Cuenca

Situated in a valley in the Southern Ecuadorian Highlands, Cuenca is a colonial gem – a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1999, but dedicated to preservation for 20 years prior to that. I booked a private afternoon city tour, which took me to the many churches (the oldest one is 470 years old), streets and boulevards and colonial mansions preserved in the city. Cuenca is a relatively progressive: cockfighting and bullfighting (so popular throughout Ecuador) are banned here, there are 6 universities (for a city of 450,000), and there are plans to shut down the downtown streets and install trams.

Cuenca is also the leading center for fabrication of the Montechristi hat (known to most of the world as the Panama hat). It got that designation after newspapers around the world published photos showing workers on the Panama canal wearing them (they had been imported from Ecuador for the workers). But it turns out that the reed used in their construction can only be grown on the coast of Ecuador, and so they are still only produced in Ecuador despite the misnomer.

While I was afraid that my time in Ecuador would be all rain, it has been warm and sunny since Friday. Good weather for me spells continued drought for Ecuador – a country that relies on the flows of its rivers for hydro-electric power. As a result, there have been rotating blackouts everywhere (save the big hotels which have their own generators).