Posts:
Some mornings in Cuenca I think the most popular language isn’t Spanish or English, but “confused WhatsApp.” Gringos tap, swipe, and stab at their phones, muttering things like “why won’t it translate?” and “what did she say about my molar?” I’m here to tell you that...
It is difficult to exclaim which ethnic foods are the most favorite in the world. The most popular ethnic foods vary by region, but analysis of Google Trends data showed five favorites. Chinese, Mexican, Italian, Thai, and Indian cuisines consistently rank among the...
By Cepee Tabibian In 2015, I packed up my life in Austin, Texas and moved to Madrid. I was 35 and it wasn’t my first attempt. I had spent more than a decade dreaming, trying, and failing to make Spain home. Since then, I’ve built a life in Spain and created She Hit...
By Emma Goldberg There’s a type of awe that surrounds the Jewish High Holy Days that is solemn, fearsome. People beating their chests, dressed in all white, lying on the ground. During these 10 Days of Awe, God is said to be deciding who will and will not be inscribed...
Walk any calle in Cuenca and you’ll see two things that never change: the tiled roofs overhead and the brown deposits underfoot. For every mural that brightens a wall, there’s a pile of dog poop decorating the pavement. It’s the city’s most democratic hazard and rich...
If you’ve ever wondered why most rich countries seem to accept migrants as if their hands were tied, the answer lies in a yellowing piece of paper from 1951. That was the year the United Nations adopted the Refugee Convention, later expanded by the 1967 Protocol,...
By Deborah Kearns A year ago, Kelly McCoy packed two bags, sold everything she owned, and left Buffalo, New York, for Albania, sight unseen. Entrepreneurs Nicole and Jordan Tarver sold most of their belongings in a garage sale and moved from rainy Seattle to...
By Scott Levine DATELINE: Cuenca, Ecuador 2014. SuperMaxi shelves have never known Heinz 57 ketchup. Mariscal Lamar and Gran Colombia are torn up for future Tranvia tracks. Expats arrive in big numbers, drawn by Cuenca’s affordability and beauty and informed by...
By Adam Popescu; Photos by Todd Heisler In the Galápagos Islands, a fragile archipelago off the coast of Ecuador, everyone seems to know Alicia Ayala. “They call me the queen of Airbnb,” she said after greeting diners with kisses and selfies at 1835, a restaurant...
I first heard the phrase Alligator Alcatraz over a cup of instant coffee in Cuenca. To me it sounded like one of those old Florida roadside attractions, the kind with faded billboards on Highway 41 between Naples and Miami promising “See Live Gators, Only $1.” I...
By Ann Babe Increasingly over the past decade, Westerners have flocked to the Amazon for a taste of the region’s most notorious elixir: ayahuasca. In the jungle, the plant mixture is the “vine of the soul” or the “vine of the dead,” depending on who you ask. In the...
Ecuadorians have long enjoyed a curious reputation on the internet. Not for their cuisine, not for their volcanoes, not even for their footballers. No, the claim that keeps resurfacing is that Ecuadorian men are the most generously endowed in the world. Charts...
Bored? "Carteles para la Cultura" en Museo Universitario - The exhibit, "Carteles para la Cultura" (Posters for Culture) by designer Pablo Iturralde opened at the Museo Universitario of the U. of Cuenca. The designer collected an anthology of posters created since...
By Isabelle Knevett It's nice to think that as a society we are continually learning and getting smarter as the years go on. But what if science is actually showing us the opposite – that we're getting stupider? According to a recent Financial Times article, various...
By Karla Freeman Have you noticed that everything you do, say, think, feel, eat, drink, and breathe effects your energy? When I left Santa Barbara and a successful professional life as a trauma therapist, I was burnt out. Why? I had gotten into habits that depleted my...
A digital nomad, for those still thumbing through the dictionary, is a person who can do their job and earn money from anywhere in the world as long as they have a computer and an internet connection. Countries across the globe now woo them with special visas Click...
U.S. author and musician Daniel Handler once said, “Anyone who gives you a cinnamon roll fresh out of the oven is a friend for life.” Handler was talking about the comforting, sweet pastry that has evolved from Swedish traditions into a widely enjoyed treat worldwide....
There was a lot of spooning going on in Parque de la Madre last Friday, at least from this reporter’s vantage point. In case you don’t know, spooning is when a guy snuggles up behind a women, his crotch to her butt, fully clothed (otherwise, it’s called something...
I always get my hair cut at Feria Libre. Not because I’m faithful to one barber. In fact I never sit in the same chair twice, and, without exception, it’s always a woman doing the cutting. The stalls all trumpet “Unisex Service,” though in practice that seems to mean...
Renting in Cuenca is a bit like dating; you have to decide whether you want someone who comes with baggage or someone who expects you to bring all the baggage yourself. Furnished apartments are the quick-and-easy choice. You can walk in with a suitcase, flop down on...
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.
