Cuenca fiesta!

I had timed my visit to Cuenca to coincide with a three-day festival in the city, in celebration of All Saints Day, the Day of the Dead and Cuenca’s Independence Day. The highlight of this festival ought to have been the Parade, on the Saturday but somehow despite going to the tourist office at 9am to enquire about the route, I managed to miss it. Either they gave me the wrong information or my Spanish failed me yet again, but when I turned up at the parade route at 2pm they were packing up the bandstands and collecting the litter! D’oh! 

Nevertheless it was still a great weekend to be in the city: there was loads going on including an artisan market, food festival, go-kart racing and live music all day and night on numerous outdoor stages across the city. The streets were packed with locals and tourists alike and there was a real buzz about the place.

Artisan market beside the river

The Go-Kart race begins!

Cuenca itself seemed like a nice city. There was yet more beautiful colonial architecture, of course, and the centre was compact enough that you could get around on foot, making it easy to get a feel for the place quite quickly. 

Cuenca Cathedral

After exploring on my own for the first day, I met up with an Australian guy called David at dinner, and we hung out for the rest of the weekend, including a mini pub crawl on Friday night, various failed attempts to see the parade on Satuday, and a visit to some nearby markets at Gulaceo and Chordeleg on the Sunday.

Beautiful old lady at Gulaceo market

I also discovered that Panama hats actually originate from Ecuador (not Panama!) and there are dozens of hat-makers in the city, so naturally I invested in one (and actually watched them make the finishing touches for me) in preparation for a very exciting trip...