Posts:
Editor's note: This post has nothing to do with Ecuador, Cuenca or expatriatism. It is about one writer's enduring interest in the man who courted his great-great-grandmother during the U.S. Civil War. The article appeared originally as a newspaper column in 2001....
We recently returned from a three-week journey in Florida, U.S., traveling almost two-thousand miles around the state, visiting big and small cities, little towns and, of course, beaches. And everywhere was plastic, from plastic bags at every grocery store to...
I ended my last column with a quote from Jonathan Livingston Seagull about becoming a finder. What exactly does this mean? It is worth our exploration, as our personal awakening is the most important accomplishment possible as humans. Eckhart Tolle was very clear...
Edie and I were laughing about our constant need to know what’s over the next hill when El Fantasma was almost swallowed by a truck-defying pothole. As we lurched through to the other side, hot coffee was sloshing about the cab and onto my bare legs. I wasn’t...
Editor's note: I've had the honor of being appointed the Country Representative from Ecuador of the International Association of the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics (IAAND) of the U.S. I have been networking with nutritionists here in Cuenca, learning more about...
Personal transformation is difficult. The way of transformation involves legitimate suffering, and it is the design and purpose of the egoic mind to avoid suffering. The ego brandishes two tools, denial and projection, in order to avoid suffering. In doing so it...
By Susan Burke March The stevia plant is a perennial that does best in sunny, warm climates with plenty of rain. In the battle of commercial sweeteners, consumers who want to enjoy the taste of sweet without calories and without artificial ingredients have...
The Journal of Wild Mushrooming is a fascinating resource for all things mushrooms. They say there are 10,000 described species in North American alone, but that may represent only a third to a fifth of what’s really out there! In percentages, 50 percent are inedible,...
Hailing from Louisiana, I’ve weathered many summers with 90-plus straight days of temperatures above 100 and humidity to match. A quick trip outside my home would have sweat droplets as big as buckshot scattered across my forehead and rivulets of the same running down...
I always tell my clients who see me for weight loss that their weight may be an important number, but it doesn’t tell you everything. Weight doesn't always prove how healthy someone is — more important numbers include blood pressure — a critical number to measure —...
Editor's note: Michelle's Foods of The Americas series continues this week with the first of a three-column series on squash, the noblest of vegetables. By Michelle Bakeman The following is an excerpt from “The Pumpkin,” by fireside poet John Greenleaf Whittier: On...
Back in the early 1980s, I was living in New York City. At the time, fish on the menu was ho-hum, usually a tasteless, overcooked filet. Suddenly, Chilean Sea Bass appeared and was all the rage, commanding a pretty high price. Why had no one ever bothered with it...
By Nancy Clark For most of the past 40 years, dieters have been told to limit dietary fat, believing it leads to obesity and heart disease. Today, dieters hear messages to indulge in a very high-fat (ketogenic) diet and limit the carbohydrate-based foods that fueled...
The experience of solo hiking in the Caja’s range of the Andes has cost more than one adventurer their lives. Several months ago, according to CuencaHighLife and local newspapers, an experienced hiker in his mid-sixties went missing while hiking there. The man was a...
In the first part of this series on Conscious Living and Dying I referred to my early involvement with the Taoist philosophy as represented by the Tao Te Ching. I remember learning about the key principle of Wu Wei and being totally perplexed. As a young man this...
Are you a frugal chef? If you’re making hummus from canned garbanzo beans (chickpeas), don’t throw away the drained water — that ‘bean juice’ is called aquafaba, and it’s got a lot going for it! According to the McGill University Office for Science and Society,...
Author’s Note: This is Part II of my egg series. To read Part I, click here. In 2015 the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued new Dietary Guidelines. Reflecting current research, they dropped the 1960s-era blanket advisory to limit dietary cholesterol to 300 mg per...
By Louis Bourgeois This series is my best attempt to bring into perspective a lifetime of study, observation, and experience. It has been my life's work, now some 45 years since clear guidance at the age of 21 propelled me on a journey of personal development and...
It was early in the morning, barely light out, as the lapping sounds of a rising tide grew more demanding. The ocean’s water was beginning to flow into some backwater areas near the end of the beach. I kept walking, threading my way among the sinew like mangrove...
Editor's note: Michelle's Foods of The Americas series on tomatoes continues this week with a surprising account of the origin of everyone's favorite condiment, ketchup. Click here to read Part I about the origins of the tomato, and click here to read Part II as the...
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.
