Comments on: Vilcabamba, Ecuador: Conspiracy Theories in the Valley of Longevity

By: Daniel Noll

Daniel Noll — Sun, 29 Oct 2017 18:03:23 +0000

In reply to Elisa L. Fascinating on many levels. Thank you for taking time to share this, Elisa.

By: Elisa L

Elisa L — Tue, 19 Sep 2017 15:39:26 +0000

I have recently been researching the idea that some of the belief in conspiracies that pervades the Vilcabamba valley is due to an extremely strong batch of the mescaline-containing San Pedro cactus which was brewed up some time during 2010 by an American PhD. student who was studying indigenous shamanism. A series of bizarre synchronicities led this gentleman to meet another group of travellers who somehow exacerbated the energy already present in the area from the original inhabitants of the valley who experimented with the psychoactive Vilca seeds, which contain DMT, 5-MeO-DMT and Bufotenin. They found calcinated snail shells which had turned white from exposure to the sun and ground them up to a fine powder, before mixing them with the toasted seeds from the Vilca tree. After snorting the compound they were transported to an alternate dimension, whereupon they were given information which led them to believe that the world in which we live is controlled by a malevolent force just outside the bounds of our perception, therefore effectively being undetectable. Somehow the works of the author Carlos Arana Castaneda are connected with this.

By: Daniel Noll

Daniel Noll — Tue, 28 Jun 2016 13:06:27 +0000

In reply to Carol. Good question and observation, Carol. Who knows what motivates and draws people wherever they are drawn. In the case of Vilcabamba, it's plenty pleasant enough, but not to draw suburban U.S. prices in my opinion. Fascinating world we live in. In any event, glad to see you here and looking forward to hearing more from you.

By: Carol

Carol — Wed, 08 Jun 2016 02:03:35 +0000

Pat X is entertaining and well spoken. I looked up Vilcabamba, because a character I like to follow (Matt Monarch and wife of Raw Food World) lives there. Yet it has never looked like paradise in their videos—just jungle-y pasture. I wondered what moved them to buy their land sight unseen. I noticed that houses and land were priced like suburban U.S. houses and land. Thanks for your great site. ‘Looking forward to reading more.

By: J

Thu, 12 Mar 2015 23:43:12 +0000

In reply to Daniel Noll. yes and its very interesting to see that so many people can have such a polar opposite experience in such a little town. Its clear to me I get what I expect every time I go to town for those darn eggs ;)

By: Daniel Noll

Daniel Noll — Thu, 12 Mar 2015 23:33:06 +0000

In reply to J. J: Thank you for a remarkable and enlightening comment. Your observation about the 2012 inflection point probably explains a lot of what we'd seen in Vilcabamba, and elsewhere in Central and South American enclaves of escapist expatriates. And your observation regarding the occasional judgment and self-righteousness of those who consider themselves on their spiritual path is spot on. And it's true that all the cultural evolution that you speak of and that we see in our travels is a process.

By: J

Thu, 12 Mar 2015 18:00:58 +0000

I live in vilcabamba. most people here are having a somewhat spiritual orientation. with that are various levels of awakening to whats happening within and outside of you. the focus on conspiracies and “us against them” is part of that initial awakening. and preaching it to others too. its by far not the end, its the beginning. at one point even that will drop. but its a process like everything else. you see this focus on conspiracies and “alternative” world views everywhere there is a larger group of people gathered with these spiritual impulses going through them towards waking up to reality. before 2012 vilcabamba was harboring a lot of people that moved here because of fear based decisions. doomsday etc. This has kind of faded away now after the 2012 didn’t happen. I see more people coming here now just for the nature and chill spiritual energies. this is not a place to live for most people. its too quiet. and too intimate. everybody knows everybody. and your shit starts coming up as you cant hide here as you can in big cities. good luck buying some eggs without having to deal with tons of questions and entanglements. many cannot handle this. its confronting. plus the valley itself is intense and high frequency. so with nothing to distract you its few who would even consider living here. but as with everywhere else in the world we got low energy people. ignorance. Ego tripping etc. full on. Just because your on a spiritual path does not mean your a better person than those who are not. most often its opposite actually. your stuff comes up and your are less nice. its how things work when cleaning out your stuff. this town is going to reflect your own inner reality. this is why some leave after 3 days with lots of negative experiences. others wish to stay forever. but I haven met many who say its a walk in the park being here. this place is NOT a safe heaven in case of WW3 or something. Gringos will be the first on the list to be chopped down with machetes if something went wrong globally. your better off amongst same nationality. you can learn the language. live like Ecuadorians. but true integration is a illusion. you will always be a gringo.
I have accepted this and love it here. its a very very beautiful place. out of time.

By: Daniel Noll

Daniel Noll — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 16:03:59 +0000

In reply to rohbear.

Astute observation, rohbear. That squares with our experience in general, and in particular in escapist communities such as the one profiled here. To your point, the thing that needs escaping is almost always inside the escapee.

Thanks for the constructive criticism. We met and “interviewed” others, but they didn’t seem keen on having anything about them published. So if I seem cagey, that’s why. For example, the “fascism of the pelvis” reference came by way of another expatriate we’d spoken to in town. I think we spoke to (or were spoken to by) about a half dozen people, but figured a single voice might better communicate both the circumstances and their irony.

Enjoy your travels and your experience in Ecuador and Vilcabamba.

By: rohbear

rohbear — Wed, 04 Feb 2015 03:47:43 +0000

The quote at the begining of the article says it all, referencing escape and escapism. In my experience with ex-pats in Thailand (not all of the American), most seemed to be escaping from something back home. And all too often, it was something inside them.

Anyway, while I enjoyed the article, I want to criticise it for relying on just one source “Pat X”. It would have been a much stronger article had there been more than one person interviewed.

We will visit Ecuador in March, and are considering Vilcabamba as one of many stops. As they say, there’s no substitute for direct experience!

By: Cody

Cody — Sun, 03 Nov 2013 17:34:13 +0000

Yeah come on I mean we have to be the only intelligent life out of billions and billions of solar systems that our highly intelligent population does not have technology to explore.