Posted
on November 3, 2014
I'm
not sure why Cuenca is sometimes called the “Athens of Ecuador.”
But maybe it's because there are so many wonderful old buildings. For
sure, that's the reason the town is a UNESCO World Heritage Trust
site.
People
have lived in this spot in the highlands of the Andes at least 10,000
years! I say that because scientists have found evidence that people
lived in a cave there waaaayyy back in 8060 BCE. These early traces
were nomads who followed animal herds and had a hunting / gathering
lifestyle.
Later
peoples began agriculture, growing things like potatoes, squash, and
quinoa, and raising llamas and alpacas. By 2000 BCE, the people of
what would become Cuenca had organized enough to have people who
specialized in water management, plague control, government, and
religious ceremonies, as well of course as farmers. These Canari
people called their settlement Guapondeleg. When the Inca conquered
the town, they renamed it Tomebamba. It was the Spaniards that gave
Cueca its modern name...well, actually, its proper, and longer, name:
Santa Ana de los cuatros rios de Cuenca. (Saint Ann of the
four rivers of the bowl [or basin])
Cuenca
is around 8,000 feet above sea level – which is pretty high! My
brother lives at that altitude, and I huff and puff when I visit him
because the air is thinner, which means I get less oxygen with each
breath.
The
land around Cuenca is called Paramo, an ecosystem that is both alpine
(high mountain country) and tropical (close to the equator). The
Paramo lies between the forest and the permanent snowline. The plants
of the Paramo evolved from tropical rainforest plants rather than,
say, from temperate forests of North America, and instead of
low-lying moss and shrubs, much of the Paramo features giant rosette
plants and grasses.
Today
Cuenca celebrates its independence from Spain on this date in 1820.
Also
on this date:
Plan
ahead:
Check
out my Pinterest boards for:
And
here are my Pinterest boards for:
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