Cuenca

The Museo Pumapungo at the Banco Central in Cuenca

The Museo Pumapungo is large as life!  Located in Cuenca’s Banco Central complex, colorfully animated dioramas illustrate the varied cultures in Ecuador.  These displays cover an entire floor and show life-sized examples from the coast, highlands and jungle.  One exhibit features shrunken heads.

Other Pumapungo (“gate of the puma”) exhibits include photographs of early Cuenca life and a historical perspective on Ecuadorian currency.  A special section shows this first 80 years of bank history.  For a limited time, there is also an impressive exhibit called Oro y Plata.  Many pieces of gold, silver and copper artifacts, created by indigenous people throughout Ecuadorian history, are showcased.

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Categories: andean, archeological, blog, canaris, Cuenca, ecuador, inca, photos, ruins, travel | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Baños del Inca (Inca Baths) at Coyoctor

Several important Inca-era ruins are in the Cuenca area.  Two Who Trek took a bus trip to see one of these, the Baños del Inca (Inca Baths) at Coyoctor.  The Baños del Inca is a smaller but no less  historically significant archeological site, compared to others in this part of Ecuador.

The name is a bit misleading.  The site was actually created by the Cañari people, who settled in the area over one thousand years ago.  In the early 15th century, the Incas conquered the Cañaris and absorbed them and their way of life into the Incan culture.  The Incas then modified the Coyoctor site to meet the Inca ritual of water purification.  Collectively, the site includes worship of the moon deity of the Cañari and the sun deity of the Inca. Continue reading

Categories: andean, archeological, blog, Cuenca, ecuador, photos, railroad, travel | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Flowers, flowers and more flowers

Two Who Trek has briefly mentioned the Flower Market in the heart of Cuenca before.  But this place is so special, we decided to give more detail and photos of the flower market.

The traditional Flower Market is on Calle Sucre, across from the new Cathedral.  The market is in a small open-air plaza in front of the Church of El Carmen, a colonial era church.  This square is adorned with the façade of the church and the church is made of carved stone.  Continue reading

Categories: background, blog, Cuenca, ecuador, flowers, gualaceo, markets, photos, travel | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Riding the Ecuadorian Railroad

Two Who Trek likes all forms of transportation, with railroads being a favorite.  So when we had an opportunity to ride an Ecuadorian train, we jumped at the chance.

Ecuador has a national railroad system called “Ferrocarriles de Ecuador”. There are ten train routes in Ecuador, primarily from Quito, and running up and down the western coastal area.  The longest route is 98 kilometers long (about 60 miles).  Two Who Trek had the opportunity to ride the shortest one roundtrip (3.5 kilometers or about 2.2 miles each way) from El Tambo to the pre-Incan ruins at Coyoctor.  We will be posting more on the ruins later, but because Joe likes trains, this post is focusing on the rail travel part.

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Categories: Cuenca, ecuador, photos, railroad, travel, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Making Music the Andean Way

The music of Ecuador is varied.  Listen to classic rock, jazz and salsa coming from taxis with open windows and no riders.  In this city of parades, marching band music abounds.  The local symphony orchestra hosted a recent concert, free of charge, which was wonderful.  (Two Who Trek think it is best described as South America’s version of the Boston Pops.) Continue reading

Categories: andean, blog, celebrations, Cuenca, ecuador, festivals, photos, travel | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Cuenca celebrates Christmas

UPDATE – 1-23-2013 — Two Who Trek attended a presentation yesterday and found there are many more Christmas-related celebrations.  For example, Cuenca holds a Christmas parade that is over 8 hours long.  Plus there is the Festival of the Wikis (no, not information sources.  In this case it is a native word for tears) that starts three days before and ends three days after Christmas.  Daily celebrations occur on the twelve days following Christmas.

Please consider this blog post as being just what Two Who Trek have seen during their stay.  It is not meant to be a complete listing of all the Cuenca celebrations.  If we provided that, WordPress might run out of server space!  Now the original story:

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As Two Who Trek wander through the streets of Cuenca today, the city seems a little less festive.  That’s because the Christmas lights and displays have been stored for another year.  But when we first arrived, we marveled at all the decorations Cuenca had throughout the town.  Continue reading

Categories: blog, celebrations, Christmas, Cuenca, displays, ecuador, festivals, local, photos, travel | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Vacation within a Vacation

or Why has Two Who Trek been quiet so long?

The Spanish studies program in Cuenca offers a four day “spring break” halfway through the month-long stay.  The program organizers encourage students to explore new possibilities during this period.  About half the students in our group stayed in the Cuenca area; a few took advantage of day bus trips offered by the school to nearby towns.  A couple went by van with some Cuencanos to Baños, a resort town to the north, reached by driving through the “Avenue of the Volcanos”

Our program organizers took a van load of students to a coastal resort community in northern Peru.  One couple decided to venture to Macchu Piccu, the place where Two Who Trek made their first trip outside of North America in 2006.

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Categories: blog, classes, Cuenca, ecuador, galapagos national park, lessons, photos, preparation, travel | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Almuerzo, anyone?

After a full morning of Spanish lesson classes, Two Who Trek either enjoy an almuerzo with friends or lunch on their own.  Almuerzos are a restaurant’s lunch special of the day. They include fresh juice, soup, meat, potato, rice and dessert. Portions often look small when compared to typical US servings but are perfect to fill a hungry student! Continue reading

Categories: blog, Cuenca, dining, ecuador, food, food preparation, photos, restaurants, travel | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Spanish School Studies Start Simply

Two Who Trek Visit Markets as Part of the Lessons

For three mornings, Two Who Trek were in Spanish class  at the Simon Bolivar Spanish School.  No big deal, right?  It was for Joe!  Never having studied any language other than French in high school, the first day was a bit disconcerting.  No worries.  Angel is a good instructor and Joe advances at his own pace.  Joe now knows about a hundred Spanish words and is enjoying the challenge.

Sherri’s instructor, Viviana, encourages her to remember previous college classes and build on those lessons.  Even with prior Spanish classes, Sherri really finds it challenging to put thoughts into words in another language. Continue reading

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Cajas National Park

To celebrate New Year’s Day (and because everything was closed in Cuenca for the holiday), Two Who Trek hopped on a bus with fellow travelers and headed for Cajas National Park, located about 30 km to the west of Cuenca.  The road to the park was very good, primarily because the park is located on the main route between Cuenca and Guayakill. Continue reading

Categories: blog, Cuenca, dining, ecuador, food, mountain, photos, restaurants, travel | Tags: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

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