Posts:
By Liam Higgins If you’re walking down Calle Hermano Miguel, just after it begins at Calle Larga, and you happen to be on the west side of the street, you’ll run into Marea Pizzeria and Bar. Literally. The restaurant blocks the sidewalk, extending right up to the...
To know the road ahead, ask those coming back. — Chinese proverb A healthy balance in reporting expats' real-life accounts is beneficial for readers to gauge the character of a place, with readers being the final judge of the writer's intelligence and honesty....
A Familiar Stranger He simply appears, every few days, in Vilcabamba. He visits us from the Malacatos / Taxichi area, always walking the 10 kilometers, always barefoot, in rolled up pants that are seldom belted. One hand holds a stripped tree branch or two, the other...
By Rob Gray In Part 1 of The secret to wellness and weight control, I presented the concept that the human body evolved to eat the foods that grew around them and came to recognize these "whole foods" as human foods and assimilate and effectively use them. I also...
By Larry Edenfield A friend from California Skyped me Wednesday night after he heard about the 6.7 and 6.9 earthquake aftershocks. “Folks down there must be pretty used to these things by now,” he said, adding that he had lived through the 1994 Northridge earthquake...
I love it when serendipitous events occur, even when they are not pleasant. It reminds me that I can’t control what happens, but I can control my response. When the events are pleasant, however, it just adds to the enjoyment of life. Recently, an Israeli friend,...
April 16th dawned with a severe case of gout in the last joint in each of my right ring and left index fingers. Very swollen, very red, very sensitive, and very painful and it did not calm down in the usual few days. Gout pain affects my whole body and just slows...
By Liam Higgins You almost never hear someone ask, "Hey, what does it cost to live in the USA?" People understand that there are variables. Are you talking about living in lower Manhattan or Arkansas? In a penthouse or house trailer? In a suburban neighborhood in...
Sardines on a bus Last week I bordered the bus from Loja to Vilcabamba during peak hours. It was crowded with weary commuters and students munching chattara. The aisle was free but the seats were jammed. I had a fifty minute ride ahead of me and was nursing a knee...
By Rob Gray OK, OK, I admit it. I'm a snob, a food snob, more specifically, a food ingredient snob. I'm not sure how it happened, but I blame my mother. You see, she grew up on a farm in an age before the use of chemicals, container transportation and warehouses, and...
By Rob Gray The secret to wellness and weight control can be said in just two words that you already know. It is what and how humans have eaten for their entire history save for the last 100 years or so. Like all other animals, the human body evolved to eat the foods...
By Scott Fugit Photos by Dee Fugit The year was 2006, when a landmark event occurred in my life as a coffee drinker. Surrounded by the plush lobby of the DuPont Circle Hilton in Washington, DC, I patiently stood among ambassadors in suits, diplomats carrying...
I decided to return to my new West Side home from El Centro by a different route the other day. Gran Colombia is under construction for the new Tranvía, but there are sidewalks and dirt paths all the way to Las Americas. From two blocks away, I heard the voices of...
By Benjamin Berger When I arrived in Ecuador in 2013, I had no intention of starting a business. In fact, I had no intention of staying here for more than a few months. But life is full of surprises, and now, two years later, I find myself married, living in Cuenca,...
By Sandy Felker What I love about Cuenca is how deceiving buildings are from the street. You can pass by a doorway dozens of times and never pay the slightest attention, and then one day you’re invited inside and it’s like passing through the looking glass — from the...
By Rob Gray It was many years ago, but I can vividly remember when my younger son was going to have ear-tube replacement surgery for the second time. Would he be OK? Would his hearing be impacted? Would there be any ill effects from the anesthesia? And, why did this...
“In Stride”: A Study in Red I'm occasionally asked if I miss photojournalism. Yes and no! I miss the variety of assignments from different magazines that always kept me surprised and challenged. But I don't miss the pressure, the adrenaline if you will. And at one...
People witnessing traumatic events from a distance, Cuenca, in the case of the recent earthquake, are susceptible to varying forms of post traumatic stress disorder and may need the help of those close to them. Most of us have heard of post traumatic stress disorder...
You know the advice about putting on your oxygen mask or your life jacket first before you help others. It is true because you are better able to help others when you are not reacting from your own trauma. In light of the terrible earthquake on Ecuador's coast, I...
Another celebration has come and gone. It is seen as the founding of Cuenca but in reality it was the renaming of this city by the Spanish on April 12, 1557. The city had been around in various forms for more than 3,000 years being in an ideal location in a bowl with...
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.
