Posts:
La Vina, serving good hearty Italian for a decade at the corner of Luis Cordero and Juan Jaramillo, is a favorite of gringos. Shirlee and I were there on a Friday night when four parties at the five tables in the front room were Americans. La Vina’s menu is...
In our month in Cuenca, Shirlee and I made it a point to visit the four gringo-owned hangouts, along with two locally owned restaurants, one a tradition and the other a hit with gringos. The first haunt is also the restaurant you should try on your first...
We didn’t sample either of the two American fast-food operations in Cuenca: Kentucky Fried Chicken and Domino’s. (Nope: no McDonald’s or Burger King, Taco Bell, or even Starbucks.) I’m not prejudiced; I’ll try both when I go back (Lee at...
Editor´s note: Edd Staton is a Cuenca resident, writer and community activist. He is author of the Edd Said blog, www.eddsaid.blogspot.com, and writes a column for Cuenca´s afternoon newspaper, La Tarde. My wife and I returned home from the United States...
The least expensive “space” we examined in Cuenca was at the Hostal El Hogar Cuencano on Hermano Miguel just north of Calle Larga across from the Escalinata: $6 with shared bath in a dorm room with three twins. Private rooms are $8 per person, and among...
A plane from Ecuador lands in Europe. Those carrying European passports go quickly through migration, while the queue of Ecuadorians does not move. They are questioned at length, as their luggage is scanned. Eventually their passports are taken away, and they are all...
In a newspaper story translated by and posted on this website, the Ecuadorian Minister of Tourism claimed that Cuenca receives approximately 100,000 out-of-town visitors annually. If this is accurate, that averages out to a little less than 300 per...
One of the hemisphere’s fiercest sibling rivalries might get played out on a national stage. Fabricio Correa — the older brother of Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa — said he would challenge him at the ballot box in 2012 unless a more viable...
By Ashley Armstrong A few months ago there was an article in CuencaHighLife about what Cuencanos think of the gringos living here. If I remember correctly, it was about a grad school project by a University of Cuenca student. A lot of the comments were positive. The...
The mid-day repast in Cuenca, typical of Latin America, is a big meal and a big deal. It’s long, starting as early as 11:00 and continuing till as late as 4:00, and many shops, stores, offices, and museums close between 1:00 and 3:00 for the...
A survey by Cuenca´s Vehicular Technology Review committee reports what most Cuencanos already know: that most of the city´s air pollution is the result of bus, car and truck exhaust. The survey found that 85% to 90% of pollution is caused by the...
[Editor's Note: This is the debut restaurant review from Deke Castleman, who spent a month in Cuenca recently and delved deeply into the dining environment. Deke'll be the new food dude at CuencaHighLife, but we encourage anyone and everyone with a dining...
[Editor’s Note: The following starts a new series of posts from veteran travel writer Deke Castleman and photographer Shirlee Severs. The blog of Deke and Shirlee’s first two weeks in Ecuador ran on this website in April. This series covers the month they...
[Editor´s note: The following was submitted by Linn Vermilion Smith, a Cuenca expat working with a project to assist two rural schools and the children attending them.] This is a call for help to the Gringo community in Cuenca and beyond. In November, Edd...
Editor´s note: Edd Staton is a Cuenca resident, writer and community activist. He is author of the Edd Said blog, www.eddsaid.blogspot.com, and writes a column for Cuenca´s afternoon newspaper, La Tarde. I am back in the U.S. with my wife for the...
Rosa Vintimilla, president of Roviza, S.A., one of Cuenca´s largest and oldest insurance agencies, says that misunderstandings among both foreign residents and citizens keep many Ecuadorians uninsured. “One thing I hear is that good,...
Confusion continues to reign regarding the rules for Sunday´s national census, in part because Ecuador´s census officials are still tinkering with the details. The government´s mandate that citizens, residents and tourists remain in...
Cuenca escaped the heavy rains that caused floods in Colombia and northern Ecaudor but has received enough to replenish the city´s rivers and fill the downstream reservoirs that generate most of the country´s electricity. Before the rains began two...
If you´ve made plans for Sunday, Nov. 28, cancel them. That´s the day when half a million workers will visit almost every household in Ecuador to gather information for the 2010 census. Unless you´re an emergency service worker, a member of the...
Democracy has taken root in Latin America, but remains fragile three decades since coup-imposed military regimes were replaced by freely elected governments, a new U.N. report warns. It says drug violence, weak states with corrupt police and inefficient courts, and...
