Cuenca, Ecuador

We stayed in Cuenca for a week, and it felt like much longer, as it had the most "Westernized" feel of any city we visited. Many American ex-pats have chosen to retire or stay for an extended time in Cuenca; I could nudge Larry with a "gringo alert" many times a day, walking down the street. Cuenca is a friendly, inviting, clean, and beautiful city, with cultural attractions including free symphony orchestra performances. It has a major university and the requisite outstanding cathedral, in this case two of them.

We took a double-decker bus tour of the city which wound its way up into the hills overlooking Cuenca for wonderful views of the city. We also enjoyed several museums and looked at many of the churches in the area.

The downside of Cuenca is the feeling that is hard to shake that it is not all a stage set - cities like Lima and Quito, even Loja and Trujillo, "feel" like real cities with a lot of earthy goings-on. Cuenca, perhaps because of the influx of Americans, at times did not feel like a truly South American city. In spite of this, I really enjoyed it and would happily spend some months there.