Market behind the cathedral

Market behind the cathedral

The domed tops of the new cathedral

The interior of the Cathedral

Yet another church

Artwork from the modern art museum

Artwork from the modern art museum

Artwork from the modern art museum

The interior of the New Cathedral

A historic building in Cuenca

A pretty church with light blue spires

An old historic building in Cuenca

Another church just outside of the center

Traditional Ecuadorean masks

A real Tsantsa, a shrunken head

Old Spanish coins

A view of a church through the park at the Pumapunga Museo

Birds at the Pumapunga Museo

A bird of prey at the Pumapunga Museo

Cuenca, Ecuador

The Cultural City of Cuenca

January 26, 2008

Culture is defined by the ones least refined

And you'll be left behind if you don't fit in

- The Offspring

Cuenca seemed to be at the heart of the tourist trail through Ecuador. I suppose that the UNESCO World Heritage site designation, agreeable climate, and charming amalgamation of quaint colonial character and upscale modernism are partly to blame. With around 500,000 people Cuenca is the third largest city in Ecuador, behind Guayaquil and Quito respectively. The city is inundated with churches and museums and appears to have a lot to offer culturally. It is also located about an hour away from Cajas National Park which is supposed to offer great hiking, albeit at high altitudes of around 3,000-4,000 meters.

I was suffering from a cold so I decided that hiking in the dampness at high elevation probably wouldn´t be the best thing, and seeing as I had some pretty rough travels ahead in the wilderness of northern Peru, I wanted to be fully recovered and well for that. Therefore, I limited myself to walking around town and seeing some of the museums, churches, and other sights.

The central plaza is pinned in between two cathedrals, the "new" cathedral and the old cathedral. In reality, they are both old cathedrals, but the new cathedral dominates the landscape with its multiple domed tops and hulking structure. The old cathedral, in contrast, is much smaller and with a $2 fee to enter, I decided to skip it as every other church in town is free. Aside from the two cathedrals there is a modern art museum with some interesting artwork. I usually don´t like modern art, but since the museum was free I decided to check it out, and I was pleasantly surprised by a few nice exhibits.

The biggest museum in Cuenca is the Museo Pumapunga that is more like several museums combined and also includes some ancient ruins, a nice landscaped garden, and a mini aviary, as well as nice views over the newer district of Cuenca. There is a large section of the museum that covers the various indigenous groups of Ecuador and was quite interesting, but the highlight for me was the exhibit on the Tsantsa, or shrunken heads. I had seen a real shrunken head before at the museum at the equator along with a basic guide on how to make one. This exhibit had several different shrunken heads and explained in detail the rituals and ceremonies behind the process. These days it is forbidden by Ecuadorean law to make shrunken heads but as part of the ceremonial process the tribes are allowed to make shrunken heads from sloths, which was previously one of the initial steps.

In the photos of the shrunken heads you can see that the mouths are all tied shut, this was done to prevent the evil spirits, which were thought to reside within, from escaping and poisoning the members of the tribe. When conquering a village the tribe wasn´t entirely barbaric, they would spare the women and children from the shrunken head ceremony. Other than the shrunken heads, there was also a section of the museum with a large coin collection from Ecuador´s monetary history from present day use of the US dollar dating all the way back to 1000. Further wandering of the streets led me to conclude that I had seen the highlights of Cuenca and that it was time to move on and continue south to Vilcabamba, location of the fabled fountain of life.