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Vilcabamba Glimpse #36

Home In The Middle Of Shangri-La

By Jeff Hutner

A home is a sacred vessel for the soul, a safe place to return to, a sanctuary from the assault of the world. Finding one’s true home is like finding one’s true calling. Sometimes one knows very early who he or she is and for others the search may have no ending.

For many years, I searched for a place I could call home. My travels took me to Australia, Bali, New Zealand, Mexico, Canada and finally Ecuador.

In 2005, I moved to San Miguel de Allende, a lovely Colonial city of 80,000 with 8,000 Americans, Canadians, and Europeans, cobblestone streets and more cultural events per capita than many larger cities.

I rented an apartment with a view of the mountains from two balconies, met some wonderful people, wrote articles for the English paper and attended art films at the library. Almost every night, one could hear great music, attend art openings or enjoy a dance company from Russia or India. I stayed three months before I realized that it was too late in the development cycle. Home prices, while still reasonable compared to the US, were rising rapidly as more and more people discovered SMA, named one of the best places to live in the world. The exhaust fumes from diesel buses, trucks, and an increasing numbers of cars compromised the city’s air.

I returned to the valley of Ojai, California, I had departed from, which is one of the most livable towns in the US. Orange and avocado groves, the oldest classical musical festival in the US, lots of writers, artists, actors, filmmakers, producers and people looking for a small town without the pretentiousness of Santa Barbara or the busyness and density of Los Angeles, but accessible to both when desired. I have some great friends there including Ingrid Boulting, an actress, artist and yoga teacher with whom I produced many wonderful music events; Zubin and Shahastra Levy, two of the most creative people I have ever known on whose non-profit board I happily serve and for whom I have consulted on several of their new businesses; and my wonderful landlords, Julian and Susan Lange, acupuncturist and OMD respectively.

I am writing this letter from Vilcabamba, Ecuador, a “Valley of Longevity”, that has one of, if not, the highest concentrations of residents over 100 in the world. In June of 2005, my good friend Joe Simonetta visited Vilcabamba at my suggestion. Joe had been searching for a place he could call home outside the US and had researched many Central and South American countries. In one of our conversations, he mentioned he was looking at Ecuador. I had recently heard from an acquaintance who had moved to Vilcabamba and was attempting to put a group of 12 friends together to purchase a 600+ acre ranch that had come on the market. A developer from Quito wanted to build 400 homes on the property that would have ruined the character of the beautiful valley and the owner of the property was looking for another buyer.

Joe decided to visit the ranch. He did and two days later made an offer which was accepted and subsequently purchased the ranch. Joe began to plan a community. One month later, he sold his home in Sarasota, Florida and returned to Vilcabamba. I visited Joe in October 2005 and toured the property which at that time was almost completely overgrown with lots of dead trees, brush, broken bottles, dusty and gutted roads, and an abandoned sugarcane mill filled with bats flying around the ceiling. I left wishing Joe the best and wondering what it was going to take to make a project of this size and complexity happen. Knowing Joe is a special kind of man with degrees in Business, Architecture and Divinity, I trusted he knew exactly what he was doing and had the experience, vision, creativity and passion to make it work. He did, and within a month had found a US partner to help turn his dream into reality. And most importantly agreed to leave about 60% of the land intact for horse and hiking trails.

I returned to Vilcabamba and Joe’s ranch, Hacienda San Joaquin, a few days ago to discover one of the most amazing transformations I have ever witnessed. What I found was a gate house and beautiful entrance with yellow flowers growing up its walls; a crew of sixty men that had been as high as one-hundred, each of whom Joe knew by name; almost three miles of new paved roads with light poles every 50 yards; three water reservoirs fed by state-of-the art pump houses; beautiful roadside stone walls, exquisite mountain and river quintas (country estates) with white fencing or natural tree lines as boundaries, and lots from less than an acre to twenty acres. Of the fifty-six lots being offered, three quintas and ten lots have been sold or reserved to date and several people will be breaking ground for their residences within the next month with the first home ready to move in by December.

In addition, there is an equestrian and hiking center with two stables, forty beautiful stalls, and a riding ring; miles of mountain riding and walking trails being created; two volleyball courts complete with a shaded spectator gallery and umpire chairs; an organic ranch store and café; an organic garden filled with papayas, bananas, oranges, tomatoes, broccoli and corn; three fish (tilapia) ponds; Joe’s nine horses and ten others owned by a friend, all grazing on the property along with Jenny, a filly Joe took in when its mother abandoned her (Jenny subsequently required surgery for a hernia and is now galloping and jumping for joy in one of the paddocks!). Joe’s two loving dogs Rose and Emily; his cats San and Joaquin; a home being used as a visitors center and guest house both with exquisite custom made furniture by Vilcabamba craftsmen; and many more details too numerous to mention.

