Schools out!.....for the 2 week holiday break anyway- and we're off to see more of Ecuador. Top on our list is Cuenca.
Why has this location been voted - time and again - the #1 ex-pat/retirement destination in the Western Hemisphere?
Let's find out~
This beautiful colonial city, dating from the 16th century was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site - and for good reason. A city of roughly 500,000 located in the Southern Highlands, it is a destination in its own right, and the surrounding sites are another reason to make it more than a weekend get-away. Read on:
Catedral Nueva - with its striking blue-tiled domes, it is the signature cathedral in the historic town center. It's the largest church in Latin America capable of seating 10,000 worshipers. We were among them for a memorable Christmas Mass.
Parque de las Flores: The flower market is a daily event in the Plaza de San Francisco. It attracts people like bees. The explosion of color and the variety of flowers never ceases to impress. Adjacent to this market is a Carmelite cloister where one can buy ''pítimas", a soothing drink concocted to cure depression and bring peace to your morning hurries. The nuns also sell saints. You may purchase a saint to be displayed in your home and serve as protector for/from......we drank the Kool Aid and bought two saints. 
historic center. The paths are lit and filled with walkers, joggers throughout the day & evening. During Christmas - the riverfront has seasonal lights that glow and reflect in the moving water - perfect for strolling after a dinner in one of the many restauants. The river has many bridge crossings and homes along the cliff "Barranco" have been refurbished into galleries, restaurants, hostels and inns.
An artful dessert after a lively meal at Tiesto's, where the theme of "sharing meals with table mates" is robustly practiced!
The Jefferson Coliseo is a sports complex with a huge stadium, 6 hard court tennis courts, boxing gyms, wrestling rooms and a 10-lane Olympic distance swimming facility. If you want athletic facilities open to the public - Cuenca has them. The TRI club was prepping for a Saturday morning workout.
What about public markets? As 35+year residents of the Puget Sound area - we've enjoyed Seattle's Pikes Market on many occasions. We love the sights, sounds, colors, aromas and excitement that a market atmosphere brings. We visited the Feria Libre located near the Jefferson Coliseo. While we didn't see any fishmongers slinging fish, we also didn't see another person toting a camera. This market is not frequented by ex-pats or tourists. It's a working, bartering, resident and country-dwelling exchange market for Cuencanos. Ethnic, colorful, gritty, real. Slab of pork?
Ingapirca: Inca Ruins can be found in many South American locations, with the finest at Machu Picchu. The best preserved Inca Ruins in Ecuador are at Ingapirca. They are located about a 90 min drive NE of Cuenca - through gorgeous, green and hilly countryside. The ruins were originally used by the Cañarí as an observation post. Since the Inca couldn't defeat them, they co-existed until the Spanish arrived in mid 1500's. Most of the large smooth stones were used to build area churches. What remains makes for a very moving visit.
Parque Nacional Cajas: After pounding pavement in the city, and car touring to the north - we were ready to don our hiking boots and hit some trails. "Cajas" could mean 'box', a Spanish word describing the shape of some of the more than 250 crystal clear lakes. Or "Cajas" could be the Quicha word for 'cold'. We chose to dress for the latter interpretation but were pleasantly surprised to hike all day in clear skies and temps in the upper 60's.
With the trailhead base at 13,500ft, our route finding, scrambling and deep grass hiking was a workout with big rewards. Set in the paramo (Andean highlands of grasses), we encountered several groups of llamas from a distance, but the few fellow hikers we saw stayed mostly along the roadside lake trail. We had Cajas to ourselves. Like the signs says: muy difícil~
El Pase del Nino Viajero:
Photos and script are sorely inadaquate when trying to convey the phenomenal parade and event called the El Pase del Nino Viajero. Little did we know, when we made our October plans to spend 10 days in Cuenca for the Christmas holiday, that we would be witnessing the country's most important display of 'religiosity'. And, by just happenstance, our apartment was on the parade route!
We heard the bands playing, the drums sounding, felt the excitement building at 9:00am - our hearts were pounding too!
Elaborate costumes and the children/ninos - were the stars of the show! Horses decorated with saddle blankets loaded with farm produce in artistic display. Cooked pork, cuy, chicken, arranged on platters and paraded through the cobbled streets. Any vehicles in the parade were covered in cloths to minimize their mechanical impact -
The view from one of our buildings four balconies shows the length and width of this parade which lasted from 9:00am - 6:00pm. Nonstop music, dancers, floats, people, horses, and revelry! An experience any spectator will never forget.
While we like the activity the city has to offer, we are also drawn to the countryside. So, using public buses, we used our last day in Cuenca to visit the pueblo of Girón - whose 'claim to fame' is a lovely drive-to waterfall. While there we learned there is another - more dramatic waterfall through farmers' pastures and we struck out for it. Once again, the effort pays off.
Cuenca is a very special place and it's pretty easy to see the attraction for ex-pats from the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, France...Its lively art scene, walk able historic city, university, athletic facilities, restaurants - ethnic and continental, temperate climate, gorgeous setting....alot to like!
We stayed in a VRBO owned by an Anchorage couple. Their property manager greeted us upon arrival, stocked the fridge with items I requested, put us in contact with a bilingual driver who was at our disposal throughout our 10-day stay. What does a 950 sq ft modern apartment in the heart of the colonial city go for? A unit like I briefly described sells for $60-80,000 with yearly taxes of around $100. That's not a misprint.
I don't pretend to know how Ecuador maintains its public facilities or roads or libraries or schools - but the real-estate tax can't make much of a dent.
Cuenca is an Ecuadorian city not to be missed!
Quechua....Kichwa.....Quecha...The spelling varies but the pronunciation remains the same; the indigenous language, by law, is being re-taught to youth in (most) rural Ecuadorian public schools. The language skipped a generation - so the youth are teaching their parents, who can then converse with THEIR parents in their indigenous language. Pretty cool.
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