Ecuador, Summer 2019 (Part 10 - Cuenca)
We slept in on the morning of the July 23 but still woke up in time to catch breakfast. We told Ana and Carlos that we would be leaving a day early to make our way to Cuenca. They told us that the only non-stop bus from Puerto Misahuallí to Cuenca left every day at 6:30 AM.
We were still determined to get to our next destination so we grabbed a taxi to the main bus terminal in Tena about 30 minutes away. On the way there, I chatted with our driver who told me that none of these roads existed ten years ago. Rainy weather could turn the 30 minute drive from Tena to Misahuallí into a 6 hour journey before former president Rafael Correa implemented a huge public works and infrastructure initiative.
When we got to the bus terminal we bought tickets on the first bus departing for Ambato. There are numerous bus co-ops throughout the country and at most bus terminals in small towns, representatives from each of these companies will be there pushing you to ride with them. Our bus was departing almost immediately so we had almost no time to get any kind of food for the 4 hour trip back west into the mountains.
Upon arriving in Ambato, we found that the next bus to Cuenca departed in 5-10 minutes so we were rushed to get onboard as quickly as possible, leaving us once again without any food. This bus was very cramped and a little disheveled on the inside.
As the we trucked along towards Cuenca, people slowly trickled off the bus along the way which allowed us to switch to seats that were a little more open.
After a total of 9 hours on the road, we finally reached Cuenca a little bit after 7 PM. We left the bus terminal and to our surprise, Uber is not yet available in Cuenca so we settled for a conventional taxi. Our hotel was fairly close by, so thankfully our fare wasn’t outrageous.
By the time we dropped off our things, it was fairly late at night so we couldn’t really do much but eat dinner and go to bed gearing up for the next day.
By now I’m sure you’ve noticed a pattern in our Ecuador travel journals, but we once again woke up too late to enjoy the complimentary breakfast at the hotel. Breakfast times in Ecuadorian hostels and hostels is really early when you’re on “vacation time” so we usually chose to prioritize sleep for free breakfast. Back home in the States we rarely ate breakfast anyways so we never felt like we were missing much.
We made our way to the historical city center which was conveniently about 2 blocks away. Our first stop was to visit the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Although construction began on this cathedral in 1885, the building was not fully completed until 90 years later in 1975.
Construction was severely delayed after it was found that a calculation error by the architect made it so the foundation would not be able to bear the original planned weight. This miscalculation is what gives the cathedral its stubby appearance as the towers had to be truncated in order for the foundation to bear the weight of the structure.
The cathedral is free to enter and, unlike the Church of the Society of Jesus that we visited in Quito, photography was allowed which is fortunate as the interior was beautiful.
Although not nearly as gaudy as the gold-plated walls we saw in Quito, the cathedral had a classic beauty to it, reminiscent of the Romanesque-style churches of the 11th an 12th centuries.
Near the entrance to the cathedral there is a ticket window to go up the towers an to see the building’s iconic domes. We paid the $2 per person fee and made our way up the winding staircase in one of the towers.
Although not as high up as Quito, Cuenca is still 8,400 feet (2,550 m) above sea level so the thin air once again made the climb a lot more difficult than it would have been at a lower altitude.
The view from the top of the towers is breathtaking as you can not only a large portion of the city, but you can appreciate the domes at the top up close.
We couldn’t help but notice the lack of bells in the cathedral as we climbed the towers. As it turns out due to the previously mentioned weight problem, bells couldn’t be installed either since the foundation wouldn’t be able to support their weight.
We made our way back down the staircase and exited towards the Parque Calderon across the street where we saw a double decker tour bus that would take you around the city.
As I’ve mentioned in the past, I find these tour buses to be a great way to see all the major landmarks in a city and the hop-on, hop-off feature lets you see things at your own discretion. Audrey is not particularly keen on these tours, but after a little convincing we bought a two day pass and boarded for the next departure.
The first place we stopped at was the Museo Pumapungo, Cuenca’s largest museum spanning multiple floors with a variety of art and historical exhibits.
As with most museums in Ecuador, Pumapungo is completely free of charge to enter for locals and tourists alike. One of the highlights of the museum are the Inca ruins that the museum is named for.
As we walked through the grounds where an Indigenous community once stood, I couldn’t help but think of the poem Ozymandias by Percy Shelley, “Nothing beside remains. Round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, the lone and level sands stretch far away.” It is truly humbling to see how entire civilizations can rise and fall throughout the age.
After going through various exhibits, we left the museum and headed out to look for something to eat. Instead of getting back on the bus, we wandered around for about a mile and a half taking in the city and looking for some lunch.
We eventually made it all the way back to Parque Calderon where we first boarded the bus. As we were getting there, another bus was getting ready to depart to go around the city. We agreed to tgo on it for one full ride without getting off to give us time to digest and to see as much of the city as possible.
The only programmed stuff on the this tour route was a 30 minute break at the Mirador de Turi, a large hill on the southern side of town that oversees the entire city. After the bus picked us back up, we completed the loop and the bus dropped us off at Parque Calderon. We had dinner at a restaurant near the square before heading back to our hotel for the night.
Our second day in Cuenca was basically a continuation of the first day. We boarded a bus that was taking the alternate tour route. It was very similar to the first day except there were two programmed stops. The first stop was a guided tour through a Panama hat factory.
Contrary to what their name implies, the “Panama hat” was not invented in Panama, but in Cuenca. These hats were very popular among the laborers working on the Panama Canal in the early 20th century. When Theodore Roosevelt visited the construction of the canal he incorrectly assumed that the hat that was so popular with the locals was Panamanian made so the name stuck.
The highlight of the day came during the the next stop on the tour, a tall glass structure that let’s you look out over the entire city. Although the view from the tower isn’t too different from the Turi lookout from the day before, while we were there, I got an email informing me that a job I had applied for in Antarctica had an opening and they were informing me that I was being offered the position when I got back to the United States.
After the tour concluded back at Parque Calderon, we walked to the Museum of Medicine. The museum is in an old abandoned hospital which definitely gave the place a creepy, horror movie-esque feel to it.
The museum was filled with machines from various eras and it was interesting to see how the machines that accomplish the same task evolved in appearance and function throughout the years.
Afterwards, we walked through the old part of the city as I looked for antique shops to buy old Ecuadorian bank notes to frame back home. After modest success, we ate an early dinner before concluding our day since we had something pretty special planned for our last day in Cuenca.
One of the most popular attractions in Cuenca are the underground thermal baths about a 25 minute drive from the city center.
We booked ourselves on the subterranean thermal baths tour, an hour and a half guided experience that let us enjoy all the different baths that the spa had to offer.
We were given robes and flip flops to change into and were led underground. For the next hour and a half we went from bath to bath, each with different unique properties to clean your skin and help you relax.
