Live and Retire in Ecuador

Hello everyone.

This blog is dedicated to Cuenca - Ecuador. The most beautiful place to live and retire in the world.

It is no wonder Cuenca was named the "Number One Retirement Haven"in the world for 2009. With a population of around 500,000 people, Cuenca is large enough to find all the amenities you want, yet small enough not to have the crime rates found in a larger city.

Cuenca is located in the southern Sierra at an elevation of 8,200 feet and is an UNESCO World Heritage site. Cuenca is believed to have been f one of their three Incas' most important cities, the ruins of which are still visible on the grounds of the Banco Central Museum. The Spaniards finally laid claim and gave it the name it has today. Cuenca was officially founded in 1557.

We who live in Cuenca believe this is truly a magical place. From it's cobblestone streets to the thriving downtown shops in stunning colonial buildings to the boundaries defined by 4 beautiful, rushing mountain rivers from which came it's formal name of Santa Ana de Los Cuatro Rios de Cuenca. (Santa Ana of the four rivers of Cuenca). From its genteel residents to the value Cuenca culture places on ethnicity, art and education. Cuenca is truly a glorious and civil world unto it's own. If you ever dreamed of stepping back in time to a more civil society where the cost of living was what it used to be; where you knew your neighbors and life revolved around more than the high cost of daily life,you could not find a more magical spot than Cuenca. Elders are respected here, not discarded. Young people love art and jazz as much as their elders. Cuenca thrives on creativity and the evidence is abundant on every street, in every plaza and in the overwhelming number of art and music opportunities that occur here on a weekly basis.

Cuenca is dotted with galleries, antiques, old world ‘tallers' who will handcraft whatever you need, from clothing to copper pots and pans to hand carved furniture. It seems there is a jewelry store, a shoe store, a vitamin store and of course, a bakery on virtually every block in town.Pick up a dozen long-stemmed roses in the flower market for around $4.00