A Cuenca Artist Just Turned Cajas' Birds Into a Deck of Playing Cards — And the First Decks Drop Today

If you've hiked Cajas and tried (and failed) to identify the small bird that flew past you, here's an unusually charming solution: a deck of playing cards.

Cuenca-based artist Jaime Lara has spent recent months painting 53 watercolors of birds from Cajas National Park, one per card, each labeled with both its scientific name and its regional name. The deck launches today, Wednesday May 13, 2026, at the cultural center Casa de la Lira in the El Vado neighborhood.

What's in the Deck

The 53 species depicted include:

• Andean Condor (cóndor)
• Ecuadorian Parakeet (lorito ecuatoriano)
• High-Andean Tanager (azulito alto andino)
• Peregrine Falcon (halcón peregrino)
• Andean Toucan (tucán andino)
• Hummingbirds (colibríes)
• Owls (búhos)

Lara has previously turned retablos, churches, and traditional games into watercolor series. His stated goal with this one is to put art in front of people "a todos" — by hiding it inside something they already use.

How to Get One

• Price: $30 per deck
• Where: Casa de la Lira, El Vado neighborhood
• Available from: Wednesday, May 13, 2026
• Contact: 0962922812

Coming in November

If the card-sized art whets your appetite for the real thing, Lara has an exhibition planned at the same cultural center for November 2026 — the 53 original watercolors in their A5 format, no scaling, no cropping.

Why It's Worth a Look

This is a project rooted in one of the most-loved natural areas around Cuenca. The deck doubles as a small field guide you can play poker with — and at $30, it's one of the more thoughtful gifts you could bring back from a visit or send to friends who keep asking what Ecuador is actually like.

It also lives in a tradition of Cuenca artists who keep finding ways to fold the city's surroundings into everyday objects — chocolates with Cajas water on the label, ceramics painted with church domes, embroidered shirts using indigenous Cañari motifs. The cards fit right in.

What to Watch

If the first run sells through, Lara mentioned the format could expand. Worth keeping an eye on Casa de la Lira's calendar between now and the November exhibition.

Source: El Mercurio