Expat Life

By Jeremiah Reardon I learned a bitter lesson about trust when my first job ended in Gallup, New Mexico. My employer wouldn’t pay me for two day’s casual labor. What can I do? I thought. New in town, I felt at a loss in asserting my right to the meager wages. Disappointed with my luck,...

By Robert Bradley We are in the cloud factory, where storms are fermented and barreled down the valleys, knocking thunder and spilling water. We are afloat on a bay of cloud exposing island domes growing tussock grasses and páramo. We are enveloped in a cool alpine mist that smoothes Shyone and David’s voices as they...

As a member of the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics, I’m privileged to have as colleagues some of the most accomplished Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs) in the world! Our guest columnist this week is Mark A. Mahoney, PhD, RDN.  Mark has spent his entire professional career working to help improve the health of individuals and...

Story and Photos by Bartley D’Alfonso If you were to ask me who one of my real-life heroes is, without hesitation I would name naturalist and preservationist John Muir (1838 – 1914), founder of the Sierra Club in 1892. Yep, I’m one of those nature loving tree-huggers (although I do not wear Birkenstock sandals or...

By Miriam Drake, M.Ed., N.C.C. When my husband and I moved to Cuenca in 2011, our plan was to create a new, fun, life adventure together. Medical emergencies, incapacitation, and end of life never even entered our minds. In other words, we were completely unprepared when all of these happened to us. If you are...

“Gringo Midnight.” The phrase caught me off guard and I cut a glance at Tony, wondering where he’d scored his latest descriptive term. “Yeah, that’s 9:30 p.m. here in Cuenca,” he announced. I got a pretty good laugh from his humor as it struck close to home for both Edie, myself and other friends. I...

By Robert Bradley I have long held that serendipity and Cuenca are well-traveled companions. So, it was no surprise to me as I walked through Parque Calderon on Monday morning, to run into an acquaintance just as I was thinking about stopping for cafe con leche. She was busy ridding herself of a guy anxious...

Like many of you, I’ve been advised to take calcium supplements. With health insurance what it is (and was when my employer provided health insurance), every couple of years my company would change coverage, and I’d have to change doctors to stay in “network.”  As I aged into my 50s and started getting bone density...