January 30, 2026 – Spa Day!
This was our last full day in Cuenca. We slept in, really for the first time on the trip. Woke up naturally at 7:30 or so. I had pre-booked a spa day at Piedra de Agua, a famous local spa. I had seen videos about it 6 months earlier and booked it on the off chance that we might really want a day of relaxation and pampering, and I’m so glad I did. We got there at 10am and didn’t leave until 3:30pm. There was a typical waters area of pools at different temperatures outside, but inside, underground and built into the volcanic rock were the various mud baths, steam rooms, and pools. It looked like the underground set of the old Star Trek episode, What Are Little Girls Made Of.
We started with the red mud scrub, moved on to the blue mud scrub, followed by alternating between the hot and cold plunges, then there was the “hot box” which made us both think we looked like Captain Pike (I know I have a real Star Trek thing going on right now), then the salt scrub, and the coffee scrub. After that whole circuit was complete we had a lovely lunch.
After lunch came our one hour and 20 minute massages! Then we hung out in the hot Japanese pool outside for about an hour before we decided to tear ourselves away and go back to the hotel and take a nice nap.
When we woke up we headed back to the historical district and walked around a bunch before going to meet friends for dinner at a lovely rooftop restaurant.
Sara and Kathryn were friends from the cruise who also happened to be in Cuenca. The rooftop restaurant had a great view and we could hear the festivities from the square below. After dinner we watched a bit of the music and dancing in the park and then went to a jazz place for drinks. It was the most interesting looking place. It was like an old giant house that was inside an external facade. Upstairs in the “house” there were several rooms that looked like the old bedrooms, library, dining room etc.. of the house. The women’s bathroom was hard to find, but when I did it was wild.
Rich and I left Sara and Kathryn there because I really wanted to go up to an area called Turi, which was actually close to our hotel. We were told it was a great place to get a good view of the whole city and thought it would be good to go up there at night to see the lights. I am very glad we did, because it was hopping up there!
And this ended our last night in Cuenca.