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Ecuador’s Civil Registry reports 26,000 more deaths through November 2020 than for the same period in 2019. Although many of the excess deaths can be attributed to the Covid-19 virus, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Health says she believes it is less than half of...
By Annekin Tappe The Covid-19 pandemic brought the economy to a screeching halt, and while it has started its long road to recovery, the economy we knew is probably a thing of the past, said U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Thursday. Powell echoes the...
We got our first storm in what seemed like forever the other day. It was well past due. The Southern Ecuadorian Andes rely on a steady diet of rain, but this season has been parched by the weather phenomenon known as La Niña. Many of the family farmers that we rely on...
Presidential candidate Guillermo Lasso has apologized for suggesting that Ecuador think of itself as a woman looking for a boyfriend. During a speech in Machala Thursday, Lasso said that the country must dress itself up like an “elegant woman" to attract foreign...
By Holly Else Asher is an eccentric, Storm likes sunbathing and Maple loves to use her brain. All three could play a part in controlling the Covid-19 pandemic, but they are not scientists or politicians. They are dogs. And they are not alone. Around the world, canines...
By Angela Rhodes I’ve barely stepped off the plane when the stories about the Valle de la Longevidad — Valley of Longevity — start. My cabdriver asks what I’m doing in this small town in southern Ecuador, and I tell him I’m in search of the legendary old people of...
By Amanda Mull Two weeks ago, I staged a reluctant intervention via Instagram direct message. The subject was a longtime friend, Josh, who had been sharing photos of himself and his fiancé occasionally dining indoors at restaurants since New York City, where we both...
By Laura Millan Lombrana and Danielle Bochove Keith Barron is deep inside a Vatican library, hunkered over a 17th century tome bound in Moroccan red leather. “The country is the richest in gold in all the Indies,” reads one passage. “The natives are cannibals and very...
Editor’s note: This is the sixth in an ongoing series that looks at how the Covid-19 pandemic is affecting the lives of Cuencanos and Cuenca expats. By Robert Bradley It has often been said that, in business, timing is everything. If you are ahead of the curve you are...
More than 500 Venezuelans have taken humanitarian flights from Ecuador to Venezuela since the beginning of November. The group is part of an estimated 100,000 who have left Ecuador for Venezuela since mid-2019, according to the Ecuador Ministry of Foreign Affairs....
By Helen Rosner In theory, I love to cook. I’ve been reminding myself of this lately, repeating it almost like a mantra, humming the percussive, iambic rhythm of the phrase while I clatter around in the cabinets in search of whatever skillet is inevitably at the very...
By Michelle Pugle The “green” Mediterranean diet may be even healthier for you than the traditional Mediterranean diet. That’s according to a new study published online in the journal Heart. Researchers said they found that people who consumed higher amounts of...
The Ministry of Health reported Wednesday that the mortality rate returned to normal in Quito and Guayaquil in November as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic subsides. The ministry also reports that hospital occupancy, including that of intensive care units, is...
Christmas decorations are being strung over Calle Simon Bolivar. Storefront windows are all aglow, many with tiny twinkling lights. The chill of the evening is pushed aside by gas heaters, standing like fiery sentries and first editions of R2D2. Well dressed women and...
By Jeremiah Reardon Even under Covid-19 restrictions, how grateful to Cuenca are my wife Belinda and myself. With the Thanksgiving season upon us, I’d like to share moments of gratitude which we experienced the past year. By the middle of June, the city government had...
Updating the schedule for Covid-19 vaccines provided over the weekend by the Ministry of Health, President Lenin Moreno said Monday he believes inoculations can begin in January. “Based on information we have received in the last two days, we believe we can begin...
With Covid-19 restrictions still in place, the number of Cuenca restaurants offering a sit-down Thanksgiving dinner is down significantly from previous years. A larger number are offering takeout service. Among restaurants offering dine-in service on Thursday are El...
The National Assembly voted overwhelmingly Tuesday night to dismiss Interior Minister María Paula Romo following an acrimonious debate centered on her handling of the October 2019 national protests. The decision brought together the political right and left in what...
“With the pandemic, my freedom took another hit,” a Bolivian mother told the news agency EFE at a women’s shelter in Ecuador, the country in the region with the highest index for macho violence and where 65 of every 100 woman have suffered from it in one way or...
Slow travel provides an amazing way of truly getting to know a country. It is is a mindset, not an itinerary. Learn the inside scoop from a seasoned slow-traveler. Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly. ~ Mae West By Gwen Hyatt Friends ask me, “How do you stay in...
