Cuendina, Ecuador

I must admit, sometimes I enjoy abandoned haciendas even more than the restored haciendas you can actually stay in. I know I am not alone in this. There have even been books written on this subject such as “The Pleasure of Ruins” by Rose Macaulay. Renaissance painters romanticized Greek ruins, because ruins are eerily beautiful. During the Romantic period of art, there were many paintings of old medieval castles. They are romantic, nostalgic, and wistful. It is looking at a piece of the past that hasn’t been “museumized”. Abandoned buildings are the embodiment of “Once upon A Time”.

For me what it brings up is a feeling of “I wish I had lived in that time, in this beautiful place.” It is the closest I can get to imagining what my life might have been like, living in that time. So I am going to keep on hunting for old abandoned haciendas in Ecuador, and continuing this personal fantasy.

Santa Rosa de Cuendina
The hacienda estate was originally owned by the Jesuits. In the mid 1800’s it was in the hands of the Tobar Espinosa family, later owned by Alvaro Ampudia. (1798-1886) Bought from his heirs in 1915 by Jose Maria Espinosa Acevedo, who probably constructed the present building.

There is Art Nouveau style decorative painting on the walls and ceilings.

You can see the old grandeur in the back of the building.

You can see the bahareque ceiling construction breaking through and deteriorating. I have been told by some Cuenca hacienda owners that it is almost impossible to find workers who know how to repair or reconstruct with this building mode anymore.

There is a caretaker who lives on the grounds.