- A little history.
- General description.
- Tourist attractions.

History of the city and the area...
Cuenca was founded on April 12, 1557 on the order of the viceroy of Peru. The valley that the first inhabitants of the area (the Cañaris Indians) called Guapondeleg, was the site of an old site INCA de Tomebamba. Incas come from the south, called it Paucabamba "valley flowered".
The foundation of Cuenca corresponded to the colonization of new territories for an increasing Spanish population. Very early; craftsmen from Spain and from Italy created schools of architecture, sculpture and painting. Considered formerly in all the Latin America, they are at the origin of the artistic treasures of the city.
The Spanish authorities supported without slackening the urban development, which became one évêché in 1785. Since, the importance of Cuenca was never contradicted.

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General description...
Capitale of the province of Azuay, with a population of 300.000 ha, Cuenca is today the third city of the country, with its three universities, its intense commercial activity and cultural and the artistic life which characterizes it since always.

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Tourist attractions ...
Cuenca has an indefinable charm. Its historical center testifies sumptuously to colonial times.
One strolls with pleasure in the small paved streets, bordered of white houses to the tiled roofs Romance and decorated pretty flowered balconies.
Along the banks of the river, with the turning of a bridge, where lavender fields wash the linen with the force of the wrists. But what makes Cuenca single, resides in the treasures of colonial art which it hiding place in the heart of its many churches and convents of the 17 & 18th centuries.

If the visit of the south of the Andes passes obligatorily by Cuenca. One should not forget to visit its neighbourhoods which are populated picturesque small Amerindian villages whose Gualaceo and Sígsig are only some examples.

The amateurs of parks will not fail, either, to visit splendid Parque recreacíon El Cajas, located at an average altitude of 3.000 m, it counts more than 200 splendid lakes formed by the passage of old glaciers.

The archaeological complex of Ingapirca, witness of the INCA occupation, also deserves that one is delayed there.

More to the south of Cuenca, the Pan-American Highway passes by the valley of Tarquí, place in charge of history and rich in imposing landscapes.
Loja, city little attended by the tourists, undoubtedly because of his distance, succeeded in keeping its seal of antan. Around Loja picturesque small villages such as El Cisne or Vilcabamba revolve, which have an unquestionable charm.