Home Leave IV: Cuenca, Ecuador

The trip to Cuenca from Puerto Lopez was relatively easy.  First, I slept through a majority of it, second, it was not in the middle of the night with a multitude of unnecessary stops in the middle of, seemingly, nowhere.  We took the bus from Puerto Lopez to Guayaquil's terminal terrestre (bus station).  The Bus station is located on the outskirts of the huge metropolis, right next to the airport.  The bus station itself was like an airport.  It was new, modern, several floors, full of food options ranging from local food restaurants to KFC, Taco Bell, and Mc Donalds.  It was busy, frenetic, and chaotic.  After that of Quito, it is probably the biggest bus station I have ever been in. We switched buses there and hopped on a bus that would take us up over the Andes and into the high mountain valley where Cuenca sits.

The voyage from Guayquil to Cuenca was beautiful.  We passed cacao fields, passion fruit farms, sugar cane plantations, and banana plantations.  As we continually sloped up the vegetation changed as we passed through rain forest, to high altitude tropical forest, to tropical tundra.  We topped out at about 14,500 feet before the road sloped back down towards Cuenca.  That high up there were beautiful, surreal meadows with mineral-infused lakes in many different colors.  The air was cold.  The ground was covered in sparse grasses, and rock formations jutted up, barren and cold into a bright blue sky.  It was a fantastically beautiful bus ride.

We arrived in Cuenca and it was cool and breezy.  Cuenca sits at about 8,500 feet.  It is named for the confluence of rivers that meets there (cuenca means confluence in Spanish), all of which are fed by snow melt from the higher mountains.  The town itself sits at the valley floor, divided by rivers and surrounded on all sides by verdant mountains.

The river walk in Cuenca

We took a taxi to our hostel, which was housed in a pretty, old colonial building.  Upon entering we walked into a very hip café-restaurant where there many young Ecuadorians sipping cocktails and beers and chatting in hushed tones.  We tried to gracefully pass through the maze of tables and chairs with our giant backpacks (largely unsuccessful) to the desk where a girl with a partly shaved head, adorned in black and lush leather greeted us, and showed us to our room.  The room was small and simple, but clean, and decorated in bright clean tones.  The bathroom was large, with a beautiful tiled shower and copious amounts of hot water.  The 75 degree days and 45 degree nights were much too cold for my African-adjusted body!  The hot water was necessary.  We were in the middle of the historic colonial city center (the whole thing is a UNESCO world heritage site) and we were paying $15 each per night.  If you want to go, its called La Cigale, and worth every penny.

Our balcony at La Cigale

We had reservations that night at a monastery that was turned into a chic restaurant.  We went down for a plate of meats and cheeses and a cocktail in the café of our hostel, and then set out into the night to find the restaurant called Todos Santos (all saints). Cuenca's historic center is beautiful at any time, but at night it glows in the light of street lamps, cobblestones shining in the low lights, winding streets and alleys all the more lovely, mysterious and inviting.  Beautiful neoclassical stairways lead down from the old town to the river, well-lit examples of various stages of colonial architecture.  We sauntered in the crisp air, bundled in scarves and jackets, feeling like we were in fall in the East Coast, even if it was 60 degrees.

Dining room at Todos santos

We found the restaurant and it was spectacular.  The food was amazing, and the ambience was something out of a movie.  Heavy wooden beams were left exposed in the centuries-old dining room.  Panoramic plate glass windows opened to views of the river, and the city lights stretching out into the darkness.  The stone stairs leading down to the dining area were worn from hundreds of years of use.  The tones were muted and hushed, and the handful of other diners spoke in casual whispers and appealing mumbles.  It was simultaneously old and cavernous, while still being a warm space, inviting lots of wine and wonderful food to be consumed over many hours of dining.  We ate meticulously prepared Ecuadorean traditional dishes with fusion flares of Spanish, French, and Peruvian cuisines.  We ate the softest, most tender pork

The next day we spent sightseeing.  We wandered the hundred year old plazas, ate ice cream in the squares by fountains, we enjoyed bursts of warm sun and sprinkles of rain.  We had a nice coffee at a café outdoors in the afternoon.  We enjoyed beautiful architecture, bustling streets and lots of window shopping in the many stalls.  We had to avoid some serious rain showers during which time we examined a beautiful mosaic mural depicting the history of Ecuador.  It was so nice to just get lost, and find our way many times over.  We stumbled upon a vibrant and fragrant flower market in front of an old church.  The colors and scents were a brilliant chaos, perfectly suited to the maize of the historic center.

Flower market in Cuenca

Our last day in Cuenca I woke up early and went for a run.  I wanted to see how much more difficult it was to go jogging at 8,500 feet.  It made a difference!  I ran along the gurgling river, through the streets of the new city, and back up through the maze of the historic center.  We spent the day doing more walking, ice cream eating, and touring the city.  There is so much spectacular colonial architecture to see, that you can fill whole days with that.  We went for lunch in the municipal market where we ate traditional Cuencan food on benches lined with Ecuadorean families.  It was pork slow roasted and tender with hominy, onions, tomatoes, peppers, and sweet plantains.  We wandered around looking for fresh juices and tamales after lunch.  Then we saw a man fall off a curb and face plant, breaking his nose sending blood everywhere, gathering a crowd of onlookers.  We called an ambulance and made sure he was cared for, and then we set off again, as there was not much we could do.

So we walked up a broad boulevard to the base of a mountain where you can drive for spectacular views of the city.  The walk was much longer than we expected, which was nice because we were preparing for another overnight bus that evening.

We hired a taxi up the mountain and gaped at the stunning views of all of Cuenca.  Red roofs stretched on for miles, The flanked by green mountains jutting towards the sky. Sunlight was streaming through the clouds, and it washed everything it touched in a fantastic golden hue.  It was cold and breezy on the top of the mountain.  We were trying to hail a cab home, as our taxi driver had assured us itd be no problem. However, not a cab was to be found.  So we hitchiked back down the mountain in the back of a pickup truck.  They left us back at the main boulevard leading to the old town where we had no problem getting a taxi. 

We took the taxi back to La Cigale where we were snagged our luggage we had left, hired another taxi, and tossed everything into the trunk so we could make it to the bus for our 8:00 pm bus to Los Banos de Agua Santa, about 7 hours from Cuenca.  This overnight bus required a stop in the middle of the highway to switch buses in Ambato in the middle of the night.  We arrived early in Banos, around 4:00 am.  Luckily our hostel let us in to sleep.

Next stop, the Banos and Puyo adventures!