Posts:
Editor's note: Canadian sociology professor and researcher Matthew Hayes has studied Cuenca and the impact of North American expats on the city for several years and, last year, published an article in the academic journal, Ethnic and Racial Studies about his...
Former football star Oswaldo de la Cruz, 53, offers football classes to the youth of Cuenca. He is married and has two sons. You may have seen Oswaldo performing his talents with the soccer ball in the streets of Cuenca. If you do see him, be sure to say hi, he was...
By Chris Gerakiteys Before, it never occurred to us that we were expatriates when we lived away from home; we all laughed at the same jokes, we all drank copious amounts of beer. Sure they had a funny accent and ate cheese out of a jar, but the cultural similarities...
By Sylvan Hardy Call it Esquina de las Artes’ second act. La Placita restaurant, which opened a month ago in space originally occupied by small shops, is intended to be the anchor of a revitalized Esquina de las Artes. Unlike its coffee shop partner, MeLatte, at the...
By Jonathan Lachowitz Overseas Americans have faced a myriad of challenges in managing their financial lives, especially in the last five to ten years. They have felt unjustly burdened with financial accounts in the U.S. or abroad being closed or restricted, a...
There are an estimated 7.6 million Americans living abroad and a new survey by Greenback Expat Tax Services found that 58% voted in the last Presidential election. Called U.S. expats, this block of voters could have an influential voice in the next Presidential...
By Christopher Lux I had never been to a Latin Mass. I had never wanted to go. Though the Latin Mass has been growing in popularity among U.S. and Canadian Catholics, it always puzzled me that anyone would want to go to a Mass they couldn't understand. That all...
By Melina Marks For English-speakers thinking about moving overseas with kids, school is an extremely important factor to consider. If the new destination is a place like England or Ireland, school really shouldn’t be an issue because of language. But what about a...
By Sylvan Hardy When Paúl Arias moved back to Cuenca at age 15, he couldn’t forget the view of the Manhattan skyline across the bay from Beyonne, New Jersey. “I grew up in Jersey, thinking about New York, and when you do that you think a lot about food,” he says. The...
Have you ever wanted to try something new for dinner but were overwhelmed by all the new dining options? Are you planning your first visit to Cuenca and don’t know where to stay? CuencaHighLife has the answer. Our new full-service directory of Cuenca restaurants and...
Editor's note: Diana Jesuroga started her blog about life in Loja in May and has been busy since then answering questions about her city. One of the reasons for all the questions is the hype Loja has received from such retire-overseas websites as International Living...
Twentyeight-year-old Luis Arias works at the Otavalo market selling homemade alpaca clothing. For 35 years this family has been in this line of business. Luis is married and has one child. Motivaion: "Trabajo por que me gusta lo que hago y como es nuestro artesanias....
By Susan Burke March, MS, RDN, LDN, CDE Recent news reports have touted coconut oil as having a bunch of “surprising” health benefits. It seems that some “experts” are claiming that it can boost immunity, influence hormonal health, control blood sugar, help with...
By Melina Marks Catcalling is known by women all over the world, but what is it like here in Cuenca? From my experiences, catcalling here is much more aggressive than in the States. In the States, typical comments simply consist of “hey girl” or just “damn.” When it...
CuencaHighLife’s 2015 Cost of Living survey revealed one strong trend and provided information that seems to contradict the conventional expat wisdom about another trend. We compared results to a similar survey taken two-and-a-half years ago, in January 2013, as well...
By Sylvan Hardy Rafael Correa made the right decision Monday night to pull the plug on proposed legislation that would have raised taxes on inheritances and capital gains. He realized he was in danger of losing the battle for the hearts and minds of Ecuadorians....
By Christopher Lux On Saturday morning, a concerned resident in Prospect Park in Brooklyn, New York, called 911 to report a man "mistreating a squirrel." The man, in fact, was merely roasting a Guinea pig. When the police arrived, the Ecuadorian was cooking the animal...
By Viktoria Vidali Knowledge is the spring of creative talent. As it expands, it engages the artist’s deeper self and flows into a river of new combinations and relationships, from the quest for peaceful pathways to powerful reflections in color, motion, and feeling....
by Jane Pinney [Editor's Note: Jane Pinney was an Ecuador expat for nearly a year, who just moved to Chile, overland, with two dogs, thanks to her driver from Cuenca, Jon LaBoeuf. Jane is a writer and published author whose work can be seen at letterstogodtwo.com.]...
By Melina Marks I believe in many things, but one of my highest beliefs is in the value of change. I believe that we cannot grow, we cannot learn, and we cannot become who we are meant to be without change. I used to believe the opposite of this. Change was something...
Week of August 23
Ecuador’s economy grew 2% during the first half of 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier, according to new Banco Central del Ecuador data.
Cuenca gets a prime view of next week’s deep partial lunar eclipse.
Ecuador’s economy grows 2% in the first half of 2026.
