Expat Life

Where are you from? I’m never quite sure how to answer this question. In my experience, North Americans tend to move around more than others, but rarely is anyone asking […]

After you start noticing the different tables in Cuenca, something else becomes harder to ignore. It is not just that people gather at different cafés or at different hours. It […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]