November 18, 2015
Several years ago, I read a Wall Street Journal article about Cuenca, Ecuador. It was all about how people from the U.S. were moving to Cuenca because the weather was “eternal spring” and the cost of living was cheap. I made a mental note all those years ago to check into Cuenca as a possible place to live. I even talked about flying to Cuenca for vacation just to check it out.
Then a few weeks before leaving on my trip, my brother showed me a Smithsonian magazine article about Cuenca, Loja, and Vilcabamba. These three southern Ecuador towns were becoming very popular as retirement spots for ex-pats from all over. it reminded me to do a little research on Cuenca. That’s when I discovered that Cuenca is not a small town; it’s roughly the size of Portland, Oregon, with around 400,000 people in the urban area and about 700,000 in the larger metro area. That was enough to convince me that Cuenca was too big for me. I’m a small town guy.
So when I got to Cuenca, I was surprised that it didn’t feel that large. The downtown area is only a couple of miles long by maybe a half mile wide, and easily walkable. It’s listed as a UNESCO Heritage Site for the architecture and colonial buildings in the downtown area.
Central Park, downtown Cuenca.
The park made me wonder who copied who…it reminds me a lot of the park in Main Street Disneyland. Except without all the screaming kids wearing mouse ears.
Part of the Flower Market downtown.
Street vendor, with the Latin America version of a delivery vehicle.
Street Art
My residence for the past couple of nights. Nothing fancy, but the bike fits through the front doors, and the owner is another incredibly nice gentleman.
As I was headed out yesterday, I asked the hostel owner if he knew where I might find Super Glue for my grips. He immediately went upstairs and came down with a small tube. Unfortunately it was dried up, but I was able to find some at a tiny hardware store a few blocks away. So the throttle grip is back in its’ correct position and hopefully will stay there for a while. I was a bit surprised at the lack of residue left when I pulled the grip off. Usually you have to use acetone to remove that stuff. All that was left inside my grip was a little white powder.
I walked the downtown area fairly extensively, and there is no doubt that if you go to the places where the American ex-pats frequent (I went to an Italian restaurant and the Sunrise Cafe), you will see a lot of people from the U.S. speaking English. But it’s not over-run with them, since it’s such a large city. For the most part, everyone still speaks Spanish. I didn’t have that Antigua, Guatemala feeling that all the locals were going to speak English to me, and although some of the menus are in both languages, not much else is. I like that. I’m a firm believer that you should learn the language of the country you are in (that applies to those choosing to live in the U.S. also). But enough of my soapbox.
As I packed up to leave this morning, Daniel and Josephine came to send me off. It sounds like they are leaving tomorrow, possibly (I love that non-commital in-no-hurry attitude).
Great people. We’re all on the “gotta get to Ushaia before it snows” schedule, so I have a feeling I’ll see them again somewhere down the road.
As I sit here typing this, the garbage truck is going by, and I am reminded to mention that….
The garbage trucks here (Ecuador, at least), play the same music as the ice cream trucks at home. I suppose it reminds people to bring their trash out to the curb. But it is funny. An American woman at dinner in Baños one night mentioned it and told a story about running out to get some ice cream there, only to meet the garbage man.
I’m in Loja tonight. Tomorrow morning I will meet up with Ian (see Quilotoa Loop post) and we will spend a couple of days riding some fairly remote off-road in the mountains of southern Ecuador. So I will be without wifi (or electricity, or restaurants, or hostels) for a couple of days. Next update from Vilcabamba in a few days.