Joe gave me a tour of his magnificent creation the day following my arrival and along the way showed me several lots that I liked. A little later, he took me to lot 12A, one of the last available spectacular mountain and valley view lots in the development. It was love at first sight. I absolutely knew then and there that I had to purchase that property, move to Vilcabamba as soon as possible, rent a place, and design and build a home with Joe as architect. The great news is that building costs in this Shangri-La are about $35 per square foot for high quality construction as Joe’s home interior, exterior, and custom-built furniture demonstrate. After many years of searching, I finally found the place where I wanted to live. I can’t imagine living in any better place on earth.

"When you surrender to what is, and so become fully present, the past ceases to have any power. The realm of Being, which had been obscured by the mind, then opens up." - - Eckhart Tolle

I have noticed since being at the ranch that I spend more time being fully present. Nothing else exists here except serenity and beauty...all else can be left behind and life begins to be lived from a place of immense freedom from the past and from any expectations about the future. It reminds me of one of my favorite book titles, Freedom From the Known by Krishnamurti. Perhaps it is the immersion in so much nature at one time and the lack of electronic pollution, television, radio, cars, and planes. The silence is stunning. In its embrace, I am whole and home again. In this place, it is possible to discover and celebrate the unity of my existence with that of the infinite creation of which I am a part. From this place of unity, personal expressions can flow effortlessly. I look forward to re-launching New Paradigm Digest, an online journal (that I write) from here.

Others who have come to Hacienda San Joaquin, felt the magic and purchased or reserved lots include Don Henderson and Sylvia Dandurand from Brooksville, Florida; Jim Davidson from Denver, Colorado; Robert and Leslie Pelland from Toronto, Canada; Wally Meili, also from Canada; Johnny and E-Anne Baker from Salisbury, England; Stella Natarova from Baltimore, MD; Stephen Amsden & Susan Teague, Woodland Hills, CA; Virginia Street from Sahuarita, AZ; Christine Putnam and Susan Pritchard from Santa Fe, NM; and Victor Hugo and Olga Marina Cueva from Loja, Ecuador. Every day, more are coming.

Hacienda San Joaquin was featured on May 14, 2007 in International Living, a monthly newsletter with a subscriber base of 400,000. Lee Harrison who wrote the article and owns a home in Vilcabamba wrote “…this is the best run project I’ve seen—and I’ve seen dozens throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. It's well planned, well executed, well managed and imaginative. It's well backed and the infrastructure is 95% complete so is not dependent on sales."

Joe and his business partner, Carl Wescott, recently began Phase Two of Hacienda San Joaquin. This phase includes a world-class mountainside hotel with breathtaking views and an exquisite riverside health spa, together named Sunrise at Hacienda San Joaquin. The hotel is planned to feature small guest cottages and larger homes that will be sold and managed for owners.

Vilcabamba is about an hour’s drive from Catamayo, which is a fifty-minute flight from Quito, which is an under four-hour direct flight from Miami. Vilcabamba is a thirty-five minute drive from Loja, a town of 140,000 with two universities and is known as the music capital of Ecuador.

To have finally found the place I can call home is the most wonderful gift of my life. I feel totally at peace here and look forward to sharing my discovery with my closest friends and family. It’s not Vilcabamba by itself, mind you, as wonderful as it is, but the intoxicating combination of a world-class community with a year round temperature range of 60-80 degrees, the sheer majesty of the Andes, the sound of the Vilcabamba River, the butterflies and flowers, an ever changing symphony of clouds and sunlight, and the silence of this peaceful valley that has captured my heart and soul.

Leaving will be hard but knowing I will return soon to live in this paradise is a blessing. I took some video while I was here and will be sharing that with friends in Ojai, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles. I am hopeful that I can be the Pied Piper to bring some more wonderful people to be part of one of the most beautiful and affordable developments in the middle of the real Shangri-La.

Jeff Hutner
jefhut@gmail.com

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While Jeff was at the ranch, he videoed Don Henderson, who owns property L9A at Hacienda San Joaquin. Don talks about the ranch. The less than two-minute video can be viewed athttp://youtube.com/watch?v=lcnZvJ2iGEA

The photos:

Best, Joe

Joe Simonetta
Owner/Architect
Hacienda San Joaquin
Vilcabamba, Ecuador


P.S. International Living named Ecuador "The Best Place in the World to Retire" http://www.haciendasanjoaquin.com/best_in_the_world.html