    I guess "La tigra" is an avalonian with many valuable information about your question.
    Wanna save the planet? Recycle your mind!

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    Default Re: Anyone know anything about Vilcabamba?

    Hi!

    Just googled Vilcabamba Ecuador and found pages with pictures from Vilcabamba! Beautiful place, even recognized pple in the alternative health community from vids on the internet.

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    Default Re: Anyone know anything about Vilcabamba?

    Have been and it is an amazing place. Sits next to the Podocarpus National Park which was established in 1982 with the goal of protecting the largest forest of native Andean conifers of the genus Podocarpus. This national park includes a portion of the Cordillera Real, a series of small Andean lakes, lowland Amazon forest and cloud forest dominated by three species of Podocarpus, the only gymnosperms native to Ecuador. Podocarpus is the only area in southern Ecuador with large tracks of continuous undisturbed virgin forest ranging from tropical to temperate climates.
    Vilcabamba is a small village with enough English spoken that you can get by. Rustic but beautiful; isolated. There is a handful of Westerners that know what's going on--in my limited perspective sort of cultish. But that could be a plus depending on what you are looking for. Supposedly in that valley there are a handful of centenarians. The water is amazing, research it. It's definitely worth a nice long stay for relaxation and restoral. UFOs too, balls of light shoot out of the mountains (not kidding either).

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    Default Re: Anyone know anything about Vilcabamba?


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    Default Re: Anyone know anything about Vilcabamba?

    The following may be of interest, concerning some important political and environmental issues current in Ecuador. It is a small country, so I would imagine that people who live in Vilcambamba will be aware of and dealing with this situation in various ways.
    From http://www.earthrainbownetwork.com/A...anFall2.htm#11

    11.

    THIS IS A KEY ISSUE THAT THE WORLD MUST ADDRESS! It could pave the way for many other similar initiatives. First some Key Facts:

    - Yasuni: One of the most bio-diverse spots on Earth

    - One hectare in Yasuni contains more tree species than are native to the whole of North America

    - Ecuador indefinitely foregoes extraction of 846 mill. barrels of oil and more than US$ 7.2 bill. in income

    - Avoidance of 407 million metric tons of CO? emissions due to non-extraction and burning of oil

    - Avoidance of 800 million metric tons of CO? from avoided deforestation

    - 78% of Ecuadorian citizens support the Yasuni Initiative

    - The Yasuni ITT Trust Fund administered by UNDP was established in August 2010

    - Agreement requires US$ 100 mill. by 30 Dec 2011

    (Taken from http://mdtf.undp.org/yasuni where this is MUCH more on this issue)

    Save the Yasun rainforest: Ecuador must not drill for oil in this natural wonderland (September 23, 2011)
    http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011...rea-oil-fields
    Deep in the Ecuadorian Amazon, one of the planet's last unspoiled ecological treasures is on the verge of destruction. For decades, scientists have flocked to Yasun National Park, an unspoiled laboratory for evolution and scientific discovery. It was one of the few places in the world that did not freeze during the last ice-age, becoming a refuge for thousands of species of amphibians, birds, mammals and plants that would eventually repopulate the Amazon. Yasun remains arguably the most biodiverse spot in the world today. But this pristine sanctuary has now been deemed disposable. Driven by the recent discovery of nearly 1 billion barrels of crude oil in its Ishpingo Tambococha Tiputini (ITT) oil fields, there is intense pressure on Ecuador to drill. Without urgent action from the international community, Yasun will succumb to the same forces that have ravaged rainforests from Brazil to Indonesia. Ecuador is famous for its awe-inspiring natural riches - it was the Galapagos Islands, after all, that inspired Charles Darwin. But Yasun is more than just surface beauty. One hectare contains more species of trees than are found in all of Canada and the U.S. There are likely thousands of undiscovered species in Yasun and scientists believe that the vast array of organic life forms in Yasun may hold important medicinal secrets, including potential cancer cures. It is also home to the Tagaeri and Taromenane tribes, which live in voluntary isolation. We've only discovered about a quarter of the estimated 8.7 million species of life on Earth, according to a study published by the Public Library of Science. As famed Harvard biologist E. O. Wilson has said, losing these species means that "we won't know the benefits to humanity, which are potentially enormous. If we're going to advance medical science, we need to know what's in the environment." Yet Ecuador is on the verge of losing Yasun. A developing nation of 15 million, Ecuador earns more than half of its export revenue from oil, making it the country's primary source of income. The tradeoff is that much beautiful land has been destroyed.

