The bus from Quito to Cuenca surprised us by arriving early,
which normally would be good, except that instead of arriving at 7 am it got in
at 5:30 am and thus was still dark outside. So we had to hang out at the
terminal until we thought our hostel would be open to let us in. Turns out that
didn’t really matter since the hostel, El Capitolio, didn’t have our
reservation. They sent us to a second hostel with the same name that, likewise,
had no reservation and thus sent us to a third hostel, again with the same
name. The third one didn’t have a reservation either, but upon showing them my confirmation,
they begrudgingly allowed us to stay at our lower pre-approved rate. We weren’t
entirely sure whose error it was, but despite walking all over town at 7:30 am,
we ended up in a nicer hotel for a low price.
We decided to start off our visit with a bus tour of the
city. We normally don’t opt for touristy things like double-decker bus tours,
but this one was only $5 and had hardly anyone on it, so we decided to give it
a try, and we were happy we did. We started in the main square, surprisingly
not dedicated to Simon Bolivar, where the old austere cathedral and the new
awe-inspiring cathedral stand. The new cathedral has a famous brick and marble
façade with three blue ceramic domes that are instantly recognizable from anywhere
in the city and sort of give it an Arabic look. After the square, the bus did a
few loops downtown passing a dozen cathedrals, some important museums we took
note of and best of all, street after street of beautiful, ornate, “republican”
style buildings designed by French architects. The top of the bus was the
perfect spot to admire the flower-laden balconies and intricate marble work of
the houses of the rich. The city had a completely non-colonial feel which was
so refreshing and regal.
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| New cathedral |
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| Ornate building on the park in the "republican" style |
The bus also drove along one of Cuenca’s four rivers, the
Tomebamba, which is a pleasantly landscaped river-walk park that separates the
old and new sides of town. The new side, although clearly modern, has been
constructed mostly in brick to keep with the red-roof tile color scheme of the
rest of town, a design technique that actually lends coherence and unity to the
city that we haven’t seen elsewhere. Along the river are several layers of historic
buildings, unfortunately mostly semi-abandoned, but a few with hotels, cafes
and restaurants. We ended up walking down there later and saw a lot of
potential. They are in the midst of redoing the sidewalk, so when that’s done,
it should spur some redevelopment given that the river is already one of the
cleanest we’ve seen in Latin America in a big city.
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| Hanging out by the river |
The only stop on the bus tour was at the top of a mountain
overlook called Turí, clearly a spot the rich now dominate with mansions taking
in the views. There is a church at the top and a shrine, as well as some
artisan and snack shops. The view was pleasant and peaceful, we could see the
whole of Cuenca tucked in a bowl of bright green hills with lines of trees
snaking their way across the city where the rivers passed. Near the top is the
workshop and home of Eduardo Vega, a well-known local ceramicist who in
addition to producing lovely Ecuadorian themed household items, also has some
huge public art pieces and tiled murals across Ecuador. We got to meet him
briefly, but didn’t see much we liked in his shop except things we knew we
couldn’t safely get home.
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| At Turí, overlooking the city
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| Ceramic mural at Vega's workshop |
On the way back to town between almost getting taken out by
low hanging electric wires, we drove down the “food street” so called for its
many vendors selling typical lunch of roast pig and guinea pig with kernels of
hominy, fried mashed potato balls (llapingachos)
and other sides. Although we didn’t have time to stop then, we ended up finding
a similar scene in a local market and after a free sample of the roast pork,
were hooked into sitting down for a full lunch. The pork was tender, the llapingachos creamy, and the hominy
crunchy, all smothered in pork juices – a-maz-ing! The adorable chatty woman
serving us invited us to take pictures, mistaking Nolan for a Latino and us for
newlyweds, aww!
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| Llapingachos |
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| Whole roast pig and our lovely host |
The bus tour was a good introduction to the city and helped
us get our bearings, but there was plenty more to see and explore in the
following days.
Cuenca is the Ecuadorian center of Panama hat creation and
distribution. Although the hats originated in the coastal areas where the toquilla straw to make them grows, during
an economic downturn Cuencanos turned to artisans from the coast to learn the
craft. The Cuencanos were quick learners and soon perfected the art, with women
doing the weaving and men doing the shaping and ironing that required more
strength. The hats became known as Panama hats during the construction of the
canal when they became a popular clothing item due to their light weight and
sun protection.
Depending on quality, the hats can take from a few days to
almost a year to complete. The finest ones have straw that is as thin as string
and is so finely woven it looks and feels like fabric and no light can pass
through it. These can cost up to $1,500 dollars and take extreme skill to make.
All hats, no matter the quality go through a process of weaving, washing,
dying, drying and then ironing/pressing and finishing. We were able to visit a
factory in the city that has been around for almost 100 years where we saw the
process, met the current owner of the family run business and Nolan bought a
new hat. The Panama hat culture is integral to the identity and economy of the
Cuenca area and although you don’t see as many people walking the streets with
them as you used to, they are still a world renowned symbol of style and class.
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| Hats drying after different dying processes |
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| Stacked hats pressed and ready for brim finishing |
Cuenca also has a unique history due to its location. It was
originally inhabited by a native people who thrived before the Inca
civilization eventually conquered them. Cuenca was an important spot in the
middle of the Inca empire, and was the birthplace of Huayna Capac, the father
of legendary Inca leader Atahualpa. Later of course, the Spanish conquered the
Inca and then proceeded to build a neoclassic city, so three layers of history
exist. At the free museum and archaeological site of the Banco Central, we were
able to see the ruins of ceremonial sites, houses and terraced farmlands that
served both previous native populations and view some artifacts such as
ceramics, clothing and old colonial money.
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| Us with the ruins of terraced farming land in the background |
Our last day in Cuenca was Palm Sunday which was a perfect
time to just relax and enjoy the street life and culture of a holiday. We found
the flower market where dozens of men and women were weaving intricate palm
frond designs and selling dozens of different bouquets that included everything
from roses and carnations to rosemary and medicinal plants! We popped into the
cathedral only to be overwhelmed with incense and loud music before heading
over to the still-abuzz fruit/veg market. We found a great Australian owned café
for lunch and wandered along the river in the afternoon, snapping shots of the
building and the remnants of a bridge, the other half of which was swept away
in a flood in 1950. Although Cuenca is the third largest city in Ecuador, it
felt more like a small town to us, and while we spied a few ex-pats,
international tourism seems to have largely passed over the town, making it a
lovely place to get in touch with the real Ecuadorian spirit. We liked it so
much, we could see ourselves coming back in the not-so-distant future…
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| Woman weaving palm fronds and selling flowers |
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| Nolan on the half bridge |
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