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By Sylvan Hardy Long-time expats might remember the old Bapu Restaurant on Calle Larga, a couple doors west of today’s Sunrise Café. Before closing its doors in 2010, it offered some of the best food --and the only Indian food-- in Cuenca. Bapu returned in 2016 and...
Author's Note: As I update this column (which originally ran on March 15, 2018) I'm even more concerned about e-cigarettes than I was a year and a half ago. CBS News reported last week that about 20 percent of U.S. kids are vaping, some as young as 8th grade; A study...
Several months ago I took a trip from Ecuador, where I’m in my fourth year of residence, back to the USA. I visited family, watched my first grandchild enter the world and caught up with friends. We were enjoying visiting in my old stomping grounds of the Deep South....
Editor’s note: Michelle’s Foods of The Americas series on squash continues with Part III, a history of mythology associated with squash, and how pumpkin, originating in the Americas, is today internationally loved and adorned. To read Part I, click here, and to read...
By Tom Larsen After three years in Cuenca, Irmgard (Irma) Lafrentz recently returned to her home, friends and family in California’s Silicon Valley. Irma left behind quite a legacy of giving in her short time here, but the final chapter has not yet been written. Irma...
I’ve been touring the countryside photographing villages in the agricultural region that supplies our mercados. It is a wonderful adventure that reminds me that time need not be so accelerated, and that, at least here, moving at a speed dictated by farm animals is all...
By Maureen & Bruce Stewart & Sylvan Hardy In business for only four months, Calvo & Co. on Calle Los Alamos, just west of Av. Las Americas, is setting a new standard for sandwiches in Cuenca and more than a few of its newly won fans claim its signature...
In November of 2018, an outbreak of measles in in the Orthodox Jewish community in the Williamsburg and Borough Park neighborhoods in Brooklyn, New York foretold the beginning of an epidemic. Throughout the remainder of the year health ministers of countries including...
A friend of mine occasionally invites me over to her house for dinner and the ritual is always the same. Shortly after I arrive I am confronted with, “Well, I really want to make a pork roulade with ‘pomme frites’ and roasted vegetables, but I don’t know where to...
One of the reasons many of us fail at weight loss is that we try to use a short-term approach to solve a long-term problem. We secretly believe we can begin a diet, lose weight and then resume all our old bad habits. Weight management is a lifestyle challenge that can...
Hawaii has ‘em and so do California and Florida … but, Ecuador? You bet your bottom dollar! And before I’m headed off at the pass by those seeking to point out equality of the sexes … yes! There are not only Dudes but Surfer Dudettes to boot. It seems not only men and...
On my last morning in Paris, I was slowly infused with sadness while walking across the Champs de Mars toward the Eiffel Tower. At first, I blamed my rum mood on early nostalgia for the end of another journey. Having traveled six of the last twelve months, maybe I was...
By Tom Larsen The fascinating life of Aquiles Jimbo Córdova began in the small town of San Juan de Pózul in Loja Province, twenty kilometers from the border with Perú. Señor Jimbo was interested in writing and literature from a very young age. His parents were...
Tell me about your visit to Vilcabamba What did you notice? The caterpillars; the low-flying sparrow; the sweet-hungry ants; the uproar of mice in the underbrush; the tin music of the cricket’s body; What did you hear? The thrush greeting the morning; a breeze...
Text and photos by John Keeble A volunteer medical center for refugees has opened next to the San Francisco Plaza to help people without the money or knowledge to meet their health needs. Grace, an acronym for Give Refugees A Chance, is treating and advising a growing...
By Paul Amos The Ironman 70.3 Ecuador began in Manta in 2015 and every year since has drawn over 1,200 athletes from all over the world. Despite the 7.8 magnitude earthquake near Manta in April, 2016, the race went on as scheduled. The Ironman Foundation, which...
The Ancient Egyptians are said to have first developed toothpaste made from ashes, eggshells, pumice and water. The Greeks and Romans added crushed bones and oyster shells. And as reported in Huffpost.com, “the very essence of early tooth care was “abrasion,” and it...
By Sylvester Grahame I had lunch with a friend last week at Bento Japanese Lunchbox on Mariscal Sucre. When Michael noticed that Matthew Hart was the chef she remarked, “I wish I could play guitar and cook as well as he can.” I assured her she just might be able to if...
By Deborah DuBoff There are moments that we have as expats in Ecuador when we profoundly realize the abundance that we came from and we are inspired to donate time or money or share the skills and knowledge that we came here with. Johanna and Chris Nervick came to...
It has taken awhile to get back in the saddle and write the next segment of my Conscious Living series. But I have thought quite a bit about this segment, wanting to address more in depth the elements of Conscious Dying. I have mentioned earlier that a key part of...
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.
