Cuenca's local news cycle is unusually useful for travellers and expats right now, with a stack of announcements touching everything from street markets to road works.
The biggest draw for visitors: the G&G feria on 5-6 December at Parque de la Virgen del Milagro, beside the Ciudad de Cuenca high school. More than 40 foreign entrepreneurs will be showing wares across gastronomy, organic products, artisanal food, health services and real estate, with vendors from China, Japan, Korea and the US. Organiser Jacqueline Guerrero says the goal is connecting foreign residents with local businesses to spark trade — useful if you're scouting the expat business scene or just want an eclectic market day.
Getting around is changing too. The city is pulling out two roundabouts — one at av. Pumapungo and Paseo de los Cañaris near Hospital Regional, another on av. de los Cerezos between Ordóñez Lasso and Víctor Manuel Albornoz — and installing traffic lights instead. Works have caused delays for about three weeks, so build in extra time for taxis across the south of the city. Mobility director Berenice Cubides notes Cuenca now has roughly 500 signalised intersections, 190 of them in the Centro Histórico, with 40 added in the last three years. The new setups include traffic islands and better pedestrian crossings.
Also worth knowing: utility company Centrosur has removed 30 tonnes of dead cable from poles in eight months under its 'Adiós tallarines' ('goodbye noodles') programme, so the skyline of tangled wires is slowly tidying up. And if you're travelling with a dog or cat, the health ministry is running free rabies vaccinations at the Mall del Río convention centre on Saturday from 10:00 to 15:00.
On the political front, campaigning is underway for local elections, with spending caps set by the electoral council and candidate debates scheduled for 20 November at the Pumapungo theatre — prefect hopefuls at 16:00, then two groups of mayoral candidates at 18:00 and 19:30. Notables include Pedro Palacios, Yaku Pérez and Paúl Carrasco. Debates cover safety, corruption, mining, mobility and, notably for visitors, tourism promotion.
There are smaller cultural options too: the University of Cuenca has launched a reading circle for over-50s meeting weekly at Casa Rivera near El Vado, and a numismatics expo at the Instituto Tecnoempresarial Wissen showed historic banknotes from around the world.
Why care? If you're planning a trip or a longer stay in Ecuador's third city, these items shape the experience on the ground — where to shop, which intersections to avoid, when the debates might snarl traffic downtown, and how to keep your pet legal on arrival. Cuenca continues to position itself as one of South America's most expat-friendly cities, and events like the December feria are a low-stakes way to meet the community. Source: Cuenca High Life
