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By Eric Mack Editor's note: This is the third part of Eric Crave's four-part series on Ecuador's attempt to become Latin America's hub for science, technology, and innovation. Planners say their aim is to create a ‘Silicon Valley of South...
Cuenca isn’t the only city in Ecuador building a light rail transportation system. Quito’s Metro Tram project broke gorund in March and is scheduled to open its first metro line by mid 2016. A total investment of $1.4 billion USD, the project will be...
By Eric Mack Editor’s note: This the second of a four-part series by Eric Mack about Ecuador’s plans to create what officials say could be one of the top research communities of the world. Planners say their aim is to create a ‘Silicon Valley of...
By Eric Mack Editor’s note: This the first of a four-part series by Eric Mack about Ecuador’s plans to create what officials say could be one of the top research communities of the world. Planners say their aim is to create a ‘Silicon Valley of South...
Ecuador plans to auction off more than three million hectares of pristine Amazonian rainforest to Chinese oil companies, angering indigenous groups and underlining the global environmental toll of China's insatiable thirst for energy. On Monday morning a group of...
When Sonia Punin established Art Cuenca in late 2011, her goal was simple. “I wanted to bring artists and art lovers together in Cuenca,” she says. Although Cuenca enjoys a reputation as Ecuador’s arts capital, Punin saw a problem. “Even though...
According to real estate agents, several local condominium developers are having second thoughts about selling to foreign buyers. According to one agent, at least two developers, including one who is constructing a large project on Av. Ordonez Lasso, have cut off...
Note: See the date this article was published. Some things may have changed; for the most up to date information, check out Orange Wings and Ribs Facebook page. At this fairly recent addition to the Cuenca dining scene, the name is in English, the menu is in Spanish,...
Operators of Cuenca’s municipal buses say that the 25 cent fare they currently charge passengers isn’t enough to properly maintain the fleet of almost 500 buses. Municipal officials who oversee transportation agree there is a problem. The current fare was...
According to a study by the Quito consulting firm Habitus, Ecuador’s middle class has grown dramatically in the last decade. Habitus reports that, as of late 2012, 35% of the population met the middle class criteria, while only 14% qualified in 2003. According...
By Karen Hinton Reports of China's involvement in spying on U.S. corporations have generated debate about how to punish its government and prevent the theft of valuable American trade secrets. But what if it were the reverse? What if a U.S. corporation spied on a...
Ecuador recorded the third largest gain among Latin American nations in the United Nations 2013 Human Development Index rankings. The index, which was based on statistics from 2007 through 2012, measures a country’s educational system, quality and length of life...
Boutique hotels in Cuenca’s historic district are sprouting up all over. The provincial association of hoteliers reports that 10 new hotels have opened in the past 18 months and that other projects are either under construction or in the planning stage. The new...
Editor’s note: Even though Ecuador’s adoption of the U.S. dollar as its currency in 1999 followed a period of near economic collapse, it continues to be controversial. Although almost everyone agrees that the country has undergone a period of unprecedented...
Azuay’s Red Cross and police have figured out a way to reduce response time as well expenses in the city’s historic district: put first responders on bicycles. Freddy Sempertegui, risk management coordinator for the Azuay Red Cross says the change can get...
Nine months behind schedule, a new Cuenca-based airline says it will try again in April to get airborne. The first aircraft of Línea Aire de Cuenca, or LAC for short, was delivered almost a year ago and the airline said it would begin flying in May 2012....
Ecuador's Tungurahua volcano spewed ash and pyroclastic material into the air on Sunday, indicating some intensification since the latest eruption began Saturday morning. Significant ashfall was reported in the villages of Choglontús and El Manzano...
Seventy percent of domestic air travlers in Ecuador fly for business reasons, says the national Directorate of Civil Aviation. The other 30% fly for family, personal or touristic reasons. The directorate also said that the most popular destinations are Quito and...
By Lance Brashear Though they are marketed as tourism “excursions,” the pastoral trips along the Ecuadorean Railway, which first began more than a century ago, are probably as much an adventure today as they were then. The train originally opened a new...
Ecuador’s murder rate dropped for the third consecutive year in 2012, according to national police statistics. A police report released by the country’s Ministry of the Interior last week, shows the homicide rate to be lower than those in Central American and...
