Cuenca is the third largest city in Ecuador for population after Guayaquil and Quito. Surrounded by beautiful mountains and crossed by four rivers it was an important site for the Incas and of course later for the Spanish. The majority of roofs are tiled in shades of light to dark terra-cotta and give a pretty overall effect against the green mountains from the Turi viewpoint.
Cuenca is home to a cathedral that dominates Calderon Plaza, even if it’s missing bell towers. They were on the plans but sketches and reality differed in opinion – the bell towers at sketched size would have toppled over they were too big. Kind of like Barbie and her ‘assets’, I figure. Barbie isn’t built out of copious amounts of pink marble from Italy though so maybe that’s why she can drive a dream wagon and Pope John-Paul II liked to visit. The cathedral, he liked to visit the cathedral, not Barbie in her wagon.
Roses are a big export market for Ecuador and the cast offs go to get a second chance at ending up as still-life from the flower market. As seconds they put Aussie blooms in the shade somewhat. I picked out a couple in bright yellow and pink/yellow and paid a dollar for the 60 cents cost, telling the vendor to keep her change. So she gave me a third one, deep red. Three long stem, big, perfectly-formed roses and a photo for a buck. Loving Cuenca.
Contrary to mis-represented history, the Panama hat is not Panamanian at all. It’s Ecuadorean and we had fun trying on several at the Barracos factory before buying what we liked for around $25-30 – a more accessible price than the superior ones going for about $600. The process that goes into turning out a hat is extensive and time-consuming and done by women using a particular brand of palm leaves. And if assistant, Karla is to be believed, Michael Jackson had the goods when it comes to putting on a hat correctly. Mine is Havana style, tan and brown and fabulous.
The Central Bank Museum has interesting displays of Ecuadorean ethnographic history, including creepy mannequins with lopsided wigs, a few real and even creepier shrunken heads, textiles, photos and angry voiceovers if you step in front of the yellow line on the floor to take a closer look. Outside are what remains of Inca ruins after looters and souvenirers took off with most of it. The info board said researchers have deduced that one of the dwellings housed the king’s virginal concubines. I’m loosely paraphrasing. Jo explained what she knew and called them something along the lines of helpful girls who were on their way to a nunnery before which they were very honoured to fetch the king’s slippers. None of us were there – nor are we virginal concubines – so I guess we’ll never know for sure.
Lunch at the Coffee Tree was delicious, and I learned from the big screen of ESPN taking over the view that Tim Cahill plays for New York now. The things you discover in completely unrelated corners of the world, huh?
Back in the four bed suite we pampered ourselves with several episodes of Criminal Minds – because AXN is the only English language channel, and it seems they’ve only bought Criminal Minds for daytime and Hannibal for nighttime. Most of the time I was sitting still so Ivy could put a blonde colour into my hair, then I put a streak through hers and we tried just a little dip dyeing on Camille – we don’t want to ruin the wedding! I don’t look so much like upside down Top Deck chocolate now, thanks Ivy!
Our final dinner in Ecuador was in a building on the main plaza, delicious food under low, uneven ceilings, outside are colonial covered walkways with tall arched pillars. Keep an eye on your fries negotiating what was once a wide pedestrian area now overtaken with picnic blankets crowded in handicrafts and junk metal jewelry and foot traffic pushing in all directions, including several begging for money. A better idea is to take any leftovers you didn’t eat and give that away instead, something we’re trying more and more when the tidal wave that is rice gets a little overwhelming.
