Road Trips: Cuenca
Posted by Lee on October 13, 2009
I had to do it, I had to follow the bread crumb trail to Cuenca Ecuador to see why International Living and others haver called it a best place in the world to retire, last week and maybe this week also. I decided to do the trip by bus from Guayaquil Ecuador, I was told the trip was about four hours. About two hours to get out of Guayaquil and through an agricultural valley until turning to ascend the endless slow, mountainous road up 2,500 meters to Cuenca. The road is under construction, has shear drops, landslides, traffic and few places to stop. Not a drive or even a ride would enlist to repeat. The bus fare was $8, there was no air conditioning. Going up the hill the bus was filled, coming back the next day it was empty. Maybe no one leaves Cuenca?
Upon arrival I saw a large city, over 400,000 metro, sitting in a high mountain valley. Cuenca is not to be compared to Boquete Panama, it is an entirely different experience. An old urban core, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, like Caso Viejo Panama surrounded by unsightly urban sprawl.
Cuenca is under contruction, hoping and desiring an influx of new immigrants. The economy appears to need them. Ecuador depends on oil sales and remittences, income from Ecuadorians who leave the country to work and send money home. The world economy has cut that revenue, it has cut oil revenue, it has cut tourism revenue and the pain is spreading.
With a lot of help from my friend Patricia, she selected Cuenca over Boquete, I found a wonderful Hostel for the night. There was no comparing this hostel to Hospedaje Caso Veijo, this was Hostel Casa del Rio was spacious, it was clean, it had hot water and it was empty. I was the only guest.
Obviously in one day in Cuenca I cannot provide anything but first impressions and once I was ensconced in the old quarter I had only one first impression; Antigua Guatemala. This city had the character and flavor and yet according to anecdotal reports is a safe place day or night. It is still not suffering from Gringo inflation or bingo. Prices are very low compared to Panama on most everything. I was never once gouged for being a non local.
If you like big cities, like Spanish colonial charm and like weather a bit colder than Boquete then Cuenca is on first blush an interesting place to explore. I was hard pressed to find a traditional restaurant for dinner, lunch is the main meal in Ecuador so nothing exciting until the next day on food.
It was interesting to wake a seven in the morning and find I had to roust the innkeeper to open the door and let me out. Cuneca starts late. At 7 am I could not find an open place for breakfast or even a cup of coffee, just newspaper sales booths.
With a lot of help from Patricia I discovered the culinary treasure of Cuenca, the municipal market. The nicest I have seen, perhaps ever. A new building laden with everything, Ecuador. We stayed about an hour but I could have moved in for a week.
Fruits and vegetables fresh and abundant including many I could not identify.
Smiling faces at the meat counter and above it all traditional food, lots of it. Including these two Guinea Pigs trying for my attention.
Sadly I had neither the time or appetite for them on this trip. Perhaps next time because I do think Cuenca is worth another visit.
Tomorrow I will be back in Panama City at a conference on offshore retirement, a competitor to International Living. I will be happy to report my observations here after some processing.
There was one interesting observation I made in Cuenca. The few English Speakers I did meet there seemed to have one common thread that you will not find in Boquete. They were lost in a cultural sea, a sea of being a virtually unnoticed minority in an ocean of local culture. The Anglophone community there is scattered and does not have a cultural theme of it’s own. To me after three years in Boquete that seems exciting. I think to enjoy it you either need to relish solitude in an urban environment or be fluent in Spanish and slide into the culture. Language is critical.
This is one thought to consider based upon my experiences and observations for three years, without ever having had the benefit of a sales pitch on off shore retirement. If you decide to make a major move to another culture for retirement remember this; you are making the move. That translates to, regardless of where you are, you need to discover happiness and satisfaction in you, not your environment. This type of change is difficult for anyone. The difficulty is compounded when you are also transitioning your life from work to retirement. My observation is manypeople fail and return to their point of origin within one year.
Comments
8 Responses to “Road Trips: Cuenca”Leave a comment, and if you'd like your own picture to show up next to your comments, go get a gravatar!
Hi Lee. I wonder if you could ask about the schools? Not Spanish schools by the way… schools for kids…
Chao for now…
Julio
Good article Lee. I very much agree with what you say in the last two paragraphs. Happiness is found in oneself. It’s all about the life your build. However, you lost me with your last sentence. I don’t think most people fail and return to their point of origin within one year. At least, I don’t see that happening for people who move to Boquete. Yes, some go back due to health or financial problems or family needs. But I think most people find great happiness here and wouldn’t go back to the states on a bet. That certainly is the case for my wife Ellie and me. We love our life here. It is more peaceful, there is much more social life and enough activities to run you into the ground if you choose to go that route. Jeff
Julio
My friend in Guayaquil has four children, two now medical students, one a architect and one economist. They all speak at least two languages. She says public education is good, private is as in Panama much better.
Jeff
My final statement is a preface to a pending post which is really going to be a warning to people who think by moving out of the US they will find some magic balm to solve their own issues. People transport their own issues with them. I have anecdotally observed a lot of people come and go from Boquete in the three years I have been there. They leave because they were unhappy when they came and did not find a cure, they never will; not in a place.
“They were lost in a cultural sea, a sea of being a virtually unnoticed minority in an ocean of local culture.” – This is called transparency. You will fit in if you don’t stand out.
Bob
Their dilemma is they cannot fit in. They do not have either language or culture. They are too few in proportion to the city to coagulate into a community as there is in Boquete. The comment is to contrast my observation of what is the status of the anglophone community in Boquete compared to what it is Cuenca.
I would think the goal is to learn the language and “slide into the culture” as you put it. The expat community in Boquete is an island, not an assimilation. Being a drop in the ocean of local culture is much better than standing out as an arrogant, critical, entitled foreigner. That’s how anglos are regarded in Boquete. They are treated differently because they ARE different and expect the surrounding community to adjust to them instead of vice versa.
The upside is that many CAN and have found autonomy and assimilation in Boquete–by speaking the language, associating with locals, avoiding the pack mentality and developing interests outside themselves. It’s just harder to do because of the impressions made by a critical and complaining majority.