Cuenca, Ecuador

Cuenca, the most beautiful city in Ecuador? Possibly!

On our first day in Cuenca, we decided to wander around and do museums and the like. We went to the main squares, which were full of flowers and people. Unlike Quito, Cuenca is still oriented around their old downtown. So the main churches, squares, and meeting places have not changed in the 500 years the city has been around as a Spanish city.

And in fact, before it was Spanish, it was Cañari and Inca. The central square today preserves the orientation given to it by the Cañari. Originally, they had the city oriented by a series of canals set up from the river and following the equinoxes and the solstices. Even today there is a gap between the cathedral and the other buildings which relates to the Cañari orientation.

After a lovely stroll through the flower market, the churches and the squares, we headed to lunch at a place called Mama Kinua. This is a cooperative that benefits a local Cañari community. Lunch was $1.25 each and we had soup, chicken, beans and rice, and the most fabulous medicinal tea. We also found out about a program they run which takes people up to their community in the mountains outside the city. So we decided to do it the next day.

At 9 am the next morning we met Don Alphonso at Mama Kinua. He brought us and an Italian woman up to his property outside the city. Once there we were served a delicious breakfast of hard boiled eggs, mote, which is a native corn, bread and tea. While we ate, he explained where we’d be hiking to during the day. Then he and two of his grand children played music for us that he had written, both in Spanish and in Quichua which is the Incan language spoken by the Cañari. We then came out at a clearing that was a huaca for him and his family. A huaca is a sacred site that is alive with the spirit of Pachamama, the earth goddess. While here we joined him in a Cañari sun greeting and we were purified from any offense we might have caused Pachamama. We rested here and then climbed up a tower to look out at the countryside around.


He then took us up another trail and out onto the Inca trail. This is a road that connected Tomebamba (Cuenca’s Incan city from before the Spanish arrival) to Cusco. We walked along it for some time. There are a series of minerals in the ground that create the most fascinating different colors in the earth and the ground of the road.

From there we headed back through the forest towards one of his family’s rest cabins in the grassy fields. We rested and lay in the meadow until one of his daughters, his grand daughter, and another grandson came with lunch. We ate the most delicious lunch of mote, potatoes, peas, beans, carrots, rice and chicken, washed down with the Cañari tea. Ricardo took a short horseback ride with Don Alphonso’s granddaughter, while we rested and talked. We then were treated to a demonstration of spinning while some of the mote was being toasted for grinding. We were given a demonstration of grinding with a hand mill that Don Alphonso had had in his family from before anyone could remember. We were also invited to try the grinding, which was very difficult.

After the lunch, we hiked back through the forest and down the hills to their main house. We listened to more music, joined in some dancing, and then headed back into the city. It was a phenomenal experience.