We own 20 acres and there is the option of buying an additional 20-250 acres contiguous to ours. It is a rolling hilly area, 10 minutes by car from Vilcabamba and is neighboring to the Podocarpus national park.  It is very private with a beautiful view on all sides.  A picture is worth a thousand words, click here for pictures. There is 25KW 220v & 110v public utility electricity at the property at this time, 10KW diesel generator with 3000gal of diesel and excellent 3.4 km gravel road access from the main road. Water is brought into the property via gravity from the higher land for irrigation and it is all canalized. There are 3 large water tanks that we use to store water for irrigation.  In addition there are pure springs born in the land and pipe water for household consumption.

There is a 4-bedroom house on the property with kitchen, bathroom and septic tank, one two story small Pagoda and the 6000sf Dome, the Dome has 3-hot-water heads (from solar panels) shower room, sauna with shower (under construction), large fully equipped kitchen, dinning room, living room, office, 3 bedrooms and a large area for entertainment.  Note: We are still under construction; the construction is expected to continue till 2007.  There are two tanks septic system with continues capacity for 100 people, down hill from the Dome.

The crops that thrive at this elevation are vegetables such as brassicas, beets, coffee, carrots, spinach, potatoes, fava beans, peas, wheat, barley, white corn, mountain beans and large squash. Oranges ripen deliciously here. There are some incredibly fertile spots with micro-climates.  The staples here are bananas, papayas, avocadoes, yucca, sweet potatoes, corn, beans, citrus. Warm season crops grow best here. Watermelons and pineapples are very sweet and almost anything tropical grows here. Mangos bear but are inedible because fruit fly (med-fly) larvae for the most part; we could re-introduce wasps to take care of this situation, but we are studying this option a bit more. Guavas and cherimoyas grow wild here as well as other fruits such as Passion fruit and Babacos. Coffee and Sugar Cane are the main cash crop.

For building materials at this elevation concrete and stone are what we prefer. Rocks, sand and gravel are nearby and easily gathered. Cement and rebar can be trucked in. Also adobe/straw bale and bricks are feasible.  We are researching a variety of more eco-friendly material for future constructions.

We have 15+ acres of land with irrigation, grows lush pasture year 'round for milking cows. More than half is already cultivated.

There is a large river that passes approx. 2 kilometer from the property; long-term we may install a hydroelectric in it or in one of the waterfall/stream in the park.

Weather

Mean temp here is about room temp or 22-24 degrees centigrade. Extreme temps run from 55 to 85 degrees. Max and Min temps are lows - upper 50s and highs 70s to low 80s depending on weather. Even at the highest elevation, temps as low as 40 degrees is a rare event.

The most predictable thing about the weather is the brief October "planting rains". This is called "inviernillo" Occasionally the first rains start the last week of September and can be delayed until November, but most commonly occur between the 8th and 15th of Oct. In a bad year this can be as little as 3 rain showers or in a good year up to 15 days of rains.

In the highlands this marks the end of summer, but in the lowlands this is like a halfway point in the dry season. By Nov 1, usually everyone is planting their dry land corn patches.

Nov. is the hottest driest month. The skies can clear up of clouds for a period of several weeks over all of Ecuador. The breezes stop completely and the air humidity drop causing temp. extremes 90 degree days and cold nights with frost in the highlands. This period is coalled "veranillo del niño" because it usually lasts until the end of the year. But this is the most unpredictable part of the weather here.

When does the rainy season start? This can start as early as mid or late Dec. but frequently starts in Jan. The drought can prolong into Feb. some years or even into March and once I read into April. the 96-97 season was the worst, that winter it never did rain to wet the soil more than a few inches deep.

In any case, the rains are supposed to come in the first months of the year peaking in mid to late March to early April, when torrential downpours can last for days. Usually the winter weather is such - clear, sunny and hot mornings until about mid day when the thunderclouds begin to form. These quickly blacken the sky and begin to thunder back and forth between the mountains, then let loose their short downpour (1/2 hour or so) a lot of times in one concentrated area. Sometimes it pours 1 km away and nothing here or vice versa. Sometimes dumps in one water shed causing a raging flood to come down one creek or the other while remaining dry below. The earlier in the after noon it rains usually the harder and sometimes clearing and sunny later in the p.m. The more it rains the cooler the days are. If it rains for 2 or 3 days straight, the temps stay in the 60's the whole time. Between the rainy spells it is hot and sunny. 2 or 3 weeks of break in the rains cause the plantings to suffer. This is why irrigation is so important. A perfect year for crop yields never happens.

The rains continue almost always until the end of May. June is the first month of summer. July and August are also summer months. This is a cooler, windier and cloudier time of year, when the winds blow from the East bringing the clouds up and over the central Andes range where they begin to breakup and disperse. July and August bring annoyingly high winds that bounce around off the canyon walls below and cause steady gales on the ridge up to the mountain top. The end of Sept usually brings change from the worst to the best weather in October again.

This valley is one of the sunniest spots in Ecuador. The central Andes range to the East blocks the clouds from the Amazon and the Cordillera to the W blocks the winter low clouds and fog from the Pacific.

BIOCLIMATIC REGIONS IN ECUADOR

LIFE ZONES OR PLANT FORMATIONS IN ECUADOR

Raising Livestock

Cattle is the easiest of the livestock to raise.  We are very fond of dairy cattle but due to the steep ness of the terrain, the smaller breeds are more adapted. Holstein is a complete failure, Brown Swiss is much more hardy but still too large. The best adapted is the Oreole (criollo), it thrives on the steep mountainside, marginal forage and drought conditions but have some drawbacks, thick bones and low meat weight, slow development and low milk production. We would like to select the few that give decent milk production and breed with a pure Jersey bull and select the offspring that combines the most favorable genes from both races. The milk of Creole and Jersey has a high milk solids and fat content which produces lots of high quality cheese. This can be an excellent business to produce aged cheese, which commands premium prices in that major site.

The land that we presently own can maintain up to 15 heads year round.  Divided, the pastures provide the grazing of the lower elevations during the first half of the year and reserving the higher pastures for the drier months.

Goats are another type of livestock that can also give excellent results but are more labor intensive.  We have an ideal spot for this, a flat piece of land 4 acres or so a ways up the side of the mountain. This area is surrounded by cliffs, area too steep for cattle to penetrate and goats can be raised without much problem of them getting into the cultivated land below.

Chickens can be raised free range and pest free without the need for much supplemental feed (corn). They must be protected from the foxes and opossums with dogs. Every house in the country has at least one dog. This is the first line of defense against intruders. Even in the city almost every house has its guard dog. Dogs are useful for eliminating undesirable and damaging animals, rats, opossums, skunks, foxes are killed or chased away by dogs.   We have imported Australian Cattle Dogs, which we feel are be the best choices for herding cattle, goats and sheep. Sheep can be raised for meat, milk and wool, they best adapt to mountaintop and must be attended 24 hrs a day. Rabbits and guinea pigs can be raised and provide excellent meat.

Access

The nearest village (Vilcabamba) it is approx. a 10-minute ride by car and 30-40 minutes to the city of Loja.  Also there is a walking path that leads to our place following the irrigation canal 5 minutes by car from San Pedro de Vilcabamba.