After two weeks in Quito, we arrived in Ecuador’s southern city of Cuenca. Similar to Quito, Cuenca is a colonial city dating from the 16th century and its historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

It has a completely different vibe from Quito, however. Quito is big, sprawling, and full of crowds. Cuenca, on the other hand – although it’s the third-largest city in Ecuador, doesn’t feel very big. With its colonial heritage all around us, we sometimes feel as if we have stepped into another era.

Santa Ana de Cuenca, Ecuador (the full name of Cuenca) lies in a basin of the Andes Mountains. Cuenca (which means basin in Spanish) was founded in 1557 and sits at over 8,500 feet, surrounded by the Andes.

Cuenca has a population of around 500,000 and there are four rivers that run through the city. The rivers are part of the Amazon River watershed.

Cuenca is a very popular retirement destination and there are an estimated 5,000 U.S. expats living in the city. The low cost of living, moderate climate and the beauty of the city attracts many of these retirees. The low cost of living attracts many people living on a fixed income who can live comfortably on $1,500 dollars a month. International Living magazine and real estate companies actively promote Cuenca as a retirement destination. However, everything that’s imported (perfume, makeup, electrical appliances, and computers) carries a hefty price tag.

We have met several expats in grocery stores, restaurants and tour destinations and all have been very friendly and helpful. There are some informal meet-up destinations where expats get together for eating, socializing and playing various groups games such as bridge, cribbage, and trivia. There are social groups for almost every hobby.

Many expats have started businesses here which include restaurants, catering, baking, and English-speaking services.

Our First Impressions

We have been here for almost a month and we find Cuenca to be a very quaint city. The paths along the rivers are nice for walking or running. The historic central park (Parque Calderón) is surrounded by churches, shops, restaurants, and government buildings. There are actually two cathedrals that border the park.

The Old Cathedral (El Sagratio) of Cuenca is a 16th-century cathedral that is now a museum. Music concerts are now held here and Cuencanos say that the building has almost perfect acoustics. The city outgrew the cathedral, so they built a new cathedral across the park.

Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (also known as the New Cathedral), was completed in the 1960s and can hold up to 10,000 people

The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception is the centerpiece of the city and you can see its illuminated blue domes from almost any part of town. It is always open and every day and night we see people in the church praying or simply meditating.

It is relatively easy to get around the city. Because of its size, we can walk to most places safely. However, as with previous cities we visited, we have to watch for vehicles because pedestrians don’t have the right of way. Drivers ignore stop signs, stop wherever they want, drive on sidewalks, and don’t use turning signals. However, they tend to drive slower than in Colombia (that helps because our reaction times have increased over the years) and there are fewer motorcycles to worry about.

The city has good, inexpensive public buses and there is a plan to purchase electric buses which will take the place of the diesel buses which billow smoke along their routes. Cuenca has completed a Transvia line that is presently being tested. However, it has been in testing for well over 6 months.

The Transvia has been running the routes without passengers. We think the reason for the long test time is to allow pedestrians and drivers to get used to driving alongside the Transvia. It may be that drivers have to start obeying traffic signals. In one situation, the Transvia was blocked when a driver parked his car on the tracks to run into a store to buy a pizza. We hear that it may be operational by the end of May and people say that translates to June or July.

Taxis are very reasonable and are the main mode of transportation for many. Typical fares run between $1.50 to $3.00. Since street addresses don’t apply here, the city has its own Taxi App (AzuTaxi) which allows the passenger to type in the two nearest cross streets and a reference (like the name of the apartment or business) for taxi pickup. Most people just flag down a taxi. There is no Uber service in Cuenca.

The weather is pretty much the same every day. Highs of about 70, lows about the mid-40s. It can rain at any time, so we always have our umbrellas with us. It will be sunny one minute, rain for 30 minutes and be sunny again. June, July, and August are winter in South America; however, the temperatures won’t change much but it does feel cold at night.

We are both enrolled in Spanish Classes 5 days a week. Our schedule hasn’t given us much time to really explore the city and its surroundings. We are reducing our class time from 4 hours per day to 2 hours per day and plan to explore all Cuenca has to offer. We will visit the small towns around Cuenca and take a dip in the thermal springs called Los Baños.