Cuenca is Ecuador’s third largest city, but it feels worlds away from Quito or Guayaquil. Cuenca sits at 2560 meters (8,400) feet high in a basin in the Andes. It has 4 rivers running through it and has a lot of parks and public spaces. It also has a historical district that is not as vibrant looking as many of the Mexican pueblo magicos, but is still a wonderful place to walk around in.
A guide I was with said the population was around 700,000 which included over 14,000 mostly retired North Americans. They are attracted to the large, but small feeling city, the generally lower costs in Ecuador, and the high altitude Springlike weather.
Below I’ve include pictures of the city, the unique Amaru Bioparque and the beatiful nearby Cajas National Park
The City
I stayed in a nice Airbnb, that had a fantastic view of the Cathedral from my balcony.
The first couple of nights I was there a woman sang some wonderful opera arias for about an hour from right below my balcony.
The most dominent part of Cuenca’s historical district is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. It was started in 1885 and lasted for almost a century. It has a beautiful Romanesque Rival style for most of the building with three giant domes covered by striking blue and white glazed tile from Czechoslovakia on its top as the above pictures from my balcony show. You can also climb up to its top, as these pictures show.
There’s a small suburb of Cuenca call Banos that’s known for its therapeutic thermal waters. After some research I visited the Novaqua Spa. For a whopping $22 I got access to its facilities. These included a large warm thermal pool, a series of hot and cold pools, a sauna, a turkish steam sauna, a hotbox (which I didn’t use) and a self service mud bath. There were members of Ecuador’s olympic track team in the hot and cold pools with me, so I guess I chose the right spot! I also talked with an American who retired there with her husband a couple of years ago and tries to go to the spa once a week. It was a really relaxing experience.
Zoo Bioparque Amaru
Amaru is one of the most incredible zoos I’ve ever been to. It’s built into the side of a large hill in southern Cuenca and has a 4 km hiking trail that winds up and down the hill. The animals are mostly from the Andes region and are located in their natural settings. It’s like taking a nature hike and happening to see a ton of amazing animals along the trail. It also has some nice views of Cuenca from the trail.
Cajas National Park
I took a day trip to visit Cajas National Park and did a 7 km hike around some of the lakes. It’s at the continental divide of the Andes so on one side its rivers flow to the Pacific Ocean and the other side they flow to the Amazon Basin. The area I was at was between 3,600 and 3,900 meters high (around 12,000 feet).
We went through a couple of hauntingly beautiful queñua forests with their ancient, twisted paper trees.
