Learn Spanish in Ecuador's Most Beautiful City

Monday, July 25, 2005
Cuenca, Ecuador

 
Cuenca is not only a uniquely beautiful Colonial city. Present-day residents
of the city produce some of the finest painting, sculpture, music, and
handicrafts in South America, giving you plenty to talk about when
you visit to study Spanish.

Dear International Living Reader,

Would you like to explore Ecuador's cultural capital and learn Spanish at the same time? Here's an offer that's hard to refuse.

Simon Bolivar Spanish School in Cuenca is offering a Spanish instruction program to beginners for $50 a week. The best part of the deal, says Kjetil Haugan, director of Bolivar, which also has a location in Quito, is that you're in Cuenca. "The city is extremely popular with our students. It's friendly and charming and easy to navigate by foot," he says, adding, "And there's always a lot to do here."

Ask citizens of Quito and Guayaquil what their country's most beautiful city is, and most likely they'll tell you that it's Cuenca. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Trust site in 1999, Cuenca is perched at a cool 8,300 feet in Ecuador's southern sierra and was a South American arts and crafts mecca long before the Spanish conquest. Referred to in one travel guide as "South America's most European city" because of its cultural heritage and colonial architecture, Cuenca produces some of the continent's finest painting, sculpture, music, and handicrafts.

Although many know the city as the hub of Ecuador's Panama hat trade, it is also a center for ceramics, jewelry, leather, textile, and furniture crafts.

Cuenca's rich history and arts culture and year-round spring-like weather is attracting increasing numbers of North Americans and Europeans. The Spanish colonial district supports a number of restaurants and bars popular with foreign residents, several of them owned by expats. Ask foreigners why they're here and they'll tell you it's a combination of the weather, the culture, and the fact that the city is large enough to offer big city infrastructure (just under 500,000 population) while maintaining its small, colonial town intimacy.

Simon Bolivar's Spanish program includes 20 hours of instruction per week with a four-week minimum. The program includes airport pick-up, a city tour, salsa lessons, Internet access, and a field trip to Ingapirca, Ecuador's most impressive Incan ruin. To sign up and to get more information, contact the school by e-mail at info@bolivar2.com. The school's website is www.bolivar2.com.

If you're considering buying real estate in Cuenca, take a look at the three-bedroom apartment a block-and-a-half from Calderon Square, the heart of Cuenca, on offer for $45,000. If you need more leg room, check out the sprawling 10-bedroom, 10-bath hacienda in a sub-tropical valley 45 minutes south of town. The 25-acre property has several out buildings, including a chapel that seats 70. The asking price: $350,000. For more information, contact Kathy Gonzalez at Kathy@CuencaRealEstate.com, or check her website, www.CuencaRealEstate.com. In Vilcabamba, Andre Grossenbacher can tell you about a house on the edge of town for only $25,000. The downstairs is new (and lived in) and the upstairs is awaiting completion. Contact him at AGrossenba@hotmail.com.

David Morrill
For International Living

Editor's Note: Some countries offer low costs of living. Others hide good real estate buys…or attractive business opportunities. But, in two decades of looking, we've never found a country that offers all of these things in abundance…plus perfect year-round weather…except Ecuador. Get the details about these and other reasons to take a closer look at this unspoiled retirement haven in Ecuador: The Owner's Manual.

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Ecuador: further resources
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* Whether you long for a beachside hideaway… a bougainvillea-filled courtyard in a colonial retreat… a quiet valley home surrounded by snow-capped peaks…or an elegant pied-a-terre in a cosmopolitan capital… You can find it in the 14 unique havens we'd like to tell you about in International Living's new Live Overseas Kit.

* "Yes, by all means, you should know what's going on politically here in Ecuador. However, you should know what's really going on. Here's the real story…"

* "When we first toured Ecuador, one look at Colonial Cuenca was all it took…"

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