Posts:
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, comfort, and time. This is what many expats slowly recognize as the café divide in Cuenca. At...
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 make sense of the IRS's rules for retirement. It’s like reading hieroglyphics written by accountants. The older I get, the...
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 fairness, belonging, and proportion. There are two broad...
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 drawing them into their new community and finding ways to contribute to their...
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 feed it — at any age — it has a remarkable way of leading you somewhere unexpected. For...
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 smoothly you barely noticed it. The truck came with little green men running behind. The bags on the racks...
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 el centro. We only have semi-worthless Canadian dollars. Yours sincerely, Pierre Trudeau. Pierre, mon...
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 mixed in. After six months, the city steps off the stage and into your daily life. You stop...
Most people in Cuenca have never heard of Gary Stevenson. He is not a president, a pop singer, or a football manager. He is a British economist who used to make his living trading interest rates for CitiBank in London. He got very good at it and very rich at it. Then...
By Lucy Hancock We’ve all lived through the blackouts. I don’t need to remind anyone. Last September I was late to the party. By the time I got to MegaKywi Wayra Plaza the rechargeable bulbs were gone, the power banks were gone, the shelves looked like locusts had...
Flora Thompson was born in 1876 in a tiny Oxfordshire hamlet in England called Juniper Hill. Finishing her education at the age of 14, she worked as a housemaid, which she didn't much like, then as a trainee post office clerk, then as a telegraph clerk. It took...
The first six months in Cuenca can feel like a dream. The buildings look old and beautiful. The mountains feel close enough to touch. The prices seem unreal compared to back home. Every walk feels like a discovery. Every meal feels like an adventure. Then one day,...
There are few moments in life when you can definitely feel your soul leave your body. One is when you realise you left the gas cylinder valve open when you went on vacation. Another is when you hear three large dogs growling in unison just as you slam your apartment...
When you live in Cuenca long enough, someone will eventually lean across a café table and whisper, “Have you joined IESS yet? You get a free funeral.” They usually say it like they are offering you a key to an occult club for expatriates that meets somewhere between...
I keep seeing the same couple in Cuenca. Or at least I keep seeing their online clones. He is always about sixty-one and grizzled with a baseball cap that says something about life being a journey. She is fifty-eight with blonde hair, brown eyes, and that smile you...
By Jim Smith Arriving in Cuenca often feels like a fresh start filled with color, mountain air, and possibility. Many people come here to slow down, to breathe, or to begin again. What is not talked about as often is the emotional shifting that happens after the...
I have a simple rule when talking about music, movies, or anything that is vaguely cultural in this column. If it is not free for everyone, I do not want to talk about it. Well, OK, if it is a book, you will have to buy it, borrow a copy from your local library or...
By Garry Vatcher Some call it giving — I prefer to call it investing. “Giving” often suggests something you’ll never see again. But when you invest in reputable non-profit programs, you help create a future filled with hope and opportunity. Your investment transforms...
By Amaya Verde and Luis Melgar For many of us, checking our phones has probably become an unconscious reflex, similar to breathing or blinking. And like Amy, a composite character who illustrates usual patterns of phone usage, we are interacting with our phones a high...
Editor’s note: This is the fourth of a four-part series about Married at First Sight, the international reality television show. The show originated in Denmark in 2013 and now has franchises in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. The first part was My...
Week of September 20
Ecuador turns to industrial power cuts to protect Mazar and keep homes from going dark.
Ecuador raises its 2026 growth forecast, but El Niño could spoil the outlook next year.
Cuenca retirees challenge medical and therapy changes at IESS senior center.