    AND NOW THE MAIN ARTICLE ON THIS...

    From: http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelt...r-ivonne-baki/

    Ecuador's Imperilled Paradise - One of the World's Most Important, If Least-Known Battles

    A Conversation with Dr. Ivonne Baki

    9/27/2011

    In 2007, Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa proposed protecting his country’s biodiversity against huge oil revenue prospects. This was the archetypal mother of all environmental contests, and remains so. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) signed on to President Correa’s proposal, and it was again discussed at the UN’s most recent 66th General Assembly. At that United Nations meeting, US$52.9 million of both public and private sector donations were committed to the proposal, as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon joined President Rafael Correa in a special meeting, along with Ecuador’s indigenous Huaorani tribe. Two packed rooms at the U.N., and an overflow crowd of dignitaries there to listen indicates the excitement of the Yasuni-ITT Campaign. But will the rest of the world listen?

    The stakes are high: oil revenues in Ecuador to the tune of billions of dollars, or nations coming to Ecuador’s assistance to collectively help her leave that oil in the ground and thereby save some of the world’s most precious wildlife?

    I spoke with Dr. Ivonne Baki, Ecuador’s Plenipotentiary Representative and head of the Yasuni-ITT Initiative about this unique opportunity – or crisis – in her country.

    Michael Tobias (MT): Dr. Baki, Ecuador’s Yasuní National Park, designated in 1979, is among the most biologically prolific areas on the planet and home to at least two indigenous non-contacted ethnic groups. It also holds, apparently, vast amounts of heavy crude oil in the ground, the equivalent of an estimated 407 million tons of carbon dioxide, carrying a US dollar value in excess of 7 billion. For nearly two decades there has been controversy, social, economic and scientific debate over how Yasuni’s indigenous people, habitat and potential oil revenues for all of Ecuador might be reconciled?

    Dr. Ivonne Baki (IB): Well, Michael, as chair of the Yasuní-ITT Commission, my views are pretty straightforward! As you note, on the one hand we’ve got this incredibly beautiful, biologically and culturally diverse National Park. On the other hand, a developing country with a third of its population in poverty, and massive oil reserves underground. How do you maintain a sustainable balance between biodiversity and oil extraction? I don’t know if that is possible. Oil extraction by definition is not a sustainable endeavor. Yasuní biodiversity has been evolving for thousands of years – but damage from oil extraction could drive some of its unique species to extinction. That would represent massive long-term damage in the name of short-term profit. Moreover, looking at Ecuadorian history, oil revenues have not lead to investment in sustainable development. An entirely new energy matrix is needed – which is where the Yasuní funds will be invested.

    MT: In what ways?

    IB: We now hear a global call for clean, alternative energy sources and Ecuador has a huge unexplored potential to develop geothermal, solar, wind, and hydraulic energy. What we need to see are countries that will actually face the difficult decision of foregoing oil dependency to move towards a more sustainable, eco-friendly model of energy production.

    MT: Is Ecuador up to it?

    IB: Let me put it this way: if we continue to depend on oil to such a degree, IPCC studies demonstrate that there is no future for the planet and humanity; we are reaching a tipping point of CO2 emissions, the Earth’s tipping point. The balance between nature and oil extraction is simply not sustainable.

    IB: To reach the goal of conserving Yasuní’s biodiversity, to protect the non-contacted indigenous people and the indigenous communities living in the Amazon and transit towards a clean energy model, the Yasuní-ITT Initiative is the one and only path to be taken. Yasuní is the ultimate precedent towards affecting such a paradigm shift.

    MT: How much oil has already been extracted, what has the damage been, if any, and what, in your opinion, can be done as soon as possible to inhibit any further potential conflict (oil extraction versus in situ biodiversity) within Ecuador, and Yasuní specifically?

    IB: Like many small developing countries around the world, throughout South America and in the Middle East for instance, oil has been the lifeline of our economy. Oil accounts for more than 50% of Ecuador’s export revenue. But what is different about a place like Ecuador, and Yasuní in particular, is the sheer abundance and richness of life here. And then consider that Ecuador has already extracted more than half of its original oil reserves in the Amazon basin.

