Travel

Saturday’s International Museum Day festivities are a vivid reminder of the rich world of archeology, history and art housed in dozens of Cuenca museums. Here, we offer a brief primer on what we believe to be four of the best. You can’t miss the Museo del Sombrero on Calle Larga near Padre Aguirre: A huge...
The Galapagos Islands, colonial cities, the Amazon jungle, and beach resorts are not the only reason that foreigners visit Ecuador. Tourism officials say the fastest growing attraction may be the country’s dental care. Although it is hard to nail down accurate statistics, tour operators and dental association officials say they are seeing rapid growth in...
By Lance Brashear Though they are marketed as tourism “excursions,” the pastoral trips along the Ecuadorean Railway, which first began more than a century ago, are probably as much an adventure today as they were then. The train originally opened a new route for people and goods traveling across Ecuador’s rugged Andes mountains to and...
Editor’s note: Steve Pomerance, a former Boulder, Colorado city council member, describes his first visit to Ecuador in an article in the Boulder Daily Camera. I just returned from a great trip to Ecuador. It was my first visit there before, although I've traveled elsewhere in South America, including multiple trips to Peru (starting with...
By Alejandro Morales The Galapagos Islands, home to unique species that led Charles Darwin to establish his Theory of Evolution, continue to evolve with the world’s first environmentally friendly airport. The new airport is on the island of Baltra and required an investment of US$24 million. It began receiving tourists in December. A total of...
Ecuador and Cuenca continue to strengthen their respective reputations as top destinations for international tourists and expatriates. Lonely Planet, publisher of the world’s best selling travel guide, has named Ecuador number four in its 2013 “Best in Travel” category. Lonely Planet sites Ecuador’s efforts to improve infrastructure and its commitment to maintaining a healthy environment...
By Lance Brashear Though it began as a proposal by young people to attract other young people to Quito´s Old Town, over the past decade the Quito Eterno Foundation has transformed into an organization that acts on the collective memory of the city. Many of us have seen them when we visit old town –...
By Ellen Creager This is one rain forest the world may have saved. After donors around the globe pledged $116 million by the December 2011 deadline to prevent oil drilling in the biologically fragile Yasuni National Park, the Ecuadorian government agreed to leave it alone, at least for now. There will be no roads, drilling...
The author, Janet Greidanus, has been travelling to Ecuador annually for the past 10 years as a team member of Operation Esperanza (see http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/otolaryngology/specialty/esperanza.html), a humanitarian mission led by her husband, Dr. Thomas Greidanus. Operation Esperanza provides free hip and knee replacement surgery for poor adult Ecuadoreans, surgery for children with dislocated hips and club...
By Susan Schenck From nearly anywhere in Cuenca, look south (toward the rivers), then raise your gaze and you’ll see a big white church on a hill. The Church of Turi, with a commanding view of the entire Andean valley, has been home to civilzations for thousands of years. The trip up to Mirador de...
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 switch residency plans in the middle of the...
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...

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The Cuenca Dispatch

Week of March 24

“They are pressuring me to resign so they can remove me from office,” denounced Verónica Abad, Vice President of the Republic.

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Ecuador Navigates Economic Challenges with IMF Agreement Looming.

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“Since when does thinking differently mean being a traitor?” Pierina Correa questions in reference to the Tourism Law.

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