Cuenca High Life

by Tom McNaughton The second round of the Cuenca Cup was played on October 27th. It was a tough crowd that night. It started with TC Tahoe warming them up with a few card tricks and sleight-of-hand moves that left everyone with jaws hanging. No one knows TC’s real name, but after... [More]

Where most woodworkers see problems, Ed Konderla sees possibilities.   "The wood I use would be thrown on the burn pile by most carpenters. It's unstable and gnarly, and it wouldn't work for furniture or general carpentry," he says. "It's kind of a paradox. For my... [More]

by Susan Schenck There’s a new American-owned clothes and artesanos store attached to the new restaurant San Sebas. Its contents drew me in: 100% cotton shirts, some tie dyed, for only $21. I’m always a sucker for tie dye and batik, and these shirts would cost double that here ha... [More]

During one of my many long walks last week, this one in quest of a good picture framer, I happened upon an excellent new Cuban restaurant. I was just a block off  Avenida Remigio Crespo, terra cognita for most of Cuenca´s expats, and it was time for a beer and a bite. Habana Vieja is... [More]

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa celebrated his fifth year in office, Friday night, January 13, in Cuenca. To mark the occasion, supporters threw a party in Alejandro Serrano Aguilar football stadium. Among the 25,000 in attendance were 1992 Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú and s... [More]

Motorcycles. Far more than just transportation, motorcycles have always been associated with thrill-seekers and daredevils, rebels and outlaws, escapists and freedom-lovers. No mere car ever fueled the fantasies of an entire generations like the bikes ridden by Marlon Brando in The Wild One,... [More]

Cuenca’s holiday festivities continued Friday night as a crowd estimated at 25,000 turned out to observe and participate in the annual Day of the Innocents before rains chased most spectators away. The event, highlighted by a parade and performances on Av. Huayna Capac as thousands ... [More]

Cuenca´s  Museo de las Culturas Aborigenes, or Museum of Aboriginal Culture, is not your typical roadside attraction. Despite the fact that it is relatively small and privately owned, many consider it one of Ecuador’s best archeology museums. Operated by La Fundacion Cultural... [More]

A dozen coins tumbled away from the shoes of the elderly white-haired man who was standing on a corner in Cuenca, Ecuador. Cuenca is a beautiful city in the southern part of the country that is now a magnet for expatriates looking for a place to retire outside the United States. "Let me h... [More]

One of Latin America’s most colorful -- and bizarre -- traditions is the year-end burning of the dummies. When the clock ticks over to 2012 on Saturday night, an observer with a good vantage point in Cuenca will behold an other-worldly sight of thousands of burning d... [More]

by Susan Schenck Sometimes, just once in a while, I miss some things I could easily find in California, land of health products. One of the products I couldn't find for the longest time was coconut oil/butter—a very healthful food. As I write in my book The Live Foo... [More]

by Mark Raderstorf Thanksgiving 2011 in Cuenca began with a beautiful sunny day -- the perfect weather for the Turkey Trot scheduled for 9 a.m. We met at the starting point, Otorongo Plaza, along the Rio Tomebamba. More than 50 people showed for this inaugural event, ready for some exercise ... [More]

For nearly two decades, if you wanted Mexican food in Cuenca, you had only one choice: El Pedregal Azteca (“The Rocky Aztec”), where María and Juan Manuel Ramoshave been serving authentic northern Mexican cuisine since 1989. Located in the heart of El Centro on Gran Colomb... [More]

An innovative Ecuadorean plan to leave more than 900 million barrels of crude oil untapped and beneath a pristine nature reserve, in exchange for international donations, has survived its first deadline, Ivonne Baki, the project coordinator told The Miami Herald. The Yasuní-ITT initia... [More]

by Susan Schenck Cuenca has a new restaurant serving raw gourmet dishes! Nectar, which opened on October 28, is a vegetarian tea house and gallery located on Benigno Malo 10-42 between Gran Columbia and Mariscal Lamar (on the second floor) and is open from noon to 6 p.m Tuesday through... [More]

As announced on Gringo Tree, the big fundraising event of the holiday season is the Christmas Gold for Children Gringo Team Challenge. Each $5 donation, delivered in person to DiBacco Restaurante (Tarqui between Simon Bolivar and Gran Colombia), will purchase a Navidad gift for local children at L... [More]

By Anne Carr Thanks to the late and formidable Steve Jobs, again…it’s possible to use your iphone or ipad and get immediate helpful hints on how to have a little understanding and consequently some strategies to negotiate not just the language but also a culture different from o... [More]

by Susan Schenck One of the things that makes Ecuador stand out as a favorite place for expats is the variety of ways in which one can obtain residency (pension, investment, property) and visas (tourist, student, work, professional, volunteer, and a few others). But what happens if you ... [More]

Save your appetite for noon on Sunday afternoon.  That’s when the doors open on Cuenca’s 17th Annual International Food Fair at the Mall del Rio Convention Center. In addition to Ecuadorian comida tipica, the fair will feature food from Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerlan... [More]

by Susan Schenck One of the American traditions we often cut back on when we move to Cuenca is that of shopping marathons. In San Diego, I sometimes shopped for an hour and a half just to unwind from the long week’s workload. I had to get my daily walking in anyhow, so if I wasn’... [More]

Guayaquil declared its independence from Spain on October 9, 1820, seizing military control of the city in a nearly bloodless coup. Less than a month later, on November 3, Cuenca won its own independence after a handful of skirmishes between revolutionaries and Spanish soldiers that lasted two day... [More]

Get ready to rumble! The artisans are coming! For seven days, beginning Mon., Oct. 31, Cuenca will become Ecuador’s party central as the city celebrates the 191st anniverary of its independence from Spain. Although the nightly concerts and fireworks shows will make the most ... [More]

Seven of the 14 most violent countries in the world are in Latin America, according to the second edition of  the Global Burden of Armed Violence, a book released last week by the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development. The Geneva group, launched in 2008, reports that &ldqu... [More]

by Susan Schenck The Foundation for the Service of the Illness of Cancer (FASEC), the Cancer Foundation here in Cuenca, is funded and operated primarily by volunteers. Since 1983, FASEC has housed 13,546 patients who couldn’t afford to stay in the hospital while receiving cancer treatm... [More]

Ecuador was the unexpected recipient of U.S. trade preferences last week when Congress approved free trade agreements for Colombia, Panama and South Korea. Ecuador´s trade preference was granted through July 2013, in a rider to the legislation, based on the Andean Nations Trade Preferences A... [More]