    MT: With effects that have been documented – to varying degree – for years.

    IB: Exactly. Consider the analysis by Bob Herbert of the New York Times, “Disaster in the Amazon.”(A MUST READ AS WELL AS THE NUMEROUS COMMENTS ON THIS HEART-WRENCHING ARTICLE) In the Yasuní National Park, oil activity has been limited, the oil, located in the ITT block, is considered to represent about 20% of the country’s reserves.

    MT: And those reserves have been left alone, to date?

    IB: Yes, they are so far unexploited. But, to go back, the environmental impact of the more than 40 years of oil exploitation in Ecuador has been evaluated as severe, particularly regarding the impact of roads and infrastructure construction for this activity, related deforestation and oil spills. In Ecuador, we have already witnessed the tragic side effects of this oil drilling. International oil companies have dumped billions of gallons of toxic waste into our water supplies over the past few decades through illegal practices from which we are only now recovering. Biological studies have shown that many species have already disappeared throughout Ecuador.

    MT: And the ITT initiative?

    IB: The best strategy for Ecuador will be to concentrate on the oil extraction of its mature oil fields, what is called improved oil recovery, where the additional environmental impact is relatively low and profits can compete with those from new blocks that could thereby remain untouched, hence promoting the conservation of the most sensitive areas, such as the Yasuní National Park. The Initiative promotes the creation of new clean energy technologies which can create methods that work with nature instead of against it; in favor of our future as human beings without compromising environmental preservation, and the future of coming generations. The recognition of the importance of biodiversity has also to be internalized so that the thought of harming the environment in the name of energy seems counter-intuitive and even immoral.

    MT: One journalist who visited Yasuní (Esme McAvoy) described the conflict as “Oil or life? Ecuador’s stark choice.”(http://www.newint.org/features/2011/04/01/yasuni/">http://www.newint.org/features/2011/04/01/yasuni/) Ecuador’s new Constitution, ratified in 2008, is one of the few documents in human history that enshrines “the rights of nature.” How is this Constitutional declaration currently playing out in your country?

    IB: Ecuador is indeed the first country in the world to recognize nature as a subject of rights, an example that should not only be praised but followed. The post-2008 situation is playing out gradually, as the country is starting a transition towards a model of development based on well-being and rights of nature, in which the Yasuní-ITT Initiative exerts a very important role in promoting this important transition. The Proposal’s objective can be qualified as both holistic and revolutionary because, in addition to addressing the root of global warming and biodiversity loss, it also aspires to fight poverty and inequality within Ecuador; to stop deforestation and promote reforestation, to protect the National Parks and invest in research and sustainable development. Given the fact that the Yasuní-ITT Initiative is a governmental project, it offers an opportunity for oil-producing developing countries, such as Ecuador, to end their dependence on an extractive economy and seek dignified development opportunities through the sustainable use of its natural resources.

    MT: And in relation to the Kyoto Protocol?

    IB: Considering the Kyoto Protocol’s current limitations, Ecuador has put forward this innovative alternative, that even promotes a new climate change mitigation mechanism (Net Avoided Emissions) to allow the active participation of developing countries in the mitigation of climate change, protecting biodiversity, the rights of indigenous peoples and promoting a new style of human development, that is equitable and sustainable.

    MT: The Fund’s administration?

    IB: The Yasuní Fund, administered by UNDP, will collect the contributions during a 13-year period. Taking into account the positive international reception of the Initiative, we expect that the adverse effects of the recent economic crisis will be overcome in the future, and the need for effective solutions to climate change and biodiversity conservation will prevail. What Ecuador is doing is to convey the importance of this Initiative by stressing the international community’s shared responsibility and interest in its success. Yasuní is definitely a world ecological reserve that is worth much more than its oil underground. A new internationally-binding agreement is necessary for climate change mitigation, and cannot be postponed indefinitely.

    MT: How will the assets be targeted, the funds allocated?

    IB: This fund will enable the State to earn interest in perpetuity, which will be invested in five areas: 1) Conservation and prevented deforestation in at least 19% of national territory; 2) Reforestation and afforestation of 1 million hectares; 3) Efficiency improvements in national energy consumption; 4) Social development and sustainable production for the populations living in the areas, particularly in the Amazon region; and 5) Scientific and technological research in topics related to the Initiative.

    MT: And the precise financial goal?

