I came to Ecuador for four months for my internship and I spend half of my days in Quito and half in Cuenca. I was surprised by how easily I managed to adapt to the lifestyle of the Ecuadorians and I knew straight away that I loved this country. Quito and Cuenca where my home and in this blog I will walk you through my experiences with both cities.
When I arrived to Ecuador over two months ago, I lived and worked in Quito for the first three weeks of my internship. I fell in love with the city straight away which I found odd because I normally do not like big cities. Often, I feel uneasy and lost but Quito felt familiar and welcoming from the very first day. The locals are very friendly and helpful and the atmosphere is wonderful. Furthermore, I stayed in a long term hostel where I was able to meet some amazing people and when I befriended some locals I was able to discover the city from a different perspective.
What I adored most about Quito were all the parks distributed around the city. The one that I loved the most is called ‘Parque Metropolitano’ which was right in the backyard of our hostel. The park is an amazing tranquil place where llamas roam freely and people have picnics and BBQ.
After having spent three weeks in Quito, I moved to Cuenca to work and live there for about seven weeks. I immediately felt the different energy of the city and it almost scared me. Cuenca feels like a really small town because everything seems to happen in the historic center, whereas it really is the third biggest city in Ecuador. After a week I got to meet some locals and started to see the city from a different perspective and from that moment on I adored Cuenca. Nature is all around and my favourite spots to go are walking down the river and the park called ‘Parque el Paraiso’. Here you can spend endless days relaxing in the shade of a tree and enjoying the wildlife such as hummingbirds and Lamas.
In Cuenca you can reach everything by foot so you will hardly ever need to take a taxi. In Quito however, you will almost always need to take a bus, taxi or an Uber to get anywhere. Once I visited the Teleférico I realized how enormous the city really is. Quito is only 5 kilometres wide but it spread out over 40 kilometres.
True Ecuador Travel hosts international interns for periods of 3 months or more to gain valuable experience in working in the tourism sector. We invite them to create blog posts periodically throughout their internship to highlight their impressions of Ecuador and their work with us.
I love history, languages and reading novels. My biggest passion is gardening, nature and sustainability. I would love to move to a different country and follow a course in permaculture. In the future I would like to own a farm, live mostly self-sufficient and start my own business.