'Chulla Vida' — First-Ever Cuenca-Produced Comedy Series Premieres on Ecuavisa Play

Cuenca has always produced poets, musicians, and artists. Now it is producing television.

The Premiere

On February 19, 2026, "Chulla Vida" became the first-ever comedy miniseries produced entirely in Cuenca when it premiered on Ecuavisa Play, Ecuador's leading streaming platform operated by national broadcaster Ecuavisa. The series marks a milestone for Cuenca's creative economy and establishes the city as a viable production hub for Ecuadorian entertainment content.

The title is a play on the Kichwa-influenced Ecuadorian slang "chulla" (meaning one, single, or unique) and "vida" (life) — roughly translating to "one life to live" or "this unique life." It captures the distinctly cuencano sensibility of finding humor, warmth, and meaning in everyday situations.

The Series

Chulla Vida consists of seven episodes, each running 16-20 minutes, following four characters who are forced by circumstance to share a single home in Cuenca. The comedy emerges from the collision of personalities, backgrounds, and the small indignities of communal living — a premise that resonates in a city where housing costs have risen sharply and younger cuencanos increasingly share spaces.

| Detail | Info | |--------|------| | Episodes | 7 | | Runtime | 16-20 minutes each | | Genre | Comedy/Dramedy | | Language | Spanish (with cuencano expressions) | | Platform | Ecuavisa Play | | Pricing | Episode 1: Free / Full season: $19.99 | | Production | Entirely filmed in Cuenca |

The series was filmed over five intensive weeks in late 2025, employing 69 crew members — nearly all from Cuenca and the surrounding Azuay province. The production utilized 42 distinct Cuenca locations, turning the city itself into a co-star.

Filming Locations — A Tour of Cuenca

For expats who call Cuenca home, much of the fun of Chulla Vida lies in recognizing the locations that appear on screen. The production filmed across iconic and everyday Cuenca settings:

• El Centro Historico — UNESCO World Heritage colonial core, including shots along Calle Larga and the Tomebamba river walk
• Mercado 10 de Agosto — the city's beloved central market, where characters shop for produce and navigate the controlled chaos of market day
• Parque Calderon — the main plaza with its blue-domed Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
• El Barranco — the scenic bluffs above the Tomebamba River, one of Cuenca's most photographed areas
• Turi viewpoint — the hilltop lookout south of the city with panoramic views
• Neighborhood tiendas and cafes throughout the city, capturing the texture of daily life in Cuenca

The decision to film exclusively in Cuenca rather than using Quito or Guayaquil studios was deliberate. The producers wanted the city's architecture, light, and atmosphere to be inseparable from the story.

Cultural Significance

Several aspects of Chulla Vida deserve attention beyond the comedy:

Cuencano Spanish on a national platform. Cuencanos speak a distinctive variety of Spanish — slower, more musical, and peppered with Kichwa-influenced expressions that Quitenos and Guayaquilenos sometimes find amusing. The series puts cuencano speech on a national streaming platform without apology, featuring expressions like "achachay" (it is cold), "ve" (an all-purpose filler word), and the distinctive cuencano use of diminutives.

For Spanish-learning expats, this is a goldmine. Hearing cuencano Spanish in a comedy context — with visual cues and situational humor — is one of the most natural ways to absorb the local dialect.

Trans representation. The series naturally incorporates a transgender character without making their identity the centerpiece of a "very special episode." The character simply exists within the ensemble, their transness part of who they are but not their entire storyline. In a Catholic, conservative city like Cuenca, this is quietly significant — and reflects the slow but real evolution of social attitudes in Ecuadorian highland culture.

Local creative economy. The 69-person crew represents a meaningful investment in Cuenca's creative workforce. Camera operators, sound engineers, editors, production designers, costumers, and actors who might previously have needed to relocate to Quito or Guayaquil for work can now find opportunities in their home city. If Chulla Vida succeeds commercially, it creates a template for more Cuenca-based productions.

The Business Model

Ecuavisa Play uses a freemium model — the first episode of Chulla Vida is available for free, with the full season priced at $19.99. By Ecuadorian standards, this is a significant ask. Netflix in Ecuador costs approximately $10-15/month, and many Ecuadorians access streaming content through shared accounts or informal channels.

The pricing strategy suggests the producers are targeting a specific audience: middle-class Ecuadorians, diaspora viewers in the United States and Spain (where Ecuavisa Play is accessible), and the expat community — who are accustomed to paying for streaming content and may be curious about locally produced material.

Ecuador's Streaming Landscape

Chulla Vida enters a growing but still nascent Ecuadorian streaming market:

• Ecuavisa Play: Ecuador's largest domestic streaming platform, backed by the country's most-watched television network
• Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+: Available in Ecuador, primarily carrying international content with some Latin American originals
• YouTube: Remains the most popular streaming platform in Ecuador by user count, with many independent creators producing Ecuadorian content

Ecuadorian-produced content has historically been limited to telenovelas and news programming, mostly from Quito and Guayaquil. Chulla Vida represents a new category — locally produced, city-specific, streaming-first comedy.

What This Means for Expats

• It is a window into cuencano culture. If you live in Cuenca and want to understand the humor, social dynamics, and daily rhythms of your adopted city, Chulla Vida offers an accessible entry point. Comedy reveals what a culture finds funny — which tells you a lot about what it values
• Spanish practice with local flavor. The series uses everyday cuencano Spanish in naturalistic settings. Watching with Spanish subtitles (if available) is an excellent language learning exercise. You will hear expressions that your Ecuadorian neighbors use daily but that textbooks never cover
• Recognizable locations make it personal. When you see characters walking past the market where you buy your groceries or sitting in the park where you drink coffee, the connection to place deepens. It transforms Cuenca from a city you live in to a city you share with its stories
• Supporting local creative economy. At $19.99 for the full season, buying Chulla Vida is a tangible way to support Cuenca's growing creative sector. If the series succeeds, it creates opportunities for more local productions — and a more vibrant cultural scene benefits everyone
• The trans representation matters. For LGBTQ+ expats or allies, the normalization of trans identity in a mainstream cuencano production is a positive signal about the direction of local social attitudes
• Date night or Spanish study group material. Grab some empanadas, open a bottle of Ecuadorian wine, and stream Chulla Vida with friends. Short episodes (16-20 minutes) make it easy to watch one episode and discuss — perfect for language exchange meetups or social gatherings

Sources: El Mercurio, Ecuavisa, CuencaHighLife