Leaving Baños de Agua Santa wasn’t easy. Our Airbnb host loved us, the town was lovely, and the great outdoors was always within easy reach. Even without a car! But our eighth month of travel is now over, and it is time to move on to our next Airbnb in Cuenca Ecuador.
Although it is true that leaving Baños isn’t easy, Cuenca has its own globally famous charms. And we are looking forward to experiencing them firsthand.
Cuenca is a vibrant Spanish colonial city in southern Ecuador. It is the third largest city in the country (~450,000 residents) and is the capital of Azuay Province. Cuenca lies in a mountain valley at about 2,500 m (8,200 ft).
The city is famous for its colorful festivals, distinct food, and breathtaking scenery. Because of its history and state of preservation, Cuenca is one of Ecuador’s three UNESCO World Heritage Trust sites (the others are Quito and the Galápagos Islands).
And to top things off, Cuenca can be used as a base of operations for local excursions into nearby national parks.
In other words, Cuenca has something for pretty much everybody.
Getting from Baños de Agua Santa to our Airbnb in Cuenca Ecuador
It was actually pretty straightforward.
All we needed to do was purchase bus tickets from the bus station in Baños de Agua Santa for $14 per person.
Pretty reasonable, considering this is a 7-hour trip by car.
The bus ride itself, unfortunately, took 9 hours, due to multiple stops along the way to pick up and drop off passengers.
There was even one 40-minute detour through the remote countryside on a winding single-track dirt road barely suitable for cars let alone large tour buses.
In the picture, the single-track dirt road begins off to the left.
Apparently, the nearby section of the main highway was closed (the recent earthquake, perhaps?), but we made it through the detour without much problem.
If not for the detour, we wouldn’t have seen this giant monument! Not exactly sure what it was all about though.
Two things made the ride a little less enjoyable than a 9-hour ride through gorgeous mountain scenery should have been.
First, there was only one bathroom break, at about the halfway point of the trip. Thankfully Rhonda and I have learned to be a bit paranoid about such things, and we were decaffeinated and slightly dehydrated before the trip began. It ended up being fine, but we were kind of amazed that there was only one stop.
Second, about a third of the way into the trip the altitude triggered my third (!) episode of altitude sickness. If you missed my whining about it in my last post, you can read all about it HERE.
We ended up rolling into Cuenca at around 6 pm. We hailed a taxi, which then took us and our luggage to our new Airbnb ($3 USD with tip).
This Airbnb is clearly the most modern of any we have stayed in so far. We don’t really have a preference either way if our basic needs are met, but I do admit that the change is pretty cool.
And the location is top-tier. We are right off of Calle Larga, the most “happening” street in all of Cuenca. We even have a back entrance that leads to a gorgeous walking path along Rio Tomebamba. And if you follow that path, easy shopping and tourism opportunities abound.
Speaking for myself, it is certainly the most modern and well-situated apartment I have ever stayed in anywhere, including the USA.
Think about that for a moment, before I reveal the rental price at the end of the post.
So let us show you our place, which is part of a condominium complex!
When you enter the very unassuming entrance, you walk into a stone-paved courtyard with gorgeous plantings, common-use BBQ facilities, and general seating for gatherings.
If you go down the stairs you enter an open hallway.
See the white tank on the left? That’s a filter for potable water.
If you turn immediately left, there are free-to-use laundry facilities next door to our apartment.
Entering our 1 bedroom apartment, you can immediately see the living room zone with a couch and big TV.
Standing next to the couch and turning 180 degrees, you can better view the well-appointed kitchen. Wish there was a little more counter space though!
Standing next to the TV, you can better view the dining area (and main entrance), as well as the double sliding doors that lead to the bedroom.
Opening the sliding doors, you can see that we have a true king-sized bed (yay!), plenty of storage, nightstands, and desk working areas.
And the double doors inside the bedroom lead to the small, but well-appointed, bathroom.
But wait, there’s more!
If you go back into the BBQ area outside and go upstairs instead of down, the stairway leads to a sweet terrace with an enclosed solarium (yay!) for when it rains or is chilly.
After reaching the top of the stairs, you first see the solarium.
And then you see the main patio area with lounge chairs…
And a table area for productivity or socializing.
The view of Cuenca from here is fantastic!
Finally, I previously mentioned the back entrance access to Rio Tomebamba and the walking path, so here are some teaser photos. More will be coming in future posts!
Our back entrance dumps you out on this street.
The street leads immediately to this bridge.
Bridge view of Rio Tomebamba
The river walking path. We’ll eventually find out how far it goes!
So for all of this, including utilities, drinking water, blazing-fast internet, and weekly house cleaning service, we are paying $21.50 USD per night (with the 28% long-stay discount).
A little more expensive than normal for us, but the bang-for-buck of this place, along with its prime location in the most visited city in Ecuador, make it totally worth the money.
We are very pleased.
Personally, I suspect that this Airbnb will have many of the same broad location-based perks that our Airbnb in Lima, Peru had, which is saying something.
Got any questions? Please leave a comment below!
Until next time…
Thanks for reading!
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