Discover Cuenca Ecuador

• twice the manganese and phosphorus of white.
• 2.5 times the iron.
• 3 times the vitamin B3.
• 4 times the vitamin B1.
• 10 times the vitamin B6.
• and no blood sugar spikes like white rice
• gives you much more energy
• makes you feel and look healthier

We took another beautiful 2-mile walk along the river going toward El Centro (city center) of Cuenca. This river walk is a most enjoyable way to go downtown if you're not in a hurry. Enjoy the walk!

The children really enjoyed making these bird house, although they ended up creating real people houses instead. We ended up with about 7 or 8 houses. Next time we're going to help the children make some puppets.

Today we were exploring the outskirts of El Centro Cuenca and we came upon a quaint little French style coffee shop and sweetery.


The coffee was $0.50 a cup and the cocoa was $0.80 a cup!


They served the coffee and cocoa in a beautiful coffee set.


They had homemade cheesecake and Mousse for just $2.


It's amazing the neat shops and little restaurants and cafe's you can find in Cuenca even when you walk out of the city center.



We liked this quaint little cafe and we will definitely go back and try the cheesecake one of these days very soon!



D'Liz Picadas and Dulceria is located on General Torres just up the hill about 8 blocks from downtown Cuenca.


If you look off in the distance in the picture below you can see the domes of the main Cathedral downtown, and this is how far we walked up the hill when we came upon this wonderful little sweetery and coffee shop.

You will not have any problems finding clothes in Cuenca. There are more clothing and Jewelry shops in El Centro than we've ever seen for the size of what Cuenca is. Cuenca is just a bit shy of half a million people. Here's some snapshots of a few retail clothing shops that we took today as we were walking around downtown. There are sales all over the place because of the Christmas season.


Cuenca is in the Andes mountains so much of the clothing is sweaters, pants, jeans, jackets, hoodies, and long sleeve shirts. Although we have seen swimming suits and shorts for sell, probably for the warmer coastal regions.


Most of these Clothing shops were on Gran Columbia

Click on the photes to enlarge

They like leather jackets here. The people of Cuenca like to dress nice and many of them wear fashionable clothing.


They also have a lot of shoe stores downtown. Here's one that you will recognize.

Here's Mrs Clause passing out pamphlets to the clothing store she is standing next to.

It was flooded with shoppers in downtown Cuenca today. Here they are gathering around Christmas wrapping paper for sale at "Tia".


Across the street from Park Calderon central park of Cuenca)there were vendors under tents selling EVERYTHING relating to Christmas. They really love the Christmas season in Ecuador!


Here's another area in Cuenca with more vendors. Here they are selling their artistic creations.

The other day we're walking around in El Centro Cuenca and we passed this quaint little restaurant. It was almost almuerzo time after all, so we walked inside and the owner greeted us with open arms and she explained to us what the special of the day was. The aroma of home cooking smelled so good and so we sat down and took a break from walking. The meal was delicious and the owner was very accommodating and pleasant. Even though this restaurant does not have a name, we still would recommend it. We've eaten here twice and both times we've been happy with the food. At the end of the video it says what street this restaurant is located on.

• Where to stay short term and long term

• Pictures, names, numbers to recommended hostels

• Walking distances to almost everything

• How and which bus to take to certain places

• Pictures so you’ll recognize where you’re at

• Our personal experiences and recommendations

• Rechargeable cell phones and Internet access

• Maps and directions to museums, Mercado’s and more

• Where to meet up with other expats

• What stores to shop at within walking distance of your hostel

•  Immigration offices – Visa Renewal

• Everything you need at your fingertips, plus free email support!

