Or at least, everything seemed to be closed. We had heard many good things about Cuenca, but apparently Sunday and Monday were the worst days to visit.
The only activity we could do (without a several hour bus ride outside of the city) was a tour of the New Cathedral of Cuenca, which included the church’s crypt and climbing to the top of its towers for views of the city. It was a surprisingly informative tour, and we’re glad we were able to at least do this!
Street food was another thing we were able to enjoy. Near the main square we found kebabs, cheese covered corn called choclos, and something that looked like ice cream called espumillas, a fruit-based meringue dessert. It is a bit disappointing if you were expecting ice cream, but a tasty treat otherwise. Plus, espumillas were everywhere in Ecuador and we hadn’t tried them yet.
We were also able to find a few decent beers to try. La Compañia Microcerveceria offered great prices on four of their own tap brews. We can’t complain about that! We even shared a few drinks with another American couple we met while searching for beer with actual flavor. Cheers Sarah and Andy, and good luck with the rest of your travels!
On our final day in Cuenca we booked our first night bus to Máncora, a small surf town in northern Peru. The schedule was less than ideal (leaving at 10 pm, arriving at 5 am), but it was literally our only option.
We really wanted to like Cuenca since we’d heard good things about it, but it was hard to appreciate it with everything being closed. It was poor timing, so maybe we will have to come back another time.