a Weekend in Cuenca

Cuenca, Ecuador is a city that lies towards the south of Ecuador right in between Riobamba and Loja in the Southern Andes. It is the capital of the Azuay province and its metropolitan population is right around 700,000 inhabitants. It is known largely for it's historical buildings, and it's large economy in textile production, especially in respect to straw hats that we call "Panama Hats" (so called because when they originally began production of these hats in Ecuador, the major country that was the destination for export of these hats was Panama).

I had heard so many good things about Cuenca before this trip, and it was something I had not yet had the opportunity to do, so I figured I would go and try to see as much of it as I could in a weekend. The only disappointing part about this trip is that it wasn't a couple days longer.

View of Cuenca from Calle Larga

I arrived in Cuenca on Friday morning. I travelled via plane because although it is more expensive, it is a 50 minute journey instead of a 9 hour journey in bus and I wanted to maximize my time so that I could really enjoy what the city had to offer. The plane ticket was $150 vs. the $17 bus, but I REALLY didn't want to waste 18 hours of the weekend traveling there and back. So anyways, my flight left early at around 6:45 AM and I was off the plane and into a taxi by 7:45. I arrived at my hotel at 8 AM and they were able to get me into my room right away which was awesome. I paid $30 total via Air B&B to stay in this hotel called Balcón del Arte for two nights and it was a great deal. I unknowingly got a room that had two queen size beds (which I obviously didn't need), and a really nice bathroom. It was a nice change to have a shower with good water pressure and water that stayed at a comfortable temperature for the duration of my shower. You never realize how precious this is until you spend a good chunk of your showers with just your head under the faucet to get the shampoo out so that the ice cold water won't touch the rest of your body. This price also included breakfast at the restaurant next door for both mornings that consisted of eggs, bread (which actually turned out being tiny grilled cheeses), yogurt with fruit, juice and coffee. So that morning after I got settled, I went to get some breakfast and then headed out to check out the city.

Touring the city at this time was a bit of a challenge for me. I was tired, and to be completely honest, I was a little hungover too. However, I pushed through the fatigue because there was no way that I was going to waste the precious daytime by taking a nap. I really had no idea where I was going. The reception at the hotel had given me a couple of ideas and so I figured I would start out just wandering in the general directions of large plazas and la Calle Larga which is a popular street filled with shops and restaurants. My first stop was Parque Calderón and La Catedral de la Inmaculada Concepción.

This Cathedral is often referred to as the "New Cathedral" in Cuenca simply because it's newer than the old one. Construction of this building began in 1885 and was not completed until 90 years later in 1975, so in relation to many buildings in the city, I guess it is quite new. The Cathedral is huge and absolutely breathtaking. From the outside, you see massive building, large stone towers and huge blue domes peaking out from behind. Walk inside and it's just as intricate with different statues of prominent religious figures, and a beautiful altar surrounded by pillars of gold. I'm fairly certain I wasn't supposed to snap photos inside but I managed one low quality, sneaky one. There was a mass going on when I entered so I was trying to be as respectfully curious as possible.

When I was done poking around the cathedral a bit, I decided to head over to Parque de la Madre which is right across the river if you pass through Calle Larga. To my surprise, there was a world health day event going on put on by Universidad Católica and in the middle of all of it was a shaman doing a ritual to praise Pacha Mama (mother earth) for the earth and the health of the people on it. So that was really fun to see and participate in. We raised our hands in the four cardinal directions to thank Pacha Mama while standing around an intricately decorated circle made up of fruits and other crops (I didn't get the change to snap a picture--very sorry). I especially loved at the end of the ceremony when the shaman walked around the circle putting an odd drink in her mouth and proceeding to spit to on everyones' faces. Yeah. LOVED that.

In the midst of my aimless wandering, I was approached by a medical student from the university who was helping out with the event and we got to talking about my trip for the weekend and what plans I had. He told me that he had a bit of free time and if I wanted, he would show me around a little bit and give me tips on things I could do. I agreed and we walked around Calle Larga as he showed me some of his favorite spots to people watch, and hang out. He recommended a café called Goza, where I actually went the following night for a cocktail and french fries as I saw snippets of the lives of the people walking by. The fries were an overwhelming quantity but my margarita was quite good. Anyways, I'm getting ahead of myself.

