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Don’t go to the library today, there are too many words already. Pick up an instrument instead. -- Rumi __________________ American-born photographer Thomas Ives has worked for international news and feature magazines for over 38 years. His photo essays and...
There I was up in Cuenca on official business with the Ministerio de Franz Kafka. It hadn't been pretty …. I had to return to GO and not collect $200. Later, near sundown, I was in a sullen mood walking the streets: looking for cans to kick or those silly baseball...
Thank you, all. It has been a grand ride for me these last nearly five years, writing a weekly love letter to Cuenca, and the people who live here - an honor, really. I posted over 200 stories; some have been simple tales of wonder and beauty, others were stoked with...
The United States Embassy has resumed its visa process for both immigrant and non-immigrant applications in Ecuador. Both the embassy in Quito and the consulate in Guayaquil announced Tuesday that interviews and file reviews have restarted after an 18-month suspension...
A close friend of mine recently remarried after being single for over 12 years. I was not surprised. She maintains a healthy diet and likes to be out and about, taking art classes, volunteering once a week for a good cause and having lunch dates with friends in any...
By Kathleen Peddicord Planning for a retirement that includes spending some or even all your time in another country is an increasingly appealing idea with enormous potential upside. As a result, it’s easier than ever to find help making a plan to retire overseas....
His Spanish is pretty good except for those pesky irregular verbs. He's clever enough to mumble them hoping the tense remains clear through context. He carries a well-thumbed mini-English/Espanol dictionary, so we know he's sincere about broadening his vocabulary. He...
News from Paute Summer visited Paute last week. The days were clear and warm, the nights clear and cool. A full moon added to the joy; it was as luminescent as ice. It is festival season in Paute and we got just what we were longing for: the Pase del Niño Parade … and...
By Sylvan Hardy If Friday’s Pase del Niño didn’t measure up to previous parades in size, it made up for it in piety and fun. Instead of a seven- or eight-hour procession, it lasted a little over an hour. Instead of 100 floats, there were 23. Instead of 24,000...
By Martin Simmons The young man who recently moved to Cuenca from California described how thieves stole his cell phone and $100 in cash the first month he was in town. Hearing his story, a middle-aged woman from New Jersey, standing next to him at a party I attended...
Every now and then we are rewarded with a new dining venue that transcends the parameters of the typical restaurant by offering food and drink that not only surpass expectations but provide a vibrant new meeting place to those who have called Cuenca home for years as...
By Sandee LaMotte Synthetic chemicals called phthalates, found in hundreds of consumer products such as food storage containers, shampoo, makeup, perfume and children's toys, may contribute to some 91,000 to 107,000 premature deaths a year among people ages 55 to 64...
By Jeremiah Reardon Fishbon del Sur, a collaborative theater community established in El Centro, closed its doors due to the Covid pandemic. The source of many satisfying moments of entertainment and friendship for my wife Belinda and me, how our lives have changed...
On December 10, 1869, Wyoming Territorial Governor John Allen Campbell, citing a “progression of understanding,” signed an act of the Territorial Legislature granting white women the right to vote, the first U.S. state or territory to grant suffrage to women. On...
Editor's note: Among his many careers, Curt Madison has been a sailing instructor in Hawaii, a documentary filmmaker and boat builder in Alaska and university professor in Maine. He moved to Ecuador in 2014 and planted his first coffee trees at Finca Alaska Sur in La...
By Will Westmoreland As people age, inflammation within their immune system increases, damaging cells. A new study shows that people who consumed an anti-inflammatory diet that includes more fruits, vegetables, beans, and tea or coffee, had a lower risk of developing...
Some of the photos in this series have been saved for a long time; others are as fresh as the week. In every case, these are our neighbors doing what they like to do best: being productive… The clatter of workers climbing aboard the bus from Paute to Cuenca was the...
International air travelers arriving in the United States from anywhere in the world, including American citizens, will be required to show proof of a negative Covid test taken within 24 hours of their departure, U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Thursday. The new...
By Jessica Brown The number of people cutting down on meat and dairy, or cutting these foods from their diets entirely, has been rising over the last decade. The number of vegans in the UK, for example, quadrupled between 2006 and 2018, according to research by The...
By Leita Hulmes Hi, this is Leita again, a volunteer with Hearts of Gold. I told you back in September about Hearts of Gold’s “All Children Deserve to Dream” program. So why is Tuesday the BIG DAY? Global Giving sponsors Giving Tuesday – and that is Tuesday,...
