Remember those days when the idea of being awoken from slumber to a serenade under the full moon seemed so romantic? Well, I just lived that dream, and can testify that it is not nearly so romantic in real life! Let me rewind to tell you the story in full. Saturday night I was tucked…
Lunch is the big meal of the day here in Ecuador. Though in many restaurants you can order from a menu for lunch, most locals opt for almuerzo. When you walk into a restaurant the server will usually ask if you want almuerzo. Though it officially means “lunch,” it more specifially means the lunch of the day.…
I love making soup. I always put at least one soup dish on the menu every week, and this one shows up regularly. The kids have pronounced it “the best soup in the world” (though it shares that distinction with Chicken Tortilla Soup and Zuppa Toscana). The ingredients are readily available, and the prep is quick and…
Do you ever mean to say one thing, but end up saying something else? When you’re an English speaker trying to communicate in Spanish this happens regularly, often with funny results. Though two words may sound virtually the same, they typically have very different meanings. The results can be quite funny (and sometimes embarrassing). Since we enjoy laughing at ourselves,…
People in Cuenca are pretty reserved, but a lot of them are interested in talking with extrangeros (foreigners, literally “strangers”). And all of the Cuencanos I’ve talked to have been extremely friendly and generous. For example, a few days ago, while with some gringa friends, I met a little girl in the park. To decrease the creepiness…
A couple of weeks ago I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast. I made the dough the day before, kneading it by hand, and letting it rise for 2 hours before forming the rolls. I then let them rise for another 2 hours before leaving them in the fridge overnight so they could be baked the next…
I’ve heard that there are around 100,000 stray dogs in Cuenca. That figure might surprise me if 78,597 of them didn’t gather to bark just outside our bedroom window every night. Here’s a snippet from a few nights ago, just to give you a taste. Whoever let the dogs out, I’m gonna hunt you down… Considering…
Matt Damon had a great idea. Because, really, buying a zoo is only a step up from having kids. So, why not buy a zoo? Ok, we didn’t really buy a zoo. We just bought tickets to the zoo, but it was probably even better than buying a zoo. All of the intimacy without all of the…
Can I call Ecuador a Third World Country? I looked it up, and by one definition apparently I can. Though living in the city we have enough modern conveniences that it hardly feels accurate. “Second World” seems more appropriate since it feels somewhere in between first and third world conditions. I now know that’s not what…
I’m a big fan of jigsaw puzzles. I always loved when my dad pulled out the new Thanksgiving and Christmas puzzles. I still like to tease my mom by loudly tapping on each piece I place to announce my achievement to the group (she insists she never does this, but we all know the truth!).…
What do get when you combine wheelchairs, a soccer ball, and blacktop? A wicked game of fútbol, that’s what! Last week we visited an orphanage that serves special needs children. The majority have cerebral palsy and require the use of wheelchairs, but that doesn’t stand in the way of having fun. Our family of six…
In Ecuador they have the best parks! There are ziplines, work out machines, race tracks, obstacle courses, and many other fun things. I especially like the park, Parque de la Madre (Park of the Mother) it has all the things I talked about and more. It was right by our first apartment, and we would…
I’m used to big stuff – big families, big cars, big box stores. The thing is, I knew those things were big. I had no idea that what I always thought of as normal-sized appliances we’re actually ginormous compared to what we’d have in Ecuador. And size isn’t the only difference we’ve found. I’ll start…
When we landed in Cuenca, our first priority was finding a place to live for the next 6 months. Before we left home we did arrange a short-term vacation rental for our first month, but we found it difficult to arrange long-term housing while still in the states. Online advertising of rentals is sparse, and those…
Welcome to our family blog – our travelogue, our community journal where we document our experiences living in Cuenca, Ecuador. Hopefully you’ll find it entertaining and educational. We decided to leave our comfortable but busy life in California to experience a unique culture, to try out a different way of life and to learn a…
Our Cuenca Life 