Where Exactly is
Cuenca and Ecuador?
Tom and I have both lived abroad, and have been around the
globe a few times. We have always loved
long distance travel; however, South America was never really on our radar –
other than Buenos Aires or Rio.
I knew Ecuador was somewhere in South America. That was about it. I didn’t know that the Galapagos Islands were
part of Ecuador (I thought Peru) I knew
nothing about the history, culture, people, etc.
I’ll save you the trouble of Googling a few items. Ecuador is on the northwest side of the
South American continent. It is south
of Columbia, north of Peru, and west of Brazil. The equator goes through the
northern section of the country near the capital city of Quito; therefore, most
of the country is actually in the Southern Hemisphere. Equator.
Ecuador. Get it?
Seasons are reversed from those of North America. For example, the US is in autumn, and Ecuador
is in spring. Because it is on the
equator, the weather doesn’t change that much.
Many describe Cuenca’s weather as spring-like year-round. “Spring-like” varies from person to person,
but houses do not have air conditioning or furnaces. Think of San Francisco or Pacific Northwest
weather....sort of.
Ecuador is about the size as New Mexico. 15 million people. It has hot beaches on the Pacific Ocean,
Andes Mountains running along the middle spine of the country, and Amazon
jungle on the eastern side of the country.
No wonder tourism is so popular!
Cuenca is the 3rd largest city. 333,000 people. It is located in the south, at about 8,400
feet in the Andes. I would compare it
to our San Francisco: highly educated,
cultural, architecture galore, historical, artsy, wealthy, fashionable, defined
neighborhoods……and fiercely independent.
It has a nice airport (no international flights yet) big malls,
international businesses, nice parks, great healthcare, on and on. All of these reasons drew us to Cuenca over
the capital of Quito.
When (not “IF”) you visit us, you will fly into either
Quito or Guayaquil – each about a 4.5-hour flight from the US. Delta, United and American all fly to
Ecuador. There are also Ecuadorian
carriers (primarily LAN and TAME) flying from the US.
 |
| Quito's new airport (UIO) |
From Quito (UIO), it is
a short 45-minute flight to Cuenca on your choice of outstanding Ecuadorian
airlines. Seriously – they serve a snack
and drinks on an Airbus 320 on that short of a flight. And the flight attendants look like models. Tom and I are airplane geeks, and I’m telling
you: Ecuadorians LOVE their airlines!
English is spoken by everyone you will come into contact with both in
the terminal and in the air. This is a
new airport located quite some distance from central Quito.
 |
| Guayaquil's airport (GYE) |
From Guayaquil (GYE) (on
the coast) it is about a 4+ hour car ride to Cuenca.
No air service (over the years, air service has come/gone between the
two) There are also buses that regularly
make the trip; however, most ex-pats just hire a private car or van. We are doing this option when we arrive in
February because of the amount of luggage we will be carrying (more on that
later!) We’ve never flown via Guayaquil,
but by all accounts, it is a very large, modern airport.
 |
| Cuenca's airport (CUE) |
Cuenca’s airport is much
smaller. It is located smack dab in the
city itself. Surrounding neighborhoods
quickly learn flight schedules, I’m sure!
It is very clean and modern. All
signage is in English as well as Spanish (of course) Again, everyone you come into contact with in
the terminal will speak English.
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