Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Dear Reader,
If you ask a child to draw a castle, they’ll create an impressive stone building, with soaring towers, sturdy battlements, and a drawbridge across a wide moat. They’ll set it deep in the mountains, or overlooking a craggy cliff. They may even add a princess or knight on horseback to give it a historical feel. Because castles belong in a remote past…an age of chivalry, battles, and romance…right?
Castle-building isn’t really fashionable anymore. But many of us still want what a castle offers. A retreat away from the crowds…a safe haven in times of uncertainty….in a beautiful setting with all the home comforts.
Today, the internet and modern air travel make it harder to find a truly secluded setting. But we’ll highlight four modern “castles” this week: exclusive communities that offer privacy, seclusion, and comfort. And you won’t need a castle-sized budget to own a piece of these luxury retreats, either. We’ll start in Ecuador.
Vilcabamba, Ecuador
He’s one of a kind, in the best way. He started as an architect. He had a career that spanned business, the military and divinity. He was a tennis professional, and ran for Congress. He writes inspirational books including Seven Words that Can Change the World.
And then he followed that up with an exclusive community.
He is Joe Simonetta. He’s the developer and architect of Hacienda san Joaquin, Vilcabamba’s finest development. Joe spent twenty years searching the globe for his Shangri-La. When he visited the hacienda for the first time, he knew he’d found it.
The setting in Ecuador’s southern highlands is magnificent. Huge mountains cradle a velvet-green patchwork of fields and forests. The valley basks in the warmth of the sun. Rippling mountain streams and rivers wind their way around little farms and meadows.
At 1470 meters (4800 feet) above sea level, it’s springtime all year round…fresh, sunny, and mild. No air conditioning or heating needed…
And the spring-like climate makes it easy to grow your own produce. You can grow multiple crops of berries, oranges, figs, almonds, or salad vegetables. You can pick your own papayas and mangoes straight from the tree.
Expats started moving to Vilcabamba in the 1960s. But it’s still a small village with quiet cobblestone streets and colonial buildings in ice-cream colors. You can relax in the clean, landscaped plaza…enjoy a meal in one of the restaurants, or savor a coffee at an outdoor café…catch a movie or a pampering spa treatment. You won’t find fast food chains, traffic lights, crowds, or shopping malls. You’ll appreciate the slow easy-going pace of life. And you’ll discover why it’s called the Valley of Longevity.
That’s because many locals seem to live longer and healthier in Vilcabamba. The spring climate might help, or the mineral-rich water, the pure mountain air, or the organically-grown local produce. Nobody’s quite sure exactly how it works…but it seems to work.
Just over three miles outside Vilcabamba, Andean peaks surround Hacienda san Joaquin. One side of the property borders the Vilcabamba River, tumbling its way from the cloud forest to the ocean.
The hacienda started as just that….a hacienda that was Joe Simonetta’s private castle. But gradually he came to realize he wanted to share it with a select group of like-minded individuals. Today, home sites make up half of the 663 acres. The rest of the land is riding trails and hiking paths, in some of the most dramatic mountains, canyons, and valleys you’ll ever see. Horse riding is another of Joe’s passions. The centerpiece of Hacienda San Joaquin is its world-class equestrian center. This includes an organic ranch store and outdoor café, and two stables.
Hacienda san Joaquin is an established community, with 37 homes already built and 22 residents living here full or part-time. The homes look expensive. Yet with build costs from $60 a square foot…low maintenance costs …and local craftsmen producing custom cabinetry, stone and metal work, you can afford to create the house of your dreams in Hacienda san Joaquin.
The Hacienda’s menu of services will make building your dream home smooth and stress-free. These include home design, construction, interior design, turn-key furnishing, and home and grounds maintenance.
Only a limited number of lots remain. (Hardly surprising when you consider how special this place is.) Right now, lots start from $43,000. You can get a 3.7 acre lot for $70,000. That’s large enough to plant a kitchen garden, have a pool, and plenty of outside patio space.
Visitors always notice the peacefulness of Hacienda san Joaquin. It’s a little oasis in a sacred valley.
And one that Joe would love to show you. He’s happy to help with your in-country travel arrangements, including hotels and transfers. Contact Joe here to find out more about Hacienda san Joaquin, the available lots, and to start planning your trip to Vilcabamba.
Margaret Summerfield
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