Featured in the Summer 2024 issue of Travel Life magazine
This beautiful UNESCO-listed city is overflowing with charm and opportunities for everything from hiking to horseback riding.
By Diana Ballon
How could I have known when I booked a flight to Quito, Ecuador that I’d end up riding a horse and cycling on a section of the Inca Trail? Isn’t that in Peru? Little did I know that the Inca Trail actually extends across five countries in South America.
While Ecuador has become synonymous with the Galapagos Islands, the Amazon and the Andes Mountains are two other areas where you can enjoy the rich biodiversity and natural beauty so plentiful in this country. On a recent trip, we chose the magical town of Cuenca in the southern part of the country as a base for a four-day deep dive into the rich colonial and Indigenous architecture of this city, and the natural beauty that lies just beyond its borders.
As elsewhere in this small country of Ecuador, there are relatively inexpensive and quick domestic flights that connect the capital of Quito with other parts of the country. In just under an hour, we arrived in Cuenca to begin our journey, guided by the awesome Wilson Galarza of the highly-rated CuencaBestours.
The city of Cuenca
In 1999, Cuenca was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. With a rich culture and beautiful architecture, the city, established in 1557 – is the third largest in Ecuador – has become a popular retirement destination. Its beautiful architecture reflects a mix of Spanish colonial influences — with tiled roofs, balconies and rectangular doors and windows — as well as neoclassical features.
On the day we visit the main square, a “bande de pueblo” plays Andean Ecuadorian music to mark a national holiday. We visit a fruit market, and sample everything from exotic fruits like tree tomatoes and taxo (a type of passionfruit), to guava and guanabano or soursop. We cycle down one of four small rivers in the city, the Tomebamba. And we visit the Homer Ortega museum and store where I buy my first genuine Panama hat. (Here I learn that, as one of the main centres for these toquilla straw hats, 80 percent of the population of Cuenca were involved in producing them in the early 20th Century. Another day, we wander the pretty neighbourhood of San Sebastian, where we stopped for beers on an outdoor terrasse near the beautiful San Pedro del Cebollar Park. We also visit Pumapungo, an outdoor archaeological museum with Incan remains at the top of a hill, and beautiful gardens below.
And while we are there, we enjoy delicious Ecuadorian food from many great restaurants in the city — everything from creamy potato soup to slow-roasted or barbecue pork, chicken, a corn-based mote pillo, fresh fruit and fruit juices and cheesecake for dessert.
Adventures beyond
Cojitambo is a beautiful archaeological site 21 kms northeast of the city of Cuenca on top of a sacred mountain. The rounded stones of Incan ruins here still remain as terraced walls that were formerly shelters for elite runners, or chasquis, who delivered messages throughout the Inca region.
Cojitambo is also considered the best area for rock climbing in Ecuador. Some of the most intrepid in our group rappelled down a steep overhang with amazing dexterity, while I wandered uphill to see the ruins.
Another day we hiked in El Cajas National Park in the Ecuador highlands. We began with a leisurely walk, at 3,100 metres, in forest around Llaviucu Lake. We then took a short drive uphill for a slightly more vigorous hike, at 3,900 metres. Here at La Toreadora Lagoon it is more of an alpine tundra ecosystem with low-lying shrubs and grasses, in an ecosystem sandwiched between forest line and the snowline above.
With about 18 percent of the world’s bird species in Ecuador, including 24 types of hummingbirds, I am not surprised to hear birds all around me. I spot a white-bellied dacnis with a bright blue head in a tree and hear the croaking and growling sounds of toucan all around me. Wispy pampas grass blow in the wind, and I catch sight of a couple of llamas gazing up at us in a field. Myriad colourful flowers provide accent to the velvety green landscape.
And among my favourite activities was horseback riding at Centro Ecuestre Bellavista, a family-owned equestrian centre located just outside the city. I’ll admit — I don’t really know how to ride a horse. But somehow, astride a well-trained Arabian horse, and the close scrutiny of the centre’s owner Sebastian Donoso, I was able to ride 24 kilometres along at trail that rises up into the mountains, through forest, and past bright green fields. I could see the red roofs of homes below me, and horses and cows grazing in the fields. Above, the sky is a brilliant blue, with wispy clouds flowing through it.
Why visit here? Because Cuenca seems to offer something for everyone — from the colonial charm and cobblestone streets of the city, to a rich Indigenous culture, and Andean landscapes ideal for cycling, hiking and rock climbing.
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