La Gringa Visits Cuenca

by Devan Bey

Cajas National Park, Cuenca

As a visitor to Ecuador, it is impossible not to hear about Cuenca. The nation's third largest city, Cuenca has an impossibly pure reputation. The city is adored by visitors and residents alike, all of whom blast praises about it to anyone who will listen. Cuenca boasts a long history; originally founded by the Cañari indigenous group who were later defeated by the Inca warriors as they battled their way through Ecuador.

When los conquistadores arrived, they found a city filled solely with women, as the Inca had killed all the Cañari men and soon abandoned the city in anticipation of the arrival of the Spaniards. Today, the city´s population is a mix of Spanish and indigenous blood, mestizo, with very few purely indigenous residents.

Myself and several other international students arrived excited to get a dose of the city and its natural surroundings. Already suffering for the high elevation, I was not as eager as I should have been to visit Cajas National Park (entering a high altitude can have a range of effects, from nausea to difficulty breathing to headaches). We marched through a cloud forest in the park for approximately two hours, rejoicing in the cool fresh air of the highlands after the crushing humidity of Guayaquil.

The cloud forest, which used to cover the hills in the area, represents one of the most unique environments in the country. It boasts many plant species that don't exist anywhere but in this region. I'm not a plant expert or even what one would call an enthusiast, but this park and this country (along with missing my good, plant obsessed, friend Josie) really make me eager to experience the natural environment and grow to understand more of what composes it.

Foliage, love that stuff.

With the biodiversity of the national park behind us, the group proceeded into the city. The buildings consist of mostly colonial architecture, which made me feel like I was walking through Spain rather than Ecuador. Narrow sidewalks and cobblestone roads give the city a unique feel that straddles modern and ancient. Honking cars crowd narrow cobblestone streets, ATMs are gorged into the sides of European architecture, metallic signs covering antique facades of buildings. If a city could represent the merging together of two distinct cultures and time periods, I believe this would be that place.

Cuenca Downtown

Catholic churches dominate the city. We visited several, but I found the most unique to be a convent located immediately next to a bustling flower market. Within the convent were several nuns who committed themselves to the faith more than 70 years ago. Today, they still reside within its walls, never having left or visited the growing world around the church. In order to sustain themselves, the women make products which are passed between a rotating door. A friend purchased blackberry wine for $9.00. She passed the money through the door and was rewarded with a lovely bottle of wine. She never saw the nuns faces, nor does anybody else outside of the church. Our guide suspects that once this order of ultraconservative nuns dies out, the convent may become a hotel, as no one today is as eager to spend their life in absolute isolation.

River flowing though the city, locals take great pride in this scenic path.

In order to understand more about the highland's natural resources, we visited a the Museo del Banco Central, which featured an amazing display of wildlife, plant life, and local agriculture. The museum resides next to Inca and Cañari building sites and included many of the features of traditional life, including aqueducts and a large hill covered in terraces. It's a unique sensation walking through the museum, viewing crops that have been grown and utilized in this country for centuries. How much has changed, yet the staples of the Andean diet still remain. I left the park starving, desperate for some of that Ecuadorian cuisine I've grown so fond of.

Me at the natural museum!

I decided to try a local staple, hornado. In the central marketplace of the city, hundreds of vendors come together selling all varieties of food; produce, fresh meat, desserts, cheap trinkets, clothing, and hot plates. In one entire section perhaps seven or eight vendors sold hornado, a traditionally prepared dish with whole roasted pig, corn, potatoes, and a salad of pickled vegetables. It was a shock to see whole pigs laid out, displayed all day long for hungry customers and slowly being consumed. Though certainly unsanitary by American standards (a woman would grab, cook and serve the pig using her bare hands and handle money simultaneously), the results were incredibly delicious.

Aquaducts

To finish the day we decided to take on a zip-lining course. We ventured twenty minutes out of the city to take on seven individual zip lines, ranging from fairly tame to ridiculously high in the air. To me, the most terrifying moment occurred immediately before stopping on each course. Imagine zooming toward a solid looking tree at what feels like 80 miles per hour with only a rope held by a bored employee to stop you! I only really felt like I was about to die four or five times during the whole adventure.

Relieved at still having our lives intact, we spent the rest of the night relaxing, only consuming a couple drinks (I learned from Baños more than I care to admit). The following morning we left the hotel early after some not so restful sleep. Everyone seemed to struggle to sleep, something to do with the altitude and, in my case, a horrendously squeaky bed.

We traveled into Cañar, the neighboring province and passed through an indigenous marketplace much like the one from the previous day. Noisy and crowded, these are the places that make me wish I could call Ecuador my home. Hundreds of types of potatoes, corn, tomatoes, fruit, vegetables, grains, anything one could imagine is sold at the marketplace. Its possible to buy eight tomates de arbol (responsible for the most lovely juice in the whole world) for $1.00. That might even by a rip off by Latin American standards. I don´t know!

Marketplace in Cañar province

Ingapirca Ruins

Finally we rounded out the trip by visiting the so called "Ecuadorian Macchu Picchu", or the Ingapirca Ruins. This location is drenched in history, with each structure having a purpose and a story attached to it. The Inca abandoned the camp shortly after the arrival of the Spanish in the 1500's after only 40 years of occupation. Surrounded by mountains (and the only lowland route that leads directly to the coast) the ruins were a peaceful way to round out the trip. I left the province feeling as though my knowledge of the history of Ecuador and its culture has again been expanded, as seems to happen every single weekend. I look forward to next week and every one thereafter to see where I will find myself and what I will take home with me!