Posts:
By Robert Bradley Some seeking a better life are lucky. Most, however, take a route that is much more laborious, fraught with danger, and requires a level of endurance few choose to withstand. Such was the case for Chinnu and Abin George. Chinnu no longer felt safe in...
If you want to avoid obesity, should you have your DNA tested to learn what is the best diet for you? The answer is... no. Well, you can, if you want to. As advertised in a popular 'gringo' online forum, you can spend hundreds of dollars and send a sample out to Spain...
Breakdancers!! Spinning wildly on the slippery tiles of the gazebo floor, around and around they go. The music blares loudly from boom-boxes with a quick and staccato beat. It’s the perfect rhythm-keeper for their unbelievable gyrations. I’m watching some amazing...
By Rob Bell If you’ve ever seen the comedy skit by comedian Jimmy Fallon (featuring Will Ferrell) you know how ridiculous wearing tight pants looks on the average male physique. Luckily, in Ecuador only women wear tight pants, usually, very tight! To misquote the old...
I hosted a meeting at my home several months ago. When it was over, a couple approached me and introduced themselves, the woman presenting me her business card as one would a precious jeweled box. It was embossed and featured multiple bullet points, front, and back....
By Jeremiah Reardon The covered grill across the street from Fishbon Del Sur’s parade float sizzled with steak strips on a stick. Attendees and costumed participants had several options to purchase snacks on Calle La Republica under a dazzling sunset. An evening with...
By Robert Bradley Among my first memories of Cuenca, and one of the most satisfying, was my introduction to almuerzo, the traditional fixed-menu mid-day meal. Back in Portland, Oregon, I was accustomed to grabbing a sandwich, or worse, a mystery meat burger, and be...
Psychologists say that stress is defined as anything that alters our homeostasis, be it good or bad — and that bad stress can even turn into good stress, and vice versa. As reported in Harvard Health, “The combination of reactions to stress is also known as the...
I will celebrate the beginning of my fifth year in Cuenca next month. While others are dazzled by the pyrotechnics of Carnival, I will pretend that a least a few of the candles are for me. I learned a long time ago to carry a camera with me everywhere; you just never...
A popular online "gringo" bulletin board advertises “holistic dentistry” in Cuenca, and more than one advertisement promotes removal of all silver (colored) amalgam fillings [mistakenly called 'mercury fillings'.] Some ads proclaim that amalgam fillings cause “energy...
Something can beat down on you hard enough until you’re faded, like the sun beats down on fresh paint eventually robbing it of hue and saturation. A life can beat down on you like the sun and rob you of time, satisfaction or happiness. No one is born with any...
Dear Mother Earth, North America is missing 3.4 billion birds. 3.4 billion birds disappeared and no one noticed the sparrows, blackbirds, wrens, and swallows that didn’t make it, who were never born, who stopped flying or singing or making their ingenious, fragile...
I’m not going to write about what were the top food trends in 2019 since they’re mostly irrelevant to me. [All the “top” lists include imitation meat, like the Impossible Burger. Why would I want to eat imitation anything? There’s plenty of real food around, why would...
By Robert Bradley Modena, on the south side of the Po Valley in northern Italy, is known for producing the world’s first balsamic vinegar and parmesan cheese. It also boasts having Italy's most acclaimed restaurant, Osteria Francescana, which holds three stars in the...
By Nancy Clark Sports nutrition was a hot topic at this years' annual Food & Nutrition Conference & Exposition (FNCE), hosted by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the nation's largest group of nutrition professionals. Here are a few highlights, to keep...
By Rob Bell The sign says “no soliciting,” but that doesn’t deter salesmen, and the occasional saleswoman, from taking advantage of a captive audience. I’m talking about Ecuador’s long-distance buses, and the lengthy presentations various Ecuadorians, Venezuelans and...
When I lived in Spain, the Christmas holiday lasted for two long, work-free weeks culminating in Reyes, which celebrates the beginning of the discount season. Reyes or Kings Day, the proverbial twelfth night of Christmas, commemorates the visitation of the three Magi...
By Jeremiah Reardon My wife, Belinda, and I ran an errand on a recent Saturday afternoon to purchase plywood in one of Cuenca’s supply shops. She was excited about her latest tiled mirror commission for friends. I do the carpentry including the wire support. We...
I woke up on November 13 and, as I lay in bed before getting up, I realized that something was different. I felt alert and very alive but I had had the feeling many times before over the past three years and those feelings quickly reverted to the plodding normality...
By Taylor Borden In the U.S., unprecedented numbers of seniors are pushing past the once typical retirement age of 65 and working until about 72. Simultaneously, millennials are hustling to amass income-generating assets and living off rice and beans to retire early....
