I’ve come here to ferret out truth from myth: Does this off-the-beaten-path place really have some sort of magic charm, where centenarians are the norm? Or is it mostly legend, started a generation ago by an article in National Geographic magazine and picked up by locals eager to promote tourism?
In the early 1970s Dr. Alexander Leaf visited three places known for longevity, all remote and mountainous: a village in Kashmir, another in the Russian Caucasus, and Vilcabamba. Leaf, then a professor at Harvard and chief of medical services at Massachusetts General Hospital, wrote that in 1971, Vilcabamba, with a population of 819, had nine people older than 100. In comparison, the United States had three centenarians per 100,000 people.
According to Leaf, a doctor in Quito had studied the diets of the elderly in Vilcabamba and concluded that they took in about 1,200 calories a day, low in fat and cholesterol, which would minimize heart disease. In addition, physical activity required by living in a high altitude improved their cardiopulmonary function.
And then there was the genetic component. Many of the uber-elderly Leaf spoke to had a long-lived sibling or parent. In an isolated village where many are interrelated, Leaf speculated that a few people lacking “bad genes’’ that increase morbidity might have been the source of the longevity.
Nearly 40 years later, Vilcabamba has grown to 5,000 inhabitants. It was connected to the larger world 30 years ago by a winding, two-lane highway. But it is still a sleepy town with a square anchored by the requisite church. In a nod to tourism, some restaurants, spas, and excursion agencies have sprung up on the surrounding streets. There are outfitters who lead hikes or horseback rides into the nearby Podocarpus National Park with its 350,000 acres, lakes, waterfalls and streams, and abundant plant and animal life.
At 5,000 feet, Vilcabamba lies in the shadow of the Andes with views of lush valleys and distant purple slopes. With an average temperature of 78 degrees, the town enjoys eternal spring. Everything grows here: orange, lemon, and lime groves, sugar cane, banana trees, and flowers of all hues.
But what about the old folks?