After the walk, I decided to venture off on my own and check out a museum. There are numerous museums in Cuenca ranging from ancient artifacts to modern art. The museum that I chose on this particular day was the one that my new friend recommended to me called Pumapungo. The museum was interesting and had some different rooms about the different regional groups of Ecuador, artifacts from those groups, as well as some information about how these things changed with the arrival of the Spanish, and later the independence of Ecuador. Out back, there's also a site of old ruins from the time of some of these communities, and I wanted it to be cooler than it actually was. In reality, it just looked like two or three big slabs of rock to me, but oh well.

churrasco

Oh, and remember when I said I wasn't going to waste the day by taking a nap? Well my next stop was a nice snuggle up in my bed where I rested my tired body for about an hour. When I woke up, I went and got an overpriced lunch (ok, well overpriced for Ecuador. I paid $10 for Churrasco and a water) because I was too lazy to find somewhere out of the plaza. I followed it up by treating myself to a delicious coffee ice cream at a shop called Angelus by Tutto Freddo. I spent the rest of my day relaxing, doing some reading and enjoying the Cuenca scenery.

The following day, I had a schedule. I started with breakfast around 9 and headed shortly after to the Mirador of Turi, which is a very popular and well known lookout in the city because you can literally see all of Cuenca (about $4 in taxi to get there because it's a bit far). There is a small church at the top which makes the view that much nicer. I stopped into the souvenir shop next to the church to pass some time and check out if they had anything fun for my friends and family. There I was stopped by a group of Peruvian tourists who asked if they could take photos with me. I initially said no about 3 times before finally agreeing to a photo. The four of them then all proceeded to step up individually to take a photo with the gringa. I will say I was asked to do this more than once and those moments were among some of the most weird and uncomfortable ones I have had. Anyways, here's the view (sadly the day was a bit cloudy) ---

Next on my list for the day was to hit some hot springs. There is a Baños that lies just 10 minutes outside of Cuenca (not to be confused with Baños de Agua Santa, which I have done before and is about a 6 hour drive), and I felt that I should treat myself and relax for a couple of hours. I had a taxi driver take me down from the mirador and drop me off at a bus stop where he said I could catch a bus. I hopped on the first one that I saw and asked the bus driver if I was on the right track. He said it wasn't his bus, but he could take me to a stop where the bus did pass through. The buses in Cuenca run by bus card, so I managed to catch a ride on these two buses without paying any type of fee. After I got off the bus, google maps was not being my friend and I was having a bit of a hard time finding my way to the hot springs. Luckily for me, I was able to ask a hostel owner and he directed me down the street to where I wanted to go.

I arrived at Piedra de Agua Fuentes Termales at around 10 AM and trudged up the hill

to the entry, really feeling like I could use some pampering time at this point. When I got there, I had two options: pay $13 for the use of the steam room and four of the hot spring pools, OR pay $35 and get access to other pools in different locations on the facility that had different minerals in the water and fancy things like that. However, since your girl is balling on a budget, I picked the $12 option and decided that a steam and a soak would be sufficient for me. I got a lemonade in the pool that was served to me on a tiny drink boat and I was there for about two hours. I really enjoyed the hot springs here; however, I realized about halfway through that they added either hot or cold water to the pools to maintain the temperature so it felt like a bit of a lie to advertise them as natural hot springs. There are hot springs not far from Quito called Papallacta and I preferred my time there.

I was feeling too lazy and relaxed to try to figure out the buses after that, so I took a $4 taxi back into the city center to go and find lunch. I walked around for a little bit and finally picked a spot called Café Austria. I paid more than I normally would have for an almuerzo ($6.50 vs. $3), but I got a decent amount of food and it was very yummy. I got vegetable soup, guava juice, breaded fish, rice, a side salad and a baked tree tomato as dessert.

After that I walked around and stumbled across a plaza about two blocks away from the cathedral where there were a bunch of shops and a small artisanal market where I bought a couple of souvenirs for my friends and family. The market had a lot of shops with Panama hats, textile and wood products perfect for gifting and easy to bargain for. I could have spent a good chunk of money there, but I contained myself and limited it to a couple of small souvenirs.

I skipped dinner that night because I wasn't very hungry. However, I did stop in at the little street side café that my new Cuencano friend had recommended to me called Goza for a drink and some french fries. When I sat down, I thought it was a bit pricy as well, about $6 for a drink and $4 for a side of fries. When they set the fries down in front of me, the bowl ended up being bigger than my face and I realized it was probably more of fries to share. Either way I ate a good amount of the fries and slurped down my blended passionfruit margarita as I people watched from my table. It was very relaxing, and nice to take some me time where I could sit around with my thoughts and really take in the city.

Overall, I really loved Cuenca and wished I could have spent some more time here. If I had about a week, I think that would have been sufficient to see all of the things that I wanted to see. Cajas National Park is a big one on the list but it's a full day trip, and I would have liked to peek into some more museums. The architecture and structure of the city made it a beautiful place to walk around and reminded me much more of a European city than the other places that I have been in Ecuador. If you are visiting Ecuador, Cuenca has so much to offer is an absolute must see city.

With only one week of my trip left, I can't wait to make the most of it and see what other types of trouble I get into on my adventures. Stay tuned!

Chao por ahora,

Claire