It’s a unique city with lots to offer! We met Americans who have moved there, Americans who are staying awhile to decide if they want to move there, and American students doing research or studying Spanish. The Gringo Post is a forum for ex-pats and the Cuenca High Life online newspaper is an excellent resource. We learned the term “economic refugee” to describe people who move there to afford a better quality of living.
There are many activities – for example, at San Sebas Restaurant, there is an art class called Van Gogh Night. For $29.00 they provide art supplies and instruction – wine and food are available for purchase. In the photo below, you can see some of the results by class participants. It sounds fun! San Sebas is also a great place for breakfast or lunch!
We loved the San Sebastián neighborhood where we stayed – we walked by the San Sebastián Church (below) every day.
It’s on the steps of the church where they have an aerobics class every evening at 8:00 p.m. The city pays instructors to lead the classes!
Our favorite breakfast places weren’t open when it was time for us to leave for the airport. For $3.75 Cafe La Ruta provided fresh fruit, fresh squeezed orange juice, eggs, ham/cheese toast and coffee! The owner wanted us to try the local specialty – horchata. Which was slightly warm and perfect for a rainy morning.
For 50 cents, Larry got a shoe shine. I was so impressed watching this young boy as he tapped out 3 different powders to mix with shoeshine paste to match the colors of this guys shoes! He was an artist, testing colors to make sure he had the right match.
I checked out the Cuenca Modern Art Museum before we left town and liked this still life.
So, Cuenca is behind us as we took a short 45-minute flight to Quito this morning. It’s quite a contrast – Quito is a large, modern city. We have a beautiful room at Hotel Le Parc.
There is a thunderstorm outside but we’ve settled in here and look forward to exploring Old Town Quito tomorrow!