Dear Ecuador (specifically, Quito and Cuenca):
You know you want to be a tourist destination when you have those cutesy letter signs (“Quito” and “cuenca”) for tourists to pose in front of for pictures. So why have you not figured out how to clearly post the opening dates and times for your cultural sites?
In Quito, we discovered that three of the four museums in the Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana (House of Ecuadorian Culture) were closed only after we took a taxi ride to get there. In Cuenca, the first museum we tried to visit, the Museo Municipal de Arte Moderno (Museum of Modern Art), was likewise closed without notice.
Is it really that difficult to update the official websites? We always check opening dates, times, and admission fees. Get your tourism and IT departments in order, please. Considering that many websites for Cuenca’s tourist sites are Facebook pages, a 10-year-old could perform the updates.
I don’t even like modern art. At least the Museo Municipal de Arte Moderno is only a short walk from our Airbnb in Cuenca. We did not waste half the day.
That short walk took us past the touristy “cuenca” letter sign in Plaza de San Francisco. What is the fascination with cities spelling out their names in large letters? Did these signs exist before Instagram? We know where we are and, presumably, so do the locals.
Naturally Stephanie had to get a photo with the “cuenca” sign. As we were waiting our turn behind a group taking photos, an enterprising local with a Nikon camera convinced Stephanie to pay him 50 cents for a photo of both of us in front of the “cuenca” sign, which he would take and send to her over WhatsApp.
It sounded like a good idea at the time. Bye, bye 50 cents. No photo ever arrived. The guy could probably charge folks a $1 and still get away with it. He gets an A+ for creativity.
Rant now over; on to the positive stuff.
Cuenca (full name: Santa Ana de los cuatro ríos de Cuenca) is a favorite city among American expats and other Ecuadorians. Everyone we met on this trip raved about it. We both like Cuenca, but perhaps not with the same amount of enthusiasm as the expats who live there.
Located in the Andes Mountains, Cuenca sits at an elevation of about 8,400 feet. Several rivers run through town. The temperatures are mild year-round (range of 50° F to 75° F). It is Ecuador’s third largest city, with a metropolitan population of about 650,000.
Ecuador is in the Eastern Time Zone, but does not observe daylight savings time. So, for most of the year Cuenca is effectively in the Central Time Zone. This makes it easy to keep in touch with our families and watch live sports.
Cuenca’s old town is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. It largely maintains its colonial appearance. Here we find plazas, cathedrals, museums, markets, and plenty of street vendors. At night, particularly on the weekends, Cuenca is a lively place.
After our foiled attempt to visit the modern art museum, Stephanie and I wandered the streets, eventually finding ourselves in front of Iglesia del Sagrario (Church of the Shrine). This is Cuenca’s “old cathedral”, constructed over time in the late 1500s, 1600s, and early 1700s.
It is now a religious museum, art gallery, and small venue for concerts and other activities. We took our time looking at the exhibits, but still only spent about 20 to 30 minutes there. The admission fee was $1 each and we received an obligatory sanitizer spray before entering.
Ecuadorian businesses and museums love giving out sanitizer sprays.
Across Parque Calderón from the “old cathedral” is the “new cathedral”, Catedral Metropolitana de la Inmaculada Concepción (Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception). From the outside it is notable for its truncated towers and six blue and white domes.
In the early 1900s, decades after construction started, a slight problem was discovered. The foundation is not strong enough to support the height of the two towers as originally planned. So, construction stopped and the towers were left shorter than intended. Even so, the front of the cathedral looks good.
An observation area on the roof is accessible for $2. It is not too high, so even Stephanie went up. The view over Parque Calderón and the city is nice from above.
While on the roof, Stephanie started a conversation with a father and son from the Netherlands. She asked if they wanted a photo taken together. After a couple of glances at each other, they decided not.
Meanwhile I was laughing inside. What Stephanie meant was: I will take a picture of you two because then you have to oblige and take a picture of us. Nope. These guys did not understand the reverse implied question.
And so we did not get our photo taken together while on the observation area.
As in Quito, taxis in Cuenca are plentiful and inexpensive. You can go anywhere in the city for no more than a few dollars each way. If you need a taxi in the city center, you can hail one easily within a minute or two.
A local grocery store, Supermaxi, has a taxi stand right out front. When you leave, the employee bagging your groceries asks if you want a taxi. If yes, there will be a taxi waiting for you.
We found this service invaluable. Supermaxi is about half a mile from our Airbnb. The one-mile round trip walk is not difficult unless you have a lot of heavy items (Coke, tea, milk, beer, and so on). Once a week we walk to Supermaxi, load up, and take a taxi back. The cost of the return ride to our Airbnb is less than $2.
Speaking of which, our Airbnb is fantastic. We are staying in Cuenca’s old town in a modern four-story complex, gated and secured, overlooking the Rio Tomebomba. Ordinarily we would stay outside of the tourist zone, but the price was right and the location near unbeatable.
Our two bedroom, two bath condo is owned and furnished by American expats. It includes amenities not always found outside of the US, such as a large refrigerator, coffee maker, toaster, an oven, dishwasher, clothes dryer, and a king size bed.
It is the perfect base for exploring the city over the upcoming weeks.
Garrett and Stephanie
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