Posts:
By Robert Bradley I recall writing some time ago that among the many joys of living in Cuenca is that it seems, wherever you go, you will run into folks who are happy to see you, and almost always have time for cafe con leche and a casual chat about travels, local...
As a member of the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics, I’m privileged to have as colleagues some of the most accomplished Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs) in the world! Our guest columnist this week is Diane Johnson, a registered dietitian and certified...
"It's not a third-world country!" I can't tell you how many times I've told that to my mother and some of my friends back in the US when they question how I could live in Ecuador. My mother has no excuse, she's been here. But to her, there was poverty everywhere and...
Every morning you’ll find me walking on the Rio Tomebamba. I try and make my walking hour aerobic, and use my walking sticks to “pump it up,” (you wouldn’t believe the strange looks I get — I guess I’m the strange-looking one). When I return home I try and stretch for...
A couple of years ago, shortly after moving to Ecuador, we took an apartment on Calle Gran Colombia. It is a busy street, in the middle of El Centro, that is also the home of Cuenca’s unfinished Tranvia system’s west bound rails. Many storefronts abound in this area...
By Michel Blanchard Magy (pronounced Mah-djee) Peña is a woman on a mission. To be more precise, her mission is to recycle garbage, but not by putting it in neat blue bags for city sanitation workers to pick up. She transforms rubbish into art. She is a pioneer and a...
When I moved to my apartment 4½ years ago there was only one restaurant close by and it never caught my fancy. Now, when I'm hungry and don't want to cook, I can walk out my front door, cross the street onto the Rio Tomebamba footbridge, and voila! — there are two...
By Jeremiah Reardon I learned a bitter lesson about trust when my first job ended in Gallup, New Mexico. My employer wouldn't pay me for two day's casual labor. What can I do? I thought. New in town, I felt at a loss in asserting my right to the meager wages....
By Robert Bradley We are in the cloud factory, where storms are fermented and barreled down the valleys, knocking thunder and spilling water. We are afloat on a bay of cloud exposing island domes growing tussock grasses and páramo. We are enveloped in a cool alpine...
As a member of the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics, I’m privileged to have as colleagues some of the most accomplished Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs) in the world! Our guest columnist this week is Mark A. Mahoney, PhD, RDN. Mark has spent his entire...
Sometimes we forget how important our old friends are to us. We take the relationships for granted and over time it just seems that we expect their friendship, as if it's owed to us. But it's not. Recently, Codie and I got to enjoy a wonderful evening with two old...
Story and Photos by Bartley D’Alfonso If you were to ask me who one of my real-life heroes is, without hesitation I would name naturalist and preservationist John Muir (1838 - 1914), founder of the Sierra Club in 1892. Yep, I’m one of those nature loving tree-huggers...
By Miriam Drake, M.Ed., N.C.C. When my husband and I moved to Cuenca in 2011, our plan was to create a new, fun, life adventure together. Medical emergencies, incapacitation, and end of life never even entered our minds. In other words, we were completely unprepared...
“Gringo Midnight.” The phrase caught me off guard and I cut a glance at Tony, wondering where he’d scored his latest descriptive term. “Yeah, that’s 9:30 p.m. here in Cuenca,” he announced. I got a pretty good laugh from his humor as it struck close to home for both...
By Robert Bradley I have long held that serendipity and Cuenca are well-traveled companions. So, it was no surprise to me as I walked through Parque Calderon on Monday morning, to run into an acquaintance just as I was thinking about stopping for cafe con leche. She...
Like many of you, I’ve been advised to take calcium supplements. With health insurance what it is (and was when my employer provided health insurance), every couple of years my company would change coverage, and I’d have to change doctors to stay in “network.” As I...
What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals. ~ Zig Ziglar New Year’s resolutions are a time-honored tradition, often a promise to do something better next year. The...
I love kids so I really like to see them in action as the stars of many parades they are participants in. They all seem to have their moods just like their adult counterparts running the full gamut from boredom to completely flipping out over their event. The...
We don't do Thanksgiving here in Cuenca but our Christmas is spectacular. My apartment is on a section of the Tomebamba River that is festooned with a string of blue lights across the river every 75 feet or so and this year they have added fish, frogs and ducks. The...
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.
