On my way out of Cuenca, a university student surveyed me on my tourism experience.
What did I like best about the city? Its colonial architecture.
How were my accommodations, rated from zero to five, 5 being highly recommended? 5.
The food? 5.
The shopping? 5 — with $0 left in my pocket.
Stay, Shop and Play in Cuenca
Cuenca was my final stop on a five-month backpacking trip through Argentina, Chile and Ecuador. I was in full-on reflection mode, ready to sit and think and chat about all the feelings.
For this, there’s no better place than Anicha Hostel: a refurbished factory that’s now equipped with a brand-new vegetarian restaurant, well-appointed dorm rooms and loads of ancestral art. The hostel is owned by Santo, a super friendly, dreadlocked Argentine who reworked the abandoned building into his dream hostel. It’s a beautiful space — warm, cozy and creatively decorated; just check out the tire seats in the main courtyard.
When we eventually decided to hit the streets, we started in Cuenca’s central plaza at La Catedral de la Inmaculada Concepción. This impressively large edifice isn’t even finished. Halted by structural challenges, the church stands without bell towers. No matter — the building still stands as an emblem of this stately, architecturally minded city. Climb to the top for $2 and get views of the entire city.
El Santo
When we sought a restaurant recommendation at Anicha Hostel, Santo suggested this like-named Mexican restaurant with ample vegetarian options, as well as meat dishes for all your barbacoa cravings. We liked it so well that we went twice.
Jazz Society Café
Unfortunately, the musician was sick on the night we headed for music at the Jazz Society Café. So we ended up eating downstairs at the rich Italian restaurant with house-made pasta. Cheers to wine and pasta and hours-long dinners!
Museo Pumapunga
I’ll be honest: This museum gave me the creeps. I’ve never been a fan of museum installations featuring lifelike mannequins, much less in a shadowy cavern with echoey jungle sounds on repeat. To the magnificent Amazon, I love you. I respect you. I’ll visit you in the great outdoors — not in a museum.
Behind the museum, however, rests interesting Incan ruins and extensive gardens. These wonders are definitely worth a perusal.
My recommendation: Skip the upstairs installations and head out back.
SOFY
I’d never heard of the term “glocal cuisine,” but SOFY gets it just right. We clambered into this restaurant and inn to escape a stormy Mother’s Day. And we had our brunch and ate it, too — for me, eggs Benedict perfectly poached. We waited a casually Ecuadorian 75 minutes for the food, but meanwhile, the smiling server offered ample coffee refills. And we didn’t mind the pace. Cozy indoors, we toasted our fresh-roasted coffee to the the bright space and indie-pop Latin American music.
Marea Bakery
We stopped into this restaurant perhaps once a day for fresh Argentine empanadas, buttery bread and rich brownies. Hey, gotta fuel ourselves somehow for those long city strolls.
Parque Nacional El Cajas
On our last day in the city — and my last day in the continent — we made it to the nearby national park. Accessible from the Cuenca bus terminal for $2 each way, this high-altitude park is just 50 minutes from town but many meters higher. The park provides sundry waking trails, which start out overtly well-marked but fade as the trails give way to muddy wetlands. Bring hiking boots and an extra pair of socks. Many people warned us of rain and chilly temps, but we enjoyed a sunny day — one of the few during our stay in Cuenca.
It was the perfect farewell: this long, leisurely walk through the wind-whipped lakes and ancient trees and budding wildflowers. As with what I’ve seen of Ecuador’s jungles and beaches and cities, it was life in motion — history and modernity in balance.
