Well, not exactly. The hotel was located on the street named April 12th, our reservation was correct on April 15th. Once here we soon discovered that many streets are named after famous people (no surprise there) AND famous dates. Thus Doce de Abril....
458 years ago today, the city of Cuenca was founded by Gil Ramírez Dávalos. The viceroy of Lima, Andrés Hurtado de Mendoza, had ordered that it be named after his hometown of Cuenca, Spain. Cuenca was once a Cañari settlement called Guapondeleg, meaning "land as big as heaven". After the Incas conquered the Cañari people, the area was renamed Tumibamba (Tomebamba in Spanish). It was controlled by the palace at Pumapungo (see drawing). During the war between Atahualpa and his brother Huáscar for control of the Inca empire, the area was destroyed. There were plans to rebuild, but they never happened. So by the time the Spaniards arrived, all they found were ruins.
{courtesy of David Sasaki, Ecuador Expats Facebook Group}
There has been a week long celebration with Friday and Saturday being the biggest. We have seen some of it but it's practically impossible to see it all.
Ciao for now!
