Travel
By Steven Casals After 20 years in the U.S. military, James Cummiskey was divorced and looking for a change. Relenting to his buddy’s request, he flew to Medellín, Colombia, for a visit. He looked, he saw, and, by dinner time, he decided to stay. Permanently. “After four to five hours, I was immediately captured by […]
...
By Bani Amor “What time are we headed to Playas tomorrow?” I asked my mom at her cousin’s house in Guayaquil. “Seven in the morning,” she replied. “So eight, Ecuador Time,” I quipped back. She looked up at me for a moment from the mountain of luggage she was attempting to unpack — clothing for […]
...
By David Morrill With the notable exception of the Otavalan craftspeople and merchants, no other indigenous Ecuadorian community has maintained its ethnic identity like the Saraguros. Centered around the town of Saraguro, 75 miles south of Cuenca, the Saraguro nation, which numbers between 30,000 and 40,000, has maintained an enduring presence in the rural areas […]
...
By Mauricio Olmedo-Perez When I was mugged by a gang of teenagers in Panama City it was a surprisingly civil transaction, and it was all over in less than a minute. I was a tour guide and had worked throughout Latin America for a number of years, traveling to some places renowned for their crime […]
...
Editor’s note: Ever wonder what Cuenca was like a 110 years ago? The following is an excerpt from Vagabonding Down the Andes by Harry A. Franck. Published in 1917, the book is a travelogue of the author’s 1912-1913 journey, mostly by foot, from Panama to Buenos Aires. The following describes Franck’s visit to Cuenca in […]
...
By Lance Brashear When the Spanish came looking for gold in a small town in what today is southern Ecuador, they saw a geographic similarity to Portobelo, Panama, another gold-mining town so they christened it with the same name. Portovelo, Ecuador — the locals opted for a “v’ instead of the “b” — sits just […]
...
By David Morrill and Deke Castleman Most foreign visitors start their first tour of Cuenca at Parque Calderón and many expats pass through the park on a daily basis. Despite the recent restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the park remains full of people, the heart and soul of the city. Parque Calderón has an […]
...
By Roger Theodos As I sit here in Buenos Aires, exiled by a travel ban from my home in Ecuador, I am comforted by the words of the travel writer Paul Theroux: “The most enlightening trips I’ve taken have been the riskiest, the most crisis-ridden, in countries gripped by turmoil, enlarging my vision, offering glimpses […]
...
By Bob Itami Chimborazo Volcano (‘Taita’ or father by the indigenous people of the area) is the highest mountain in Ecuador at 6268 meters (20,564 feet) and the summit is the furthest point from the center of the earth. Chimborazo is within the Reserva de Producción de Fauna, founded in 1986, and is the home […]
...
By Bob Itami One of the great advantages of living in Cuenca is the close proximity to Cajas National Park. There are many fantastic day hikes in the park and with proper clothing and equipment, you can enjoy one of the great alpine ecosystems in the Ecuadorian Andes. Thanks to our wonderful guide Esteban Coobija […]
...
By Eileen Stellefson Myers I recently returned from a wonderful trip to Costa Rica where I enjoyed The Rainforest Chocolate Tour in La Fortuna de Carlos. As a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN), I know about the nutritional value of dark chocolate. But this farm tour opened my eyes to something completely new. Prior to my […]
...
By Julia Rux Ecuador has so many distinct regions — the Andes with volcanoes, the Amazon/Oriente, the Coast, and the Galapagos — that many expats never get a chance to thoroughly explore. I was intrigued by a new model for travel called Wanderbus that offers the option of hopping on and hopping off a nice […]
...Blue Box
Dani
The Cuenca Dispatch
Week of September 17.
Nur
Sara
Anubis
Fabianos
Peters