    IB: The goal of the Yasuní-ITT Initiative is to raise $3.6 billion by 2024; half of what Ecuador could have expected to reap in profits from drilling for Yasuní-ITT’s oil. The President’s commitment to the Yasuní-ITT Initiative is firm and consistent with the environmental laws under the new Ecuadorian Constitution, comporting with the important rights of nature, as well as the National Development Plan policies. The commitment that nations and individuals need to exercise is not a mere cooperation but a necessity, in my opinion, in order for humanity’s future to be sustained on this unique planet.

    MT: Ultimately, it really does come down to that verypoignant statement by biologist E. O. Wilson, “The one process ongoing…that will take millions of years to correct is the loss of genetic and species diversity by the destruction of natural habitats. This is the folly our descendants are least likely to forgive us.”

    ---

    PETITION TO SIGN!

    Dear President Correa,

    I strongly urge you to keep your promise to protect the indigenous people and biodiversity of Yasuni National Park, and aid in the fight against global warming. Your government's proposal rightly recognizes natural resource conservation and investment in alternative energy, instead of oil extraction, as the sustainable source of Ecuador's national wealth.

    On April 14, you stated that your government's "first option" with regard to the Ishpingo-Tamboocha-Tiputini (ITT) oilfields, located within Yasuni, would be to forgo extraction in exchange for international compensation. Various efforts are underway in Ecuador and internationally to evaluate the feasibility of compensating Ecuador for forgone revenue from ITT.

    A first step would be to establish a sustainable development fund so that compensation will be managed transparently and for the benefit of Ecuadorian citizens. I urge you to establish this fund as a trust with representation from the international community, Ecuadorian civil society, and affected Waorani and other indigenous communities.

    As a symbol of my commitment to protect Yasuni's incredible biodiversity and the indigenous people who depend on the ecological integrity of the Park, and to reduce my impact on the global climate, I pledge to consume (two) less barrels of oil, representing (one) ton of C02 emissions, to help keep the ITT oilfields unexploited.

    Please go sign this petition at http://www.liveyasuni.org/form.html



    12.

    From: http://www.newint.org/features/2011/04/01/yasuni/

    Oil or life? Ecuador’s stark choice

    April 1, 2011

    Esme McAvoy goes to the Amazon to find out what is happening to the audacious Yasuní proposal – to keep oil in the ground for the good of the planet.

    A 360-degree spin on my heels confirms that I’m surrounded. By trees. A dense forest stretches as far as the eye can see. Trees of every possible shade of green, with leaves the size of parasols and the occasional towering ceiba – a giant variety that pokes head and shoulders above the rest of the rainforest canopy. I’m 36 metres up a bird-watching tower, overlooking a fraction of the mighty Yasuní National Park in the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon, and I feel tiny.

    It is here that Ecuador is confronting a dilemma of epic proportions. Beneath a pristine patch of this Park – which scientists now agree is the most biodiverse swathe of rainforest on earth – lies over $7 billion-worth of oil. The estimated 846 million barrels lie in three oilfields – Ishpingo, Tambococha and Tiputini, or ITT for short – and equate to a fifth of Ecuador’s total oil reserves. But rather than exploiting the oil, Ecuador’s president, Rafael Correa, has put forward an unprecedented alternative: leave the crude underground indefinitely and instead seek compensation from the rest of the world to the tune of $3.6 billion – roughly half its market value.

    Locking up the oil would avoid the emission of 407 million tonnes of CO2 – roughly equal to France’s annual emissions. The money raised would be invested in renewable energy projects, helping Ecuador reduce its dependency on oil, while the expected returns would be put in a second pot to fund environmental conservation and community projects nationwide.

    First announced in 2007, the Yasuní ITT proposal was considered one of the few bright spots in the deadlocked UN climate negotiations. It offered a new model of shared responsibility and shifted the debate away from ‘carbon offsetting’ and mitigation towards something far more sensible: avoiding emissions in the first place.Yet since then, the initiative has burned through three committees, suffered ministerial resignations, false starts and backtracks. President Correa’s threats to drill have damaged the proposal’s credibility and, despite some progress, words of support have largely failed to turn into cash.Ecuador isn’t prepared to wait around forever. If there isn’t at least $100 million in the pot by the end of December this year, President Correa has the right to call off the initiative, clearing the way for ‘Plan B’: drilling the oil.

