#2419: Things I like about Cuenca so far

Post 2419

- 9 years and 43 days since I started this blog -

  

Playing at an open mic. I don't know why I even needed to caption this. Wherever I go, wherever I am, this is what I do.

Journal
(written about Feb 8-12, 2020)

Read this once (it won't change for the rest of the trip(s): I'll be linking this post to Facebook. If that's how you got here, here's some background: About 9 years ago I started this blog as a food journal. I had a medical situation and needed to lose weight. Initially, that's all I did here: Journal my food intake and my weight. It contributed to helping me lose 20+% of my body weight in 6 months, and continuing has kept me on track since then. I started adding commentary after a while, but lately it has become infrequent. 

While I'm traveling, I let go of the weight-tracking and food journaling, except for the occasional food shot when I've eaten something interesting. And that's where we find ourselves now.

Can I get a little non-linear? Thank you. My thoughts are a little scrambled, and I thought I'd talk about more impressions than events.

Spoiler: I'm enjoying my time in Cuenca. I could see me moving, living here. When I talk to expats I meet, I'm impressed with their enthusiasm, whether they've been here for months or years.

It's easy here. That's a word a lot of the people I've spoken to who've made the move say. For one thing, there are a lot of those people here, and while it's not a requirement to have a large expat community in the places I'm considering living in, it can sure make the move easier when you have multiple people who've pioneered the way.

Cuenca has spent the last decade or so on everybody's top ten lists of retirement destinations, including some years in the number one slot. I'm not sure whether it's a chicken-and-egg thing, whether the number of people who moved here created that, or so many people moved here because of that, but here we are: Lots of expats.

And they come in all flavors - political, lifestyle choice, race, beliefs. One difference between residents here and in Chiang Mai and Lisbon: A much higher percentage - I'd guess somewhere around ninety percent - are North Americans. Gringos are a minority in Chiang Mai, and Lisbon? I was there for a week before I ran into my first American in Lisbon.

Everywhere I travel, I get a warm welcome. Not because I'm such a great guy, but as the new guy in town, I bring something novel to the mix. Everybody likes to tell their story, and the new guy hears it for the first time. Musicians look forward to testing you (even when warmly welcomed, I'm under no illusions: My performance is being critiqued) to see if you'd be a net add to the scene. 

And it's the same for me, in reverse. I'm always looking for the good in things, but I'm here to test Cuenca as a place to live, and I try to stay open to the good and bad.

So far, it's good, pretty much all the way.

But I'm easy to please.

I continue to be impressed with the local culture, very much present throughout the town, despite the tourist/gringo-oriented businesses and whatever gentrification has happened along the edges. 

The Cuencanos I've encountered while walking around, in the streets, shops and restaurants, seem very warm, friendly and - I can't believe I'm writing this without sarcasm - wholesome. It's like being in Mayberry, but more touchy-feely and, of course, much more dense and diverse (another big positive for me).

The surprise has been to the upside. I'm talking about the food I've been eating. Cuenca will never be the quality/variety food scene that Chiang Mai, LA, NYC or New Orleans are. It is not a foodie destination.

But the food I've had here has been really good. Noteworthy good. And, while Chiang Mai is the best bargain in restaurant eating I've ever experienced (especially given the quality), for the kind of eating I do, Cuenca isn't a lot more expensive - and is much cheaper than anywhere in North America.

I've had mostly excellent meals, including some standouts (curiously enough, many have been fish dishes in this 3-1/2-mile high mountain valley, four hours from the Pacific Ocean).

Another surprise has been the weather. It has been better than I expected, but that could be just another example of how lucky I am. But even on the few bad-weather days, the weather has been relentlessly pleasant.

It has rained here a few times in the last dozen days since I got here, but I have never been caught out in it. And, right after, walking through the damp streets, with the air temporarily cleans ed of any of the normal downtown pollution, is... wait for it... very pleasant!

The weather in the daytime, which is usually cloudy with always-present patches of blue, changes on a dime. It varies from the mid-sixties to low-seventies. But it can go from sunny to raining in an instant. I saw this through a window. I've also experienced a near-instantaneous dozen-degree temperature rise when the sun comes out.

And it's all very pleasant.

Here's a thing I knew about that was better experienced first-hand: The absence of flying insects. At this altitude, the air is too thin for the likes of mosquitoes, flies, and other bugs. They don't have a week to acclimate.

One thing I knew about that has been 100% borne out by frank conversations I've had with expats here, is that the cost of living is low. Low enough for me to live  a comparatively luxurious lifestyle here, and have enough money left over to travel back to the US to visit you all. 

Is it the lowest cost of living around? No, SouthEast Asia has a lock on that, but I would be able to live here exactly as I like, based on only my Social Security check. Easy.

One last thing to mention, that I'm not sure I have before: The water. Cuenca has the best water in South America. Potable tap water. Everybody drinks it. It isn't a big thing, but it's a thing.

Here's everything that I've been doing since my previous blog post: Eating, sleeping, walking, talking with people and making a little music. Having fun.That's life!


This blog's photos can be found in an album here.
 
I have so much to be grateful for.

Food Comment

From Café Nuncatella, vegetable hash and eggs with fresh fruit cup.

From Capitan, salmon with spinach (Florentine).

From A Pedir de Boca: Thai noodles with chicken. This colorful dish did manage to capture some Thai magic, but was a chef's take on the cuisine, with some adds and subracts, the least important of which was using ramen noodles. This dish was as good as it was colorful. One of my favorites.

From Sofy Glocal Cuisine: Hummus and home-made pita on a slab of shale.

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