Cuenca: Land of the Churches

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I've visited Cuenca three times since I've lived in Ecuador.

My first visit was with my parents in the first year I had been living in Ecuador. We took a bus there from Quito and it was an incredibly long ride! It took about 7 hours since the buses have to go slow on the winding, mountainous roads and they stop frequently to pick up passengers along the side of the road.

To get to the new bus station in the south of Quito (Quitumbe) you have to take a metro; it's about a half hour ride and you don't have to worry about where to get off since the bus station is the end of the line.

By the time we got there I was starving as I had woken up late and not had time for breakfast.

There were a few fast food places, (not the kind of American fast food you're thinking of) and the only thing that looked half way decent were the french fries and chicken. Big mistake!

I got food poisoning the first night we were there. Fortunately, I didn't feel the affects of this until we got to our hostal. We were in a very large room, just us, but with a shared bathroom. It was not fancy, but it was comfortable. In this hostal we had to lock ourselves in the room with a padlock to secure our door at night. Another big mistake!

I started to feel the bile rise in my throat and by the time I started looking for the key to this enormous padlock it was too late. I vomited all over the carpet, and once I finally got the lock open I ran to the bathroom and spent half the night with my head in a toilet. A toilet in a shared hostal bathroom! (My only savior is that it had one of those pillowed toilet seats so I had somewhere to lay my forehead; gross, I know).

Our first day in Cuenca was much nicer than my queezy arrival. We spend the first part of the day walking around the city and just glancing at the surroundings.

Almost every town in Ecuador has a square in the middle with a gazebo, and pretty benches; Cuenca is no exception. The most dominant part of this square, and most of the city, is the cathedral with 3 blue and white domes. It's called "Catedral de la Inmaculada Concepción," or more commonly known as the "New Cathedral of Cuenca."

The inside is quite gaudy with so much blindingly beautiful gold. Outside locals sell rosaries and religious paraphernalia. We stopped at a cute little ice cream place right next door where I ordered a clown shaped design with no shame. It had that delicious blue ice cream with pieces of bubblegum, and a cone for a hat. (Ecuadorians love their ice cream and you will find an ice cream shop everywhere you go here. If not a shop, then a little man on a bicycle attached to a freezer full of frozen goodies.)

It wouldn't be true Ecuadorian style without a good old-fashioned protest! It was small but not without emotion; a man stood on a big wood box shouting through a megaphone in the middle of the street while everyone agreed with him and nodded their heads in approval.

We decided to call it a day later in the evening, and went back to our new hostal. Earlier in the afternoon we found a cute little hostal right in the center that was cheaper than the one we were in, and a lot nicer. We moved our stuff in, and the change ended up making the rest of our trip much nicer.

Outside our hostal the next morning I noticed a small church across the street. Their were nuns behind a fence passing out clothing to the needy.

Next to this church there was a little market with the local handicrafts Ecuador is known for. I found a man who sold handmade wood necklaces and engraved them for you. I bought 2 necklaces with half a heart on each side that fit together to make a whole heart (much like the best friend necklaces popular in the 90's). I had him engrave the necklaces with mine and my boyfriend's name so I would have a gift for him when I returned to Quito.

We stopped at another little cafe that had these great sandwiches. They made them with that really great bumpy bread that toasts so perfectly, and a thick slice of roast beef.

After lunch we did the touristy thing and took a tour on a double-decker bus! In true Ecuadorian style we were told to duck our heads every time we drove under a telephone wire, at the risk of being electrocuted. We too the bus around the city, and drove up to the top of the mountain where we saw a church and a fabulous view of Cuenca. I came to realize that this city is full of churches and when I researched further I found out it is known as the "city of churches." (There are a total of 52; one for every Sunday!)

To finish off the afternoon we stopped at a lovely little church right in front of the square that displayed old pictures of Cuenca fron the early 1900's. We walked around a courtyard in the summer sunshine and enjoyed the ambiance.

On our last day we actually decided to take a bus to another town about an hour from Cuenca (the bus only costs about 2$ per person). It's a town called Chordeleg and one of the smallest places I've ever been.

The square that dominates most towns in Ecuador was pretty much what this entire village consisted of. There was a big yellow church that takes up one block and the rest of the square consists of jewelry shops.

Many of the towns in Ecuador still go by the "guild system" which came from Spain; each town or village is named after its specialty.

Chordeleg is famous for it's inexpensive jewelry, nickel, and silver. I even found a shop with two local owners who created little sculptures our of marble; I bought a small little elephant for just 2$.

We sat for a bit in the square and took some pictures on the interestingly shaped fountain. My mom got a necklace and earring set in a gorgeous purple shade.

Cuenca (and Chordeleg) was definitely a cute little town to visit for a few days, and I highly recommend it for a quick trip outside Quito!

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