    CLIP - Please go at http://www.newint.org/features/2011/04/01/yasuni/ to read the missing part.

    Chile was the first to contribute, though its $100,000 was more a token gesture of neighbourly solidarity. Spain has since added $1.4 million and the regional Walloon government of Belgium $415,000. Italy has offered a ‘debt swap’, to the tune of $35 million. Germany, one of the earliest to voice support, now looks likely to pull out after a change in government. According to Larrea, however, contributions from private business and social institutions had swelled the fund to $38 million by February 2011.

    Now, the initiative has reached a critical stage. The committee has until December 2011 to secure at least $100 million and Ivonne Baki, Ecuador’s former Ambassador to the US, has been tasked with the job of the initiative’s chief negotiator.

    The doubts won’t fade

    Despite Baki’s enthusiasm for the ITT proposal, serious concerns about how it is being handled and where it is heading persist. The biggest threat has always been the ever-present spectre of Plan B, and when I was in Coca, plenty of government officials expressed concern that plans to drill were moving faster than the initiative.

    The proposal has always only aspired to protect 20 per cent of the Park. But in early 2010, the government floated the idea of making the ITT block even smaller, leaving Tiputini out of the proposal entirely so that it could drill there more easily. Esperanza Martinez received information in January this year that suggested this plan could still be on the cards. Clandestine negotiations between the government and Chinese oil company Petroriental have led to changes to the shape of their nearby oil concession, block 14, adding to it a corridor of land perilously – or strategically – close to Tiputini. ‘The idea is to exploit Tiputini,’ concludes Martinez. ‘This change is absolutely illegal as the new corridor is within the National Park.’ At the same time, Enrique Morales told me that ‘Petroamazonas began work in January this year in block 31’, right next to ITT. Drilling here could seriously degrade the ITT block, and could create a domino effect, with new infrastructure later used for exploiting it.

    Also in January, less than two months after Correa enthusiastically presented the Yasuní initiative at the Cancún climate summit, the issue of drilling in ITT inexplicably appeared on a list of possible questions being considered for a national referendum. ‘There are too many contradictory signals,’ says Martinez. ‘People are thinking, “Hold on, why are we contributing millions if they are now going to let the people decide whether to drill?”’

    Another concern is that when the money wasn’t forthcoming, the committee began to look at possible funding from burgeoning carbon markets. Keeping the oil locked up will prevent over 400 million tonnes of CO2 emissions; but the concept of ‘avoided emissions’ is not recognized under the Kyoto Protocol, meaning Yasuní’s certificates cannot be traded as carbon credits. However, the agreement signed with the UNDP doesn’t rule out the possibility in the future, should the rules change. As if in anticipation, the wording of the trust fund agreement defines the oil not in millions of barrels but in tonnes of avoided emissions.

    Acción Ecológica is worried. ‘The original initiative was a critique of carbon markets,’ says Martinez. ‘It was saying that Kyoto wasn’t working, that Kyoto was created precisely not to affect the oil markets, so that industrialized countries could continue polluting.’ Unlike Kyoto’s Clean Development Mechanism – carbon ‘mitigation’ projects paid for by big polluters so they can carry on polluting – the Yasuní plan to leave oil underground directly threatens the world’s oil supply. If the model is rolled out to other countries and sizeable reserves are locked up worldwide, it would push us faster along the road to oil shortages and price hikes – but also to genuinely reducing CO2 emissions.

    Finally, it is not clear how supportive of the proposal President Correa truly is. It’s true that some of the biggest leaps in environmental legislation have taken place under Correa’s presidency. Ecuador’s new Constitution, signed in 2008, is the only constitution in the world that recognizes the rights of nature. Animals and ecosystems have the right to flourish and survive and Ecuadorians are able to sue for any actions taken that damage the environment.

    However, according to Martinez, the ‘deep green’ Constitution that emerged was largely a result of key figures such as Alberto Acosta within the government, rather than Correa himself. Notably, many have since quit the government, Acosta included. ‘Since the Constitution was created in 2008, the government has been distancing itself from it, pulling out a rule here, an article there, weakening the initial principles behind it,’ says Martinez. ‘It’s clear that the President doesn’t like the Constitution he’s agreed to, and issues of environmentalism even less, but he’s trapped because it has given him praise and worldwide attention.’

