Live for less: Charming Cuenca, Ecuador, courts American expats

CUENCA,Ecuador — It’s Sunday afternoon, and multiple flat-screen TVs are broadcasting football at Inca Lounge and Bistro in this quaint town 8,400 feet above sea level in Ecuador.

The teams that are playing are not Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, or even Ecuador’s own national football team.

They are the Buffalo Bills, Washington Redskins and New England Patriots.

The bar is filled with U.S. retirees and tourists ordering burgers and beer. English is the predominant language and patrons settle their checks with U.S. dollars.

In recent years, U.S. citizens have been bypassing Miami and heading farther south to live out their retirements here. This UNESCO World Heritage site, a former Inca capital, appeals with its cheap real estate, year-round spring-like weather, colonial architecture, cobblestone streets, affordable health care, and use of the U.S. dollar as its currency.

This year, International Living Magazine named Ecuador the second-best place to retire in its annual retirement index, with Cuenca being one of the top draws. It was bested only by Panama.

“I like to call it expat light,” says Mike Sena, the owner of Inca Lounge, who was born in Alaska and lived in Albuquerque. “You can come here with your English and learn as you go.”

Cuenca's unique appeal

About 5,000 expats now live in Cuenca, Ecuador’s third largest city, says Tania Sarmiento, director of the Tourism for Cuenca Municipal Foundation. That’s not a huge percentage of Cuenca’s 350,000 residents, but the presence of foreigners has made an impact by encouraging the opening of restaurants and shops and the building of a new tram set to debut this year.

That, in turn, has attracted tourists who typically are looking for another stop on the way to the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador’s most renowned attraction.

Getting to Cuenca takes barely an hour by plane from Quito, the nation’s capital. There are plenty of non-stop flights from New York to Quito, making it an easy journey.

At the Monastery of El Carmen de la Asuncion, I queue up to buy a cup of the popular beverage “agua de pitimas” from a window. It is made from herbs and flowers by nuns who rarely appear in public. It’s supposed to relax and heal. It better, because no one would choose it for the taste.

“It’s a healthy water,” says Julia Calderon, a Cuenca resident who sips the beverage with her children. “It helps the nervous system. That’s why we drink it. It’s a tradition. Look at the long line.”

Beside the monastery is a bustling flower market. Each stand is run by a hearty woman who juggles trimming flowers and negotiating with clients.

Dorinda Pilko’s stand is among the busiest. She says she’s been selling flowers for about 40 years. She alternates between kissing her clients on the cheek and calling them “mi amor” (“my love”) and berating them for lowballing her.

Towering over the market is the Catedral de la Inmaculada Concepción, also known as the New Cathedral, because its construction started in 1885 and didn't end until 1968. Its eclectic look combines Gothic and Renaissance architectural styles.

“It’s the best park in Ecuador,” Pilko gushes.

People-watching is a favorite pastime at the market. That seems to be what 77-year-old lifetime Cuencano Arturo Cherrez is doing when I plop down next to him.

We chat about his hometown, but are regularly interrupted by friends and acquaintances greeting him. “It’s changed a lot,” he says of Cuenca. “The population has increased. People from all over come.”

Americans abroad

Jim Gala came down from Rochester, N.Y., to open the Jazz Society Cafe, where on a recent night saxophone players from New York City and Spain give an exhilarating performance accompanied by Gala on the piano.

"Cuenca is supposed to be the jewel of Ecuador and we wanted to add one more facet to that jewel," Gala says. "It's a walkable city, it's safe, it's charming, it's accessible and it's got natural beauty."

Dorie Deal and Bob Hoerster moved down from New Mexico and Texas, respectively. They ran their own businesses there but decided to sell their homes and buy a colonial house in Cuenca in 2010. Built in the 1850s for an archbishop, it is a so-called “patrimony” house. The couple painstakingly restored the three-story structure and its Spanish-style courtyard, consulting with the city’s historical society every step of the way.

“You can’t just go to Home Depot. There are no Home Depots in Ecuador,” Hoerster says as he sips a glass of wine in the parlor.

The result is a gorgeous and impeccably decorated home in the middle of the city’s 500-year-old historical center. The couple designed it to serve as a bed-and-breakfast someday.

The rooftop’s view of the domes of the cathedrals — Cuenca has 52 churches so you can go to a different one each Sunday — is reminiscent of the Florence skyline.

“It reminds me of Italy. I like Italy,” Deal says as she gives me a tour of the house.

The architecture of the historical center, with houses adorned with wrought-iron balconies, is just one of the attributes that makes Cuenca special. Even though it’s in the mountains, it’s a city with plenty of water. Four rivers cut through it, and there are many new bars and restaurants along Calle Larga, the main drag by the water.

Many Cuencanos have maintained their indigenous culture. A common sight around town is a woman wearing a bowler hat, colorful embroidered skirt, a shawl and braided hair.

One afternoon, I take a short cab ride to tour the Homero Ortega hat factory, one of the first makers of the Panama hat, which, by the way, was created in Ecuador and not Panama. (It became commonly known as the Panama hat because workers on the Panama Canal wore the hats to shield them from the sun.)

From guinea pig to granola

The culinary scene is also ramping up. Cuy, or roasted guinea pig, is a delicacy, but I can’t bring myself to try it. I don’t have to because many new restaurants around town are modernizing Ecuadorian cuisine. At El Mercado, I have an humita, a tamale made with sweet corn that is normally stuffed with cheese and can be found in bodegas and other casual spots. Here, it’s presented in an elegant fashion topped with chorizo.

“We tried to break the rules in the sense of doing salads, cutting the carbs,” says owner Roberto Mora, a native Cuencano.

Expats are also making their mark on the culinary front. Lindsay and Adam Burton, siblings from Texas, serve Austin migas, a California chicken wrap, an Aloha Burger, and Thai quinoa at Café San Sebas next to the Museum of Modern Art and San Sebastian Church.

It was more affordable to open a business in Cuenca than anywhere in the USA. But they were still worried about whether or not the community would embrace them.

“When we came down here it was kind of the Wild West,” 30-year-old Lindsay Burton says as I dine on homemade granola, fruit and yogurt.

The restaurant is packed for Sunday brunch with locals and expats. Clearly, the community has embraced the Burtons.

“I have no desire to go back,” she says.