Expat Life

There was a time, and it was not so very long ago, when the Republic of Ecuador would hand you a retirement visa if you could prove an income of […]

By Larry Scherwitz, PhD Those of us who live in Cuenca know how fortunate we are to have physicians who truly listen—doctors who take time, think carefully, and treat us […]

Spend enough time in Cuenca’s cafés and you start to notice something subtle. The room is full, yet the tables rarely mix. Older expats often sit with people who arrived […]

Someone once asked me how long it takes for a package to be shipped from Temu in China to Cuenca, and the question simply is not that easy as it […]

By Liam Higgins An immigration researcher says Cuenca’s population of North American and European expats is growing again. “The numbers were steady for several years despite the bad news about […]

There was a restaurant I used to love in the historic center. It lived inside an elegant old hotel that seemed to have more character than customers. The dining room […]

If you ever find yourself thinking the Terminal Terrestre is just a place to catch a bus, you have not been paying attention. The main bus station in Cuenca is […]

Walk through Cuenca today and you can already see the quiet signs of change. More QR codes on tables. More digital payment apps. More small shops testing online orders and […]

Spend enough time in cafés around Cuenca and a quiet pattern starts to appear. It does not announce itself or come with rules or signs. Instead, it unfolds through habit, […]

As yet another year comes to an end on planet Earth, there are mornings when I sit with a cup of Tuti instant coffee or yerba mate and try to […]

Ecuador’s IVA refund system for senior residents is legally clear, administratively uneven, and morally awkward, leaving expatriate retirees to negotiate not just receipts and deadlines, but their own sense of […]

By John Olson Expats come to Cuenca hoping to continue their favorite activities and interests from their previous lives in other countries, but sometimes these activities have a way of […]

By Ashley Rogers People often say curiosity fades as you get older. They’re wrong. Curiosity isn’t something you lose with age. It’s something you stop nourishing. And when you do […]

A field guide for people who just want to pay and get on with lunch. In Cuenca, garbage collection used to be one of those civic services that functioned so […]

Dear Charlie, My significant other and I are coming to Cuenca for two months and would relish any advice on finding a reasonable place to stay with easy access to […]

In the early months, Cuenca feels like a backdrop. Beautiful buildings. Mountain light. Cafes that feel new each time you sit down. Life feels like a long vacation with errands […]