Posts:
A friend of mine got a tattoo the other day. The last few months have been wearying and she needed a talisman to give her strength, an indelible guide leading her out of the cruel cyclone that has caused so many to lose their way and become disoriented. She was...
By Jeremiah Reardon Its mind made up, the four-inch wide insect plopped onto the street and stepped gingerly across the concrete. For a few minutes I stood over it, fascinated by its steady gait toward the other side. If traffic remained light, its chances looked...
Two and a half miles due south of the New Cathedral, offering much needed adornment to an otherwise unsightly and commercially developed hilltop, sits Iglesia de Turi. If it didn’t enjoy its commanding location, offering beautiful panoramic views of the city, it would...
By Richard W. Soudriette and Cynthia Gilley For many, the American Dream includes retiring to a warmer climate. But after a steep drop in the stock market a decade ago and the coronvirus pandemic today, many older North Americans are forced to rethink and postpone...
By Gwen Hyatt If you are considering becoming an expat, San Miguel de Allende in Mexico might be a great fit for you. Art, food, architecture--it has it all and more. There is a reason 300,000 readers of Condé Nast Traveler rated San Miguel de Allende, Mexico as their...
We live to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection. --Anaїs Nin. Let this book as it ends remember the hand that wrote it. the eyes that slowly learned its alphabet, the thumb that peeled back its pages. The days were marked beforehand: phases of the...
Editor's note: Long-time Cuenca expat Martha Mays died last week of pancreatic cancer at the age of 61. She returned briefly to the U.S. for treatments but, when they failed, decided to return to Cuenca to spend her final days. Her son Daniel Palimeri and expat friend...
By Deke Castleman and Sylvan Hardy We’re all Gary’s children. Gringos lived and worked in Ecuador long before Gary and Merri Scott showed up in 1995, but the Scotts, almost single-handedly, put Ecuador on the radar screens of thousands of pilgrims to the Middle of the...
By Cathy McKay Now that you are an expat who has landed in your host country, you need to think about how to create a support system like you had back home. After spending months or even years planning and putting your move into place to get to your destination...
It is difficult for me to describe the moment: it was like being drenched by a hard rain or feeling the chill of dread when you realize the novel you are reading may not have a happy ending. I met a friend in a local cafe last week. I invited her to come down and tell...
As I walk to and fro on the face of the earth, alone in those vast and desolate landscapes, the people, places and things I encounter shuffle the orderly deck of reality. They accomplish this by converting the abnormal into the norm. I move through the high paramos of...
By L.P. Wirth No matter how diligently you read public blogs, here are some insider scoops on unusual things and more than seven oddities in Panama that caught me off-guard. When we arrive in a new country as an expat, unexpected surprises may loom; oddities. Some...
By Eileen Brill-Wagner Colorful expression is one thing, but it's important to know what different colors symbolize in other cultures. When I think of the role that colors play in different cultures, I am reminded of an incident that occurred several years ago when I...
By Suzanne McGee As more Americans move to destinations farther flung than Florida and Arizona, they may find unexpected trouble in paradise. Two months ago, in the midst of a miserable, rainy east coast winter, my editor, at the end of her rope, gave in and bought a...
Purging my mind of the week's events, I prepared for travel as the weak, late-afternoon light ushered in the day’s end. The cool grass, greened by spring rains, invited me to rest my head among the verdant blades. The wind laid down, almost flat, stilling itself, it...
For many years I have believed there is systemic racism in the U.S. regarding our Black population. The needless deaths of Blacks at the hands of the police, the many detailed stories over the years about the day-after-day demeaning treatment that Blacks have always...
By Stephen Vargha Jazz survived the 1918 influenza pandemic and Cuenca resident Jim Gala is doing his best to help the genre make it through the 2020 pandemic. According to Gala, jazz faces other challenges including the fact that its late-nineteenth century...
By Román Vergara No country in the world is risk free for travelers or residents. But one Latin-American country seems to be an island of personal safety. Here are useful tips on how to visit or live safely in Costa Rica. You finally arrived in your host country....
We got our first storm in what seemed like forever the other day. It was well past due. The Southern Ecuadorian Andes rely on a steady diet of rain, but this season has been parched by the weather phenomenon known as La Niña. Many of the family farmers that we rely on...
Editor’s note: This is the sixth in an ongoing series that looks at how the Covid-19 pandemic is affecting the lives of Cuencanos and Cuenca expats. By Robert Bradley It has often been said that, in business, timing is everything. If you are ahead of the curve you are...
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.