• Gringo Targeting

•   How to negotiate with the produce vendors at the Mercado’s

• Weather – what to bring with you

• Staying safe throughout your visit

• Check list for when renting long term and how to negotiate on the rental price

• Recommended restaurants and other neat hang outs

• Post office -- Sending and receiving packages

• Gringo hang outs; names and directions, all walking distance to your hostel

• Locations and what bus to take to Coral and Supermaxi

• We got you covered

• We don’t think we left anything out

• But if we did, please tell us so we can include it in the DIY Cuenca Landing Guide

We take the buses all over the place in Cuenca. Seldom do we take a taxi unless it is after dark. The buses take you anywhere in the city for just a quarter. The buses seem very safe during the day--we've never had any problems. The bus ride in this particular video starts downtown and ends on Avenida Americas, which is a very important and busy cross street of Cuenca. Enjoy the bus ride!

There are over 4,500 taxis in Cuenca alone! That’s a lot of taxis. There is never a problem getting a taxi when you need one, at least most of the time. The taxi service in Cuenca is quite efficient except during holidays and festivals. We have experienced a much longer wait during these times.

Downtown Cuenca is very busy this time of year (Christmas) with people bustling about doing their shopping and visiting with friends and family from out of town. Ecuadorians really love the Christmas Holiday Season and the love of this holiday is seen with all of the elaborate decorations adorning the beautiful colonial city. And all of the shops advertising toys and other wish-list products that people give to one another during this time of year.

In fact, it is so busy downtown Cuenca that you can’t get a taxi! And if you live away from the downtown area, like we do, the taxi driver may even refuse to take you home because he doesn’t want to leave the two mile by four mile city center area because this time of year downtown is where all the fares are.

The two times that we’ve experienced a problem getting a taxi, both times was downtown and during a holiday or festival. When you finally hail down a taxi that is not full of passengers he may not want to take you home! That is, if you live out of the city center of downtown Cuenca. We live about 3-1/2 to 4 miles from the city center.

Last night it took us about 40 minutes to hail down a taxi and finally find a driver who would leave the city center to take us home! Now normally this would not be a big deal, but last night it was raining, it was late, and Frank hurt his foot earlier in the day playing soccer with the kids at the children’s home.

Here are a few suggestions if you decide to go out in the evenings during holidays and festivals. Bring an umbrella (it’s been raining a lot here lately) in case it rains. Bring a good pair of walking shoes in case you decide to start walking home, like we did, and be prepared to wait for a much longer time for a taxi, and, if you live outside of the city center, be prepared to wait even longer for a driver that is willing to actually leave the downtown area to take you home or where else you may need to go.

Last night when we hailed the taxi, the driver told us $3 to take us home, and then once we were in the cab and he looked in the back and he saw five of us, he changed the fare to $4. This was one night that Frank did not balk at the price because it was raining, we were tired, and his foot was hurting so, that we just paid the $4 bucks; but not without letting the driver know that we knew he was overcharging us.

So far, except for last night we have never paid more than $3 dollars for a taxi to take us anywhere in Cuenca. But, like we said, other than holidays and festivals, getting a taxi usually takes less than 10 seconds. And the only other time we’ve seen across the board over charging was around festivals and holidays.

During the festivities going on in Cuenca celebrating "Independence from Spain" it started raining. So we decided to wait out the rain in one of our favorite hangouts, Tutto Freddo's. They are located downtown Cuenca right across the street from the main square, Park Calderon. Tutto Freddo's has delicious desserts and the best ice cream we've ever eaten! It is a bit noisy though.

As hard as one tries to blend in here. there is no way a gringo will ever blend in fully, but when you dress like them, simple, conservative and casual, not a lot of flashy jewelry, you’ll do just fine.  The women don’t wear dresses here. They wear jeans and slacks, blouses and sweaters, same with the men. Basic colors are the norm. Watch the web cam videos under the category “what is Cuenca like?  to see how the Ecuadorians dress. You will notice it is not much different than North Americans except for more conservative. 

We found another amazing restaurant in Cuenca that serves great home-cooked food for just $1.50!! It's unbelievable. The food was very tasty and the service excellent. This restaurant is not in our free Cuenca restaurant guide because we didn't know about it when we wrote the ebook. We sat outside, well sort of outside. We sat in what is called the covered courtyard area. Inside, the restaurant is nicely decorated with nice tables and chairs and a fireplace! Great value here!