Posts:
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....
Did you make a resolution this year to lose weight? If so, you're not alone. Many people resolve to lose weight, exercise more, and get healthy, but really, how important is your weight? How will your doctor assess your weight? Does your doctor use BMI? Most people...
I connect easily with most animals. I set them at ease with body language and various sounds I make with my mouth. Sometimes, I can win over an aggressive dog, sometimes not. I don’t press encounters with animals that exhibit possibly dangerous behaviors. A large...
I'm celebrating my third New Year's in Ecuador. This was my first on the beach, though. The other two were in Cuenca and my experiences there seem like a kid's birthday party compared the coastal festivities. The first year we went to El Centro. We ate dinner, bought...
By Robert Bradley It was not the first time I heard the story. He said, “I was whooping it up with the boys at the Inca Lounge the other night and felt great! But, the next morning I felt as if my head was raked through a combine, and only the chaff was left. Ya’...
The fun just keeps on a-comin’! Last Tuesday, Cuenca celebrated Pase del Niño Viajero, one in a series of Pases celebrating the birth of Jesus that will continue until Carnival. The first of the festivals began on the first Sunday of Advent. The second was the big...
By David Morrill Give Vadim Avdeev two minutes and he can steal your cell phone number and call you from it. Give him five and he can shut down the accounts of thousands of Cuenca internet and utility customers and erase any evidence that they ever existed. With a...
I don’t remember not knowing about the Holocaust. My father, Rolf Gompertz escaped from Nazi Germany with his parents. They came to the U.S. in his eleventh year after a childhood marked by state-sanctioned violence and persecution. His parents lost everything except...
By Aja Romano For a long time now, the cross-generational dialogue between baby boomers and millennials has been built atop several recurring themes. Boomers — the generation born roughly between 1946 and 1965 — scoff that millennials expect “participation trophies”...
Susan's note: This is the third in a multi-part series on fats — In Part I I wrote about trans fats, or hydrogenated fats, and how they transformed the processed foods industry — and how increased consumption of trans fat was linked to the rise in the incidence of...
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.
