Posts:
by Susan Schenck “Cadelaes, Casa del las especias” is a great little store in Cuenca that has top-quality items, as well as some obscure items unavailable elsewhere. For one thing, they have the best walnuts in Cuenca. I'm a fan of walnuts because they...
While Cuenca's real estate market continues to show strong growth, the inflow of immigrants from North American is only a small part of the reason why. "What's driving the local market is the return of Ecuadorians from overseas to live in Cuenca, or who...
by Susan Schenck Cacao (chocolate in its pure form) may be one of the planet’s greatest sources of nutrition. As state in my book, The Live Food Factor, “It’s high in magnesium, making it a powerful brain food and natural laxative. Ten percent of its...
by Susan Schenck I hate working out at the gym. Give me yoga, walking, dancing, hiking, biking, skiing, and the mini-trampoline anytime over weight training. Even though lifting weights has never been a joy, I forced myself to do it for the better part of the last 26...
The Fundación para la Sobrevivencia del Pueblo Cofán (FSC) and its US-based branch The Cofan Survival Fund have launched a new fundraising campaign, "The Campaign for 5000" to support the one-of-a-kind Cofán Ranger Park Guard program....
Ah, pizza. Some aficionados consider it the perfect food. A slice of pizza has only 30 grams of carbohydrate in the crust of a slice of mozzarella, and that tomato sauce is packed with lycopene. Whether it's perfect or not is arguable, but pizza is loved by just...
If this is southern Ecuador´s dry season, why are we getting so much rain? And why is it so cold? According to the experts, there are two explanations. The first is the strong La Niña that has raised Pacific seawater temperatures by two to three...
by Susan Schenck What is a health-conscious, primarily raw fooder to do when hunger strikes while shopping or running errands downtown? At the risk of creating massive inflation for my favorite Cuencano snack, I’ve decided to share this incredible secret with...
Although it has been called the "Gringo invasion" in newspaper and web articles, Cuenca's influx of foreign residents hardly represents the action of conquering hordes. There is, however, no denying the city's growing popularity among foreigners...
by Susan Schenck The raw-food movement is growing fast in the U.S. And there are plenty of reasons for it. Humans are the only animal that cooks food. Cooking began only 20,000 years ago, very recently compared to humankind’s 2.5 million years of existence. This...
Hundreds of Latin American indigenous rights activists gathered in Cuenca, June 17 to June 23, to disucss and plan strategies to defend water rights. According to organizers, the Continental Conference in Defense of Water and Mother Earth, was intended as an act of...
Rachel Zeigler is the representative from American Citizens Services (ACS) for the district that includes Cuenca. She's based at the U.S. Consulate in Guayaquil, a division of the U.S. State Department. She visited Cuenca a few weeks ago and held a lunchtime...
by Anne Carr The third health discussion group was held Friday June 3. The consensus was that a survey might help in planning various kinds of quality care for expats who might need extra support in daily living activities at some time in their life in Cuenca....
The federal government has announced that Cuenca will recieve $4.1 million to draw up final engineering plans for the city´s proposed light rail system. Carla Herman, working with a group of French engineers who have completed preliminary work on the project,...
by Anne Carr Recently, a student from L.A., here in Cuenca to study for a few months, and I carried out a series of interviews with extranjeros (foreigners), mostly jubilados (retirees), and Cuencanos. The intent of the interviews was to identify some of...
The Miami Herald International Edition has announced plans to increase news coverage in Cuenca and southern Ecuador. The newspaper also plans a home-delivery subscription drive, targeting Cuenca´s English-speaking expat population. Owned and operated by...
The mounds of reeking garbage on the edge of this settlement 600 miles off Ecuador’s Pacific coast are proof that one species is thriving on the fragile archipelago whose unique wildlife inspired Darwin’s theory of evolution: man. Tiny gray finches,...
On a recent day, the man known in Ecuador as the Gringo Chief wore a traditional black smock and a necklace strung with jaguar and wild boar's teeth, perfectly suitable for the Cofan Indian ceremony marking the acquisition of yet another slice of rain forest. With...
by Anne Carr and Monica Aguilar Sizer Here we are in Cuenca -- visas, residency, property, and all! Most of us researched Ecuador extensively before we came to visit, then arranged our return to stay long-term here. Almost everything is perfect about Cuenca: climate,...
As Latin American economies strengthen and incomes rise, the behavior of Latin American consumers is changing and so are their shopping habits. “Consumption becomes very important as a signal that your family is moving up,’’ said Lovina McMurchy,...
