Cuenca is a “colonial city,” meaning it was
built during the period of Spanish ownership of portions of South
America. It feels like it; the architecture, the narrow
cobblestone streets (which were updated in 1930 to use large, square
cobblestones instead of small rounds ones), and the numerous churches
give the city a very old-European feel. It’s modernized, of
course, although the limitations imposed by the ancient layout result in
gridlock on the side streets. The main thoroughfares are all
multi-lane, paved roads interspersed with rather chaotic roundabouts,
and those are faster but still congested. But the thing that stood
out for us that made the city most unique was the extraordinary
paintings that cover walls and buildings everywhere in the city.
We arrived late in the day after the drive from Guayaquil, heading
straight for the hotel. We stayed at the Mansion Alcazar Boutique
Hotel, which oozed old world charm out of every nook, cranny, and
interior courtyard (of which there were many).
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Our guide, Gustavo, and the driver managed to navigate the city and avoid the worst of the traffic, but most of the two days we spent in the city was a walking tour, which doesn’t sound that strenuous (city walking, right?) until you realize that the hotel was at 8,200 feet in the Andes … meaning there’s a lot of ups and downs. On average, we were gasping like fish out of water in three steps.
Our first stop the next day was a house decorated by Jose Antonio Alvarado, who was a famous Ecuadorian photographer, along a narrow cobblestone street. It was also the administrative headquarters of the Cuenca Biennial, but we stopped mostly because it was indicative of one of the architectural styles prevalent in Cuenca.
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Second stop was more interesting, the Museo Municipal de Arte Moderno (Modern Art Museum). It was a small gallery set up to give different artists a small space where they could do what they wanted; either convert the entire room to a single piece of art, display a set of paintings, or do something whimsical and interactive.
| Ok, this isn't
really part of the museum but it was entertaining. (it's a dress shop with mannequins on the balcony)  |
Red Hot
Cheetos |
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 Is it art, or a wall under construction? |
 A very small door |
Next stop something a bit more commercial; the art gallery for JG Vega, someone who works mostly with ceramics. Two things continued to obvious; one, high end artists can make a comfortable living in Ecuador, and two, living costs were not that high, as everything was very reasonably priced.
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Next, a high point overlooking the city. As previously described, Cuenca is well up in the Andes, not quite as high as Quito, but close. It was also not quite as vertical as Quito, but there were still plenty of high points and houses built into the hill and mountain sides. Mirador de Turi is … either the name of the observation deck, the attached restaurant, or the entire block including a church, not sure which. But it provided stunning views of the city.
Next was a walk down the streets along the Rio Tomebamba, the river that runs through the middle of the city. A number of interesting buildings, a church (Iglesia de Todos Santos) and the “Broken Bridge,” which is indeed a bridge that collapsed (it was a little unclear if that was due to an earthquake or it just collapsed because the water eroded one of the buttresses) and has been capped to make it a short walkway to a river overlook. The church was small, but as it turned out, it was the first Catholic church built in Cuenca; sort of, as it burned down in 2005, then while they were rebuilding it the unfinished structure burned down again in 2007. But the new version was finished in 2014 and if you didn’t hear the history, you’d think it was the original. The original was built in 1540, and with a recurrent theme, was built on top of the location of an ingenious shrine called Usno.
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Then an unexpectedly impressive stop at the court house, which has to be the most elaborate and architecturally interesting court house ever.
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Next was Plaza Abdon Caldron, one of the many plazas throughout the city, but this one is the home of La Cathedral de la Inmaculada Conception de Cuenca, the big bad of Cuenca cathedrals. But first we took a side jaunt on the other side of the plaza to Iglesia el Sagrario, the “Old Cathedral of Cuenca,” which predated it’s big brother but is now a “Museum of Religious Art,” apparently mostly funded by wealthy individuals who take one of the many side rooms as a personal display area. Poorly advertised was the crypt under the main floor which sadly has had all the human remains removed.
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Then it was across the street to the main attraction. The Cathedral is one of (if not the) largest Cathedrals in South America and sported a long, long, looonnnggg climb up many stairs to stunning views of the city from the top. You could go higher into the almost-bell tower by climbing a rather unsafe looking ladder but they had blocked that off.
So now you should be asking, "almost-bell tower?" And the answer is yes, there were supposed to be large structures on top of the existing square towers to house the bells, but the architect made a mistake and the towers couldn't support the weight. So it's the only Cathedral in Ecuador without bells.
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The climb to the top was a side mission; after we walked back down the long circular staircase we had to circle around through some courtyards and through a street with flower vendors and, no joke, nun water sellers to enter the Cathedral proper. It was appropriately Cathedral-ee, and one innovation that was just hard to beat; in every Cathedral we’ve been in you can buy, light, and leave a candle to Jesus or one Saint or another. Here, that was all replaced with coin operated boxes where a quarter would like a small light bulb for some period of time.
Turns out
Ecuador is the biggest exporter of flowers to the US |
Nun Water is
very popular |
Coin operated
"light a candle" machine |
Yes, their own
radio station |
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Next stop, Casa de las Palomas, a house that was renovated to appear unchanged since it’s owner’s death in 1917. There are a number of interesting frescos (more inside the building, but we only went into the courtyard), where you could see things like the original hand-operated pump for drawing water.
Final stop for the day was the Homero Ortega Panama at factory. It’s a widely known fact we didn’t know that the Panama hat is in fact from Ecuador and is only called a Panama Hat because when it started shipping worldwide it was routed through Panama so it could use freighters to reach Europe and Asia. It was interesting, but what it really brought home is that there are a lot of people in the countryside that are making maybe five dollars a day weaving hats, which are then finished at the Homero Ortega (or other similar) factory.
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Then it was on day 2 in Cuenca