Shopping in Cuenca

Everyone moving to Ecuador faces the same question. “What should we bring?” There is no way to know ahead of time what you might need that can or cannot be purchased here or what item will be much more expensive than in the US. We made a huge mistake selling many of our valued possessions before we came yet we shipped a 40’ container with our best items. Furniture can be hand made by many shops that only need a photo of the piece you want and the fabric you wish to cover it with. There are a number of small computer stores where you can buy Toshiba laptops, generic desktops and most accessories. Electronic stores are all over town but have a limited selection. For instance TV’s are LG, Samsung, Sony and some off brands. Clothing is another story. There are many small women’s clothing stores with very upscale merchandise but there will only be a selection of one or two of each item so size becomes an issue. If you see something that you like and it fits, buy it now as it will not be there next week. Girls children’s clothes are quite easy to find but there is little available for boys. Many Expatriates with children have clothing brought here when friends visit from the US. But there are many extremely interesting stores. Panama hats are made here not in Panama and the stores are fascinating. There is a copper shop on a long hill up into town where two men sit in an old stone doorway and pound copper with hammers into pots, pans and all sorts of interesting stuff. A little further up, in another hole in the wall, there is a one man barber shop, filled with people waiting as the barber shaves Indians faces with a long straight razor. There must be 150 wide stone steps up the hill to town. Most of the locals stride right up but we take a couple of breaks on the way pretending to look out over the town at the view as we catch our breath. Remember, Cuenca is at about 8000 feet above sea level. Once in the old part of town, there are no really big stores except for the huge Indian mercados filled with fruits, vegetables, meat and live animals.

But everywhere, up and down the streets, there are room size store fronts usually with an eclectic mix of things for sale. One store will sell mattresses, the next handmade furniture, the next might be a minimarket, the next a DVD store selling pirated DVD’s for $1.50 each, the next a woman cooking rice and chicken in a big pot and serving it at two tables in plastic bowls with a spoon. Then the next block will be a repeat of the same type of stores. On and on it goes for block after block interspersed with these Mom and Pop stores which is how most people here make their living. We have one huge mall called Mall Del Rio that has almost everything you could ask for including a large Wallmart-like store called Coral and a movie complex. By the way, almost all movies on TV are in English with Spanish subtitles. If you have Direct TV at home as we do, and if the program happens to be in Spanish there is a little yellow button on the remote that switches the spoken language from Spanish to English.