Bring an unlocked phone or buy a basic in Cuenca?

Tex,
I can only tell you what I did. Right next door to our hotel, we found a phone store. They are absolutely everywhere.I walked out a half hour later with a basic clam/ flip phone, with a leather clip on holster, with a ton of minutes.... for 40 bucks.  ( the leather holster was under 3 dollars )
We just thought for the hassle, this was the easiest way to go.Phone worked great while we were there, and pretty cheap to boot. Plus, you don't actually loose your minutes when you leave. When you return, you have to buy more minutes to re activate the phone, but at that time, your remaining minutes from before go back on to your account.
We brought our Magic Jack for free calls back to the states.
Hope this helps.
Stay Well,
Neil

Thanks Zen,
That does help. I am bringing our Vonage set up with us also. But wasnt sure about phone service there. Not worth paying to have my Iphone unlocked, and jailbroke and have to worry about losing an expensive phone.

My thoughts exactly. I never had to worry someone was gonna rip off my phone... cuz it's a cheapie. It really allows you to relax a bit. With my expensive phone, it's alway's on my mind. Plus, the service was excellent.
My son made the mistake of taking his phone from home to Mexico and buying minutes on a card there. He didn't know that his service here stateside kept roaming. He got home and got a bill for over 800 bucks for roaming only!!!! Tough lesson to learn, huh?
Stay Well

Zen  You got a load of minutes on the plan. I assume for local calls but how about international calls ? Thanks

We used a Magic Jack for calling back to The States. Zero cost, excellent clarity. If you don't have one, I'd look into getting one. Also, SKYPE is an alternative, but we really like MJ.
Stay Well,
Neil

I already have a vonage account. I called them to cancel and was going to buy a magic jack but they dropped the price to $10 a month. Kept the service. It worked well in the Middle East. Except sales people kept calling my house at 2 am. 8 hr time difference.
Plan on getting a couple of cheap flip phones while there.