Posts:
By John Blake In the summer of 2008, an elderly psychic who claimed she started receiving premonitions at age 5 published a book that contained an ominous prediction. "In around 2020, a severe pneumonia-like illness will spread throughout the globe, attacking the...
For the next few weeks, I would like to offer a few portraits of the friends and neighbors who are suffering cabin fever like the rest of us and patiently waiting to greet us once again.Â
Yes, we're all staying home, trying to flatten the curve and slow the contagious COVID-19 coronavirus. Which got me to thinking — this could be a good time to kick some unhealthy habits and adopt some new healthy ones. Lent began on Wednesday, February 26, and...
By Nell Greenfieldboyce The world and the United States is facing a grim dilemma: either effectively shut down society for months to prevent transmission of the coronavirus, or see health care systems overwhelmed by people needing treatment for severe infections....
By Brenda Langdon Since I wrote about pandemic preparedness measures 11 days ago, the world’s cases of the Covid-19 virus have more than doubled from 100,000 to 232,616 (as of 1:30 p.m. March 18). This, unfortunately, is not a drill and we are collectively...
By Jennifer Hansler As nations around the world shut their borders in an effort to combat the coronavirus pandemic, thousands of American travelers have found themselves stranded. In Peru, where President Martin Vizcarra issued a 15-day nationwide state of emergency...
By Markku Sario First, may I apologize? I am Markku Sario of My Smorgasbord, not Robert Bradley, but merely a Bradley pro tempore with pretensions of adequacy. I am doing Robert’s column today while he is in the hospital with knee surgery that has become much more...
Just a few scant miles west of Cuenca lies a small and quaint paroquia named San Joaquin. Edie and I have been fortunate to call this area our home for a couple of years. It’s where we moved after our exodus from a life in El Centro where we lived high in the sky,...
Drug advertisements. Ugh. By the time they finish listing the side effects, you wonder why they even bother publicizing them? Have you noticed that almost every advertisement on the U.S. news show '60 Minutes' is for some pharmaceutical drug, or more recently, for a...
Examine the word responsibility --Â response-ability -- the ability to choose your response. Proactive people realize their responsibility; they do not blame circumstance, conditions, and surely not others, as a reason not to be responsible. Our behavior is a product...
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) to leads all other causes of American deaths daily, at least 2,200 each day. For reasons not yet understood, women fare much worse than men do after suffering a heart...
Are you often confused by food labels? Do you look for foods labeled as whole-grain, all-natural or healthy? Do you read the front of the label when you're making a decision to buy or not? Reading labels Food manufacturers are very tricky when it comes to...
The teacher kept talking about what continent Ecuador was on and where it was on that continent. I was thinking about that green and blue-colored frog that Miguel and I caught by the spring and stuck in that rusty hole on the side of Papá’s truck. I figured it might...
Editor’s note: This is the fourth of a six-part series by Don Moore, a former Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras who developed a fascination with northern Peru — and wrote a book about it. Don spent most of January in Cuenca. To see part one, click here. For part two,...
By Deborah DuBoff Auki Tituaña was elected as mayor of Cotacachi in 2019. The alcalde cordially invited me to his offices at city hall to share his plans for his administration. He is a soft spoken man and I was impressed with his amiable nature and the thoughtful...
As you may have noticed, for the past three years I have been writing a weekly love letter to Cuenca. The serendipities that guided me through this year seem no less than the work of angels. On occasions over this last year, someone would pause as they passed me and...
By Mark Mahoney I recently had the opportunity to travel with a group of musicians (who played at a number of venues in Havana) and other interested folks with a focus on attending the yearly International Jazz Festival in Cuba. This was a unique opportunity to...
Editor’s note: This is the third of a six-part series by Don Moore, a former Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras who developed a fascination with northern Peru — and wrote a book about it. Don spent most of January in Cuenca. To see part one, click here. For part two,...
By Rob Bell I am constantly raving about the quality of food here in Ecuador. In the U.S. they make a big deal about organic food, along with a hefty price tag. I’m probably being a bit naive, but here in Ecuador it seems like practically everything is organic, from...
Whatsup with all the media addicts? I walked from San Sebastian to San Blas the other day and couldn't help but notice the large number of folks yakking into, staring at or scrolling through their cell phones. What was striking is this that almost every bench in Plaza...
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.