    Furthermore, Correa has one moment supported indigenous rights to land and clean water, and the next cracked down heavily on any peaceful indigenous protests against threats to those very same rights. Three indigenous leaders were detained in February this year charged with terrorism and sabotage for taking part in a 2009 protest against a water reform bill and large-scale mining in the southern Amazon.

    Ripples of influence

    Almost four years on, the ITT proposal has survived and its influence has rippled out beyond the borders of Ecuador. ‘The concept of non-exploitation is now being discussed both in developed and developing countries,’ says Martinez. ‘The initiative has created its own momentum and will continue to exist and develop, regardless of its success or failure under Correa here in Ecuador.’

    It is telling that even those who resigned from the proposal still support it. ‘I think as a country we must push the initiative,’ said former foreign affairs minister Falconí shortly after his resignation. ‘We are defining new ethics of conservation… I am willing to sacrifice my own hide for this because I believe we are talking about building a different society.’

    As darkness falls in the Napo Wildlife Centre two young teens from the community take me out in a canoe to go cayman watching. The reptiles’ heads are lifted just out of the still, ink-black waters, their eyes lit up by our torchlight and the moon. Ecuador’s offer is still on the table but it won’t be there forever. Only a serious injection of cash can keep exploitation at bay. And perhaps that’s our job. The fund is now open for individuals symbolically to ‘buy’ a barrel of Yasuní oil, guaranteeing that it will stay underground. The proposal came from civil society – it may ultimately be down to us as global citizens to ‘crowd fund’ the initiative and protect this priceless patch of the Amazon forever.

    The ITT initiative: what’s the deal?

    Where will the money go?

    The funds raised will be invested in renewable energy projects and environmental and social development projects nationwide, to be selected by a steering committee of representatives from the government, civil society and the contributing countries. The focus will be on: forest conservation and reforestation; social development and sustainable livelihoods; energy efficiency; and research into clean energy and conservation.

    The small print

    The Ministry of Finance will issue Yasuní Guarantee Certificates to contributors stating that the ITT oil will remain untapped indefinitely. The money will be held in a trust fund administered by the UN Development Programme (UNDP). If any future government should decide to drill, all investments will be returned to the contributors. The fund aims to attract a minimum of $3.6 billion over the next 13 years – the estimated time it would take to drill the oil – and requires a minimum of $100 million by December 2011. If this is not reached, the government can opt to break the agreement and return all the money.

    Official government website: yasuni-itt.gob.ec/

    UNDP fund website: mdtf.undp.org/yasuni

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    Default Re: Anyone know anything about Vilcabamba?

    There are some intentional communities, self sustaining communities etc. to be found on www.workaway.info, www.helpx.net, www.wwoof.org and www.free-wwoof.info. For the first three, you have to pay a reasonable amount for a membership to be able to contact hosts, but in some cases you can find other ways to contact them by using the info provided for a google search. It's a good way to get in contact with locals, living and working with them for some time instead of just being in hotels and just taking tours, I guess.

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    Default Re: Anyone know anything about Vilcabamba?

    Hi pie,, hope this helps,,,,,


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    Default Re: Anyone know anything about Vilcabamba?

    Thank you all, we now have some reading to do.

    Tony and the Duck!

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    Default Re: Anyone know anything about Vilcabamba?

    Bill Ryan just moved there I believe.

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    Default Re: Anyone know anything about Vilcabamba?

    I'm sure there are loads of placed similar all over the world.
    It will be a concern it everyone moves there.

    Next thing developers move in and start slicing the top of mountains.....
    The greatest privilege of a human life is to become a
    midwife to the awakening of the Soul in another person.”
    ~ Plato

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    Default Re: Anyone know anything about Vilcabamba?

    Re: Carol Clarke: the most consistently accurate psychic I have come across
    Posted by Mother (here)

    Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
    Tony, many thanks. I've just moved to Vilcabamba, Ecuador. A major new chapter of my life is beginning here.

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    Default Re: Anyone know anything about Vilcabamba?

    Quote Posted by pie'n'eal (here)
    Thank you all, we now have some reading to do.

    Tony and the Duck!
    I spent a few months in Vilcabamba some years ago and judging by the comments, it seems to have grown a lot since then. A good contact there is Larry Evans, an American who sells real estate there. He is well known in the community and has lots of great advice for newcomers. When I went there with the intent of buying and starting a life there, I found him very helpful.

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