Posts:
By Melina Marks After living abroad for a long period of time, going back home can be quite the challenge. Traveling from Cuenca to Little Rock, Arkansas wasn’t easy, but travel is always stimulating and exhilarating, despite the downsides. Going from one big city to...
By Christopher Lux With everything sold but our house back in North Carolina, in September last year my son and I arrived in Cuenca. We came ahead of my wife since she had to wait for cooler weather to bring our two large Catahoula Leopard dogs on the plane. I had to...
By Lief Simon Going offshore can be a big, scary idea. In fact, thanks to the well-publicized stories of criminals who have indeed taken their ill-gotten gains offshore, many people think that “going offshore” is illegal. This is not true, of course. For the record,...
By Dave Nelson I'm in trouble and don't know it. I have never been adept (the word hopeless has been used) at picking up the subtle clues and nuances in conversations and behavior. For instance, after returning home from an overnight trip with three other couples my...
By Sylvan Hardy With a name like Kalashnikov you can be sure there’s a good story behind this Av. Remigio Crespo bar. If you stop in for a drink, you'll be surprised at what you'll hear. A couple doors east of Agustin Cueva, Kalashnikov is run by a brother and sister...
By Susan March Burke #1: Does everyone really need eight glasses of water a day? This myth has been dismissed repeatedly over the years, most recently in the New York Times where Dr. Aaron E. Carroll (a pediatrician and a researcher) explained the origin. He noted...
By Walter Panko There are a lot of things that happen in Ecuador that I didn’t see in the United States. Some are easy to get used to. Others take more time. Here, in no particular order, are some of the things I found easier to get accustomed to seeing, hearing and...
By Scott Fugit “Why put chemicals in your body if you don’t need them?” I sat in the dental chair stunned. I had never heard a medical professional say such words. That would be heresy in the USA. It took me several long seconds to come up with a response, “I’m an...
By Julian Smith “I love how the sun paints the city,” says Julio Rivas Garcia as he gazes over Quito’s historic heart from the roof of the Church of La Merced. Where we’re standing, at 9,200 feet and only 15 miles from the equator, the late-afternoon sun still has the...
Editor's note: This is the first of a two-part series about a family's move to Cuenca. Christopher Lux My wife, son, and I arrived in Cuenca a year ago and last week completed our residency process, becoming official cedula-holders. I can work, drive, and vote. And I...
Carol Quintero and Sebastian Martinez street artists who perform their malabares craft (juggling) in various intersections in Cuenca. Carol is 24 years old and Sebastian is 21. Their goal is "hacer la gente sonreir" (make people smile). There motivation: "Me gusta ver...
Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-part series by real estate expert Benjamin Berger on Ecuador’s real estate market. The second installment looks at real estate in the sierra region of the country. By Benjamin Berger Since President Rafael Correa first broke...
By Susan Burke March, MS, RDN, LDN, CDE Last January, when this article first appeared, I reported that when I typed the words “detox diet” into my web browser search box I was astounded to see more than six million “hits” for all types of “detox” diet programs and...
Meet Cara Venn. Before moving to Ecuador in March 2014, Cara lived in India for five years where she sponsored the Art 4 Kids, India! program that taught over 150 Tibetan and Indian children. After relocating to her new home in Cuenca, she decided to offer a community...
By Susan Burke March, MS, RDN, LDN, CDE As evidence accumulates that sugary beverages are linked to obesity, soda consumption is headed down. In a a new Gallup poll, 60% of Americans say they are trying to avoid drinking soda. Mexico has enacted a sugary beverage tax,...
By Sylvan Hardy You can’t miss it if you’re heading south down Benigno Malo to the bridge that crosses the Rio Tomebamba. It’s on the left, on your way to New Town, with two sidewalk tables under big white umbrellas out front. On a sunny afternoon, earlier in the...
By Walter Panko August 13th was scheduled to be National Strike Day in Ecuador and my wife and I didn’t know what to expect. We had arrived in Cuenca only 10 days earlier, moving into temporary housing in the historic district while we searched for something...
Take a walk through the hat factory at El Barranco. Thanks to Davidsbeenhere for uploading this great video. It’s one of the world’s classic riddles and abiding ironies that Panama hats are, and have always been, made in Ecuador. Read more about Panama hats here....
The House of Representatives has passed a bill that will allow the government to seize passports from anyone that they feel may be a threat to national security. Although the bill's stated objective is to restrict potential terrorist movements, opponents say it is...
By Christopher Lux When Lindsay Burton began planning San Sebas Café, she envisioned a place where university students would drink good coffee, talk, read and work. The café was inspired by the eclectic coffee-shop scene she fell in love with while living in Austin,...
