LOJA City in Ecuador

Shopping in Loja

There are so many shops in Loja that even attempting to list 5 % of them is out of my reach. What I can do is share our experience, make a few suggestions and keep adding as the site evolves and I receive feedback.

A way to make the task manageable is to focus on specialty shops and/or shops that expats in particular would have a special interest in. There is no need listing all the places where one can buy an iPod copy made in China, a cellular phone, a Teflon coated frying pan or where one can get a cheap sugar fix. By the way, if one needs a sugar fix without the side effects, just going upstairs in the market building on 18 de Noviembre and looking at the shelves should be enough, no need to buy anything. On the other hand, a little help with where to buy computer equipment in confidence, where to find a top quality diner set or where to buy pitahayas or chocolate coated macadamia nuts is probably welcome.

In a nutshell, as far as shopping goes, we go to Loja to do/get things that we cannot do/get here in Vilcabamba (or are in limited supply) or to buy things that are much cheaper in Loja.

In the first category we have banking, postage, lawyer/notary (Marco comes to V once a week but his main office is in Loja and there is no notary in V at present, see Services section), natural health products, computer equipment, cars and motorcycles, professional services (engineers, land surveyers, geologists) ... and much more

In the second category, we have tools, building supplies, food (there are big markets for meat and fish and veges in Loja),  homeware/plasticware and probably just about everything else.

Most things are cheaper in Loja but some things are now worth the trip and will be just as good at the local dairy in Vilcabamba (e.g. toilet paper, common fruit like papayas or pineapple). Tools will be a lot cheaper in Loja (we bought a quality wheelbarrow for $40 in Loja and the same was $70 here). Some food items could actually be cheaper in Vilcabamba (at the time of this writing, Richard on the square sells the cartons of Clos wine for only $4 which is cheaper than at SuperMaxi in Loja).

Below are a few places worthwhile going to:

Fruit

Diego's shop located on 18 de Noviembre y Mercadillo has an unbeatable selection of fruits and nuts. 

He is also the only place (with SuperMaxi but they are not as good) which sells Pitahayas (dragon fruit) which, in my opinion, is a fruit imported directly from the garden of Eden.

Diego's plantation in Vilcabamba

We love the pitahayas so much that we have planted 100 on our property in San Pedro. Below is our Uchima team of workers preparing the plants for the next day and Emily proudly holding one.

Artesanias Lojanas

We thought that to buy quality ceramics we had to go to Cuenca and we were wrong!

On the campus of the "Universidad Tecnica Particular de Loja" is a rather large ceramic design and manufacturing facility which we visited under the guidance of our Loja resident friend Dario. The place is truly impressive and the designs are beautiful.

You can buy the ceramics directly from the factory. Prices are reasonable, for example, we paid $35 for one of the water dispensers shows above.

You can also buy the products in town at Dario and Maria-Cecilia's shop on 8-73 calle Sucre. The shop is called Novedades. They only have a small selection of the ceramics but they have other things as well and they are very friendly

Maria-Cecilia in front of Novedades

Master PC

Loja is full of places to buy computer equipment from. Unfortunately, unless you know exactly what you need, exactly how much you are supposed to pay for it and can tell the difference between an item of brand XXX and a copy of an item of brand XXX, you are looking for trouble.

At Master PC, my husband Pierre has spent some time befriending the boss Edison Macas (gerente general) who is not normally downstairs serving customers but can be called for help. He does not speak English but he will advise you of what is what and won't try to rip you off. Pierre has purchased a product that he ended up not liking and he was able to return it. He did not get his money back though. Instead he got a credit note. Since the shop is good and it has got everything, he was not too worried. We'll use the money for later purchases.

Below you see Edison performing surgery on a new memory card plastic package, you know one of this packages that can hardly be opened without destroying the product that is inside.

I would recommend that you just ask for Edison ("puedo hablar con Edison por favor?") to come and help you and say that you have found this info on SeekVilcabamba.com (mention Pierre's name) and he will know where you come from. If you buy a certain amount ($50 or more) he has agreed to give a 10% discount (BTW, there is nothing in it for us apart from the fact that we get the discount too)

Coming soon:

• health shops and where to get your oils in Loja (almond oil for example)
• homeopathy
• tools