I recall almost every detail of my father’s ancestral home in Mendoza, in the wine country of northwestern Argentina. The layout, the tile, the woodwork, the planters — even the service quarters with giant sinks for hand washing clothes — remain vivid in my mind. But I remember almost nothing...
As a lifelong real estate developer, my career began on the job site as a carpenter, evolved through business education into project management, and eventually running the company. Nowadays I am as good with spreadsheets, computers and paperwork as I was back in the day with a nail gun and a...
They came upon me slowly, despacito, like a foreign language, pacito a pacito, one millimeter at a time. Although at first these centimeters and millimeters sounded more like the names of poisonous insects than construction dimensions. When I went to buy building materials in Ecuador, I had to...
An English speaker has much to learn about the Spanish language when moving to Ecuador. But the foreign native Spanish speaker does, too. Case in point: I moved here from Argentina, and although I’m fluent, the local language still threw up a few trip hazards. For example, the word winter, or...
You can learn to model lucky behaviors that will give you an edge in life, without resorting to astronomy or carrying a rabbit’s foot. It’s better to be lucky than good. The large, impersonal forces that shape the economy, political movements, and ultimately the lives of citizens may seem...
On Thursday morning we attended our exercise class in the park. One of our classmates had lived in the U.S., and we got to talking about Thanksgiving. She said she missed the holiday, and since this year we planned to cook a turkey, we invited her to our house to celebrate in the North American...
Where I used to live, in the Midwestern United States, folks often had one room with rattan furniture, shells, and tiki lights to remind them of far-off paradises on warm sandy shores. I secretly loved these rooms, because gray, Midwestern winters last so long and the cold penetrates the bones....
By Fernando Pagés Ruiz Latinos are not afraid of close contact even with strangers There's no "three foot" rule. Why waste the space? Same goes for sound. Why would you turn down the music? Lonely beaches exist because Latinos prefer the crowded ones. My wife, from Mexico, and me have always...
Images of paradise often include white sand beaches, palms, breezes, and aqua blue waters. Perhaps not for those finding Shangri-La in the cool altitudes of Cuenca. Yet it’s certainly, what expats settling Salinas, Olon and other coastal gringo-magnets imagine when coming to Ecuador. For them,...
By Fernando Pagés Ruiz In the U.S., people are very focused on durability. If something lasts for a long, long time, it’s said to be sustainable by definition, because the environmental and economic impact gets amortized over the ages. The Japanese have a different concept; this is why they build...
