Robert Bradley

The drive from the high valley of  Paute to the sprawling beaches of Ecuador’s central coast takes all day. We left a little after dawn and arrived just in time to order a celebratory cocktail as our fatigue and the blinding heat of the afternoon faded into the lighthearted hues of sunset. What a beautiful...

Creative men and women intuitively know that every artistic pursuit is dependent on three equally essential elements: art, craft, and music. It is worth noting, as well, that one cannot function without the others, just as we cannot function without the shared participation and collaboration the trio provides. The recent discovery of 12,000-year-old ochre paintings...

Editor’s note: This column is the second of a two-part series. To read the part one, click here.  On the day Kane Flambures retired, he packed his duffel bag with salty clothes and dragged them down a grungy gangplank to a dumpster where the grease-stained overalls and bleach-starved grey t-shirts he wore as religiously as...

Editor’s note: This column is re-posted from February 2021. It is the first of a two-part series by the author. Literature has always been illuminated by constellations of memorable characters. One of my favorite stars is Dean Moriarty, the brilliant, adventurous and a little bit crazed protagonist in Jack Kerouac’s, “On the Road.” Fortunately for...

Diego arrived at the bus station nearly an hour before the scheduled 5 a.m. departure. He was too nervous to sleep. His entire family joined him, but only as far as the floodlit parking lot, and only long enough to offer words of encouragement to sustain him. He alone held the ticket that would launch...

History reveals that for countless generations, a practice of remarkable simplicity commandeered the ebb and flow of urban life throughout Europe and large swaths of the developing world. It was a principal source of immeasurable personal comfort while simultaneously encouraging a more symphonic understanding of one’s role in shaping society. It was the tradition of...

Nearly every trip I’ve made to Cuenca recently included visiting IdiomArt (Marscial Lamar y Estevez de Toral), for good reasons. I first went there to shop for a very special gift: a Nancy Galloway fiber art piece. I next caught a truly extraordinary show by many of Cuenca’s most popular performers who were supporting Peter...

Margaret hails from Texas. The earliest memory she has is of her father holding her in his arms and singing; he was a boisterous but unsteady man, self-shamed simply for being diminutive. He spent long months away from home, traveling the world to supervise the planting of row upon row of rigs destined to break...

As many of you already read in CuencaHighLife, a magnificent hacienda in the lovely hamlet of Uzhupud near Paute is completing a years-long $5 million renovation. It is now under new management and serves a new purpose. When it officially opens on June 15, it will feature a hotel, two professional-grade futbol pitches, a tennis...

Updated from September 5, 2021 It was yet another fortuitous day in Cuenca. As I wandered along Calle Larga towards Inglesia Todos Santos, I realized that I had stopped in front of a store I passed a gazillion times without ever paying attention to its purpose, Tattoo Kawaz. I had never been in a tattoo...

I recently visited Claudio Alberto Soriano Vitorino, perhaps the most famed artist in Cuenca’s expat community. We met in his studio at IdiomArt. It was readily apparent that his sanctuary is not a gallery; it is a launchpad for the formidable creative energy that reflects his distinctive style of blending fantasy with earthiness. Elephants are...

Ezra Klein, an opinion columnist for the New York Times, recently noted that among the most profound sociological changes that North Americans have experienced in the last 30 years is the catastrophic increase in loneliness. An October 2020 survey conducted by Harvard University revealed that 36% of middle-aged Americans reported feeling lonely “frequently.” The number...