Old Meets New in Cuenca, Ecuador

One of the most well-known destinations for visitors to Ecuador is Cuenca.  A city of about half a million people nestled high in the Andes about 2500 feet above sea level, Cuenca is a Unesco Heritage Trust Site lauded for its beautiful surroundings and ancient buildings.  We found it to be a bustling city with cars and people everywhere. 

Cuenca is known as a haven for Canadian and American "ex-pats".  I always find it amusing that when people come to Canada or the U.S. they are called "immigrants", but when we move to another country, we call ourselves "ex-pats".  Also, people in Central and South American call people from the U.S. "Norte Americanos".  They don't appreciate the term "Americans" being only applied to people from the U.S., as they consider us all to be Americans (North, Central and South). 

We booked ourselves into a lovely little European-style hotel called "Los Balcones" right in the heart of old Cuenca.  Our room was huge with 3 beds and 2 balconies, beautiful old hardwood floors, frescoed walls, an outdoor breakfast buffet on the rooftop overlooking the town, and a fine dining room in the courtyard below.  We had a little pause for concern when we couldn't find the shower, but we opened one of the doors in the wall-to-wall closets, and there it was!  Unfortunately, we were in Cuenca when our camera wasn't working properly, so a lot of our pictures didn't turn out.

Walking the streets of Cuenca  proved to be a challenge.  Streets tend to be narrow and crowded with cars, taxis, buses, 3-wheeled bicycle cabs, and street vendors carts.  Sidewalks are even narrower and merchants tend to put their wares out on the sidewalks when they open their tiny stores in the morning.  Walking down the sidewalk, we found ourselves having to hop down onto the street to avoid bumping into mannequins or being decapitated by hanging merchandise, then having to quickly jump up again to avoid being run over by a fast-moving bus.

It was fascinating watching the merchants arrive to open up shop in the morning.  Some came carrying goods on their back, or on top of their heads.  Others marched briskly to work wearing their native dress, and of course the always present panama hats, which are actually made in and native to Ecuador.

Cuenca is a city of contrasts and surprises.  Walking the streets of old town we found shops full of modern shoes (although not in Ken's size 12 - they laughed at him and called him "big foot"), clothes, jewelry, luggage and so on.  Then we'd walk around a corner and find old style crafts and carved wooden bowls and utensils, hand woven goods and street vendors selling just about anything that could be boiled or deep fried.

Two of our most interesting finds were barbeque racks for the native dish of "cuy", which is guinea pig.  We didn't try it.  Then there was the line-up at a tent containing several old women who appeared to be beating small children all over their bodies with bundles of herbs and dried flowers.  We discovered these were shamen who were performing some sort of blessing or cleansing rite as their smiling parents held them on their laps. We thought maybe they were ridding their children of brattiness, as Ecuadorian children tend to be very well behaved.

The biggest surprise about Cuenca is that even though it is very close to the equator, it is cold.  Our bed had sheets, two heavy wool blankets and a comforter, and we used them all.  We even had a heater in our hotel room which we turned on at night.  We were happy we packed jeans, jackets and running shoes, and we used them for the first time in four months.  Cuenca's average daily temperature fluctuates between 15-20 degrees (60-71 for the Norte Americanos) during the year, and on cloudy or rainy days it feels very cold and damp.  It is a lovely city to visit, but not the retirement haven we are looking for.