The driver who crashed into the Tranvia in mid-December agreed this week to pay a $1,000 fine for repairs needed to the new light-rail train system. The payment was made as part of a mutual agreement between the city and the driver and will be used for bodywork repair and painting of the damaged lead […]

The Ecuadorian government has announced that it will continue it’s incentive program for users of induction stoves for one more year.  Deputy Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, Mauro Intriago made the announcement on January 16th and indicated that it will be available nationwide. Mauro also indicated that the Ministry would continue to verify that […]

Cuenca is a cosmopolitan, multicultural and multilingual city with rich social and cultural diversity. And it’s citizens of many nationalities bring with them their own unique tastes and flavors in food, which can be found throughout the center. In one block of the La Merced sector of the city, on Honorato Vázquez, (between Hermano Miguel […]

Diego Jimbo, along with the other founding members of Foundation of United Families for the Sick of Cancer, (FUPEC), lead a program that teaches cancer patients to make wigs as part of their long-term recovery process. The idea is that patients with cancer who weave wigs for other patinets will at the same time recover […]

Now, with “Mi Etapa Móvil,” you can see your bills for your water and telephone services, download invoices and even pay them online. The new mobile device app is  available on both the iOS and Android operating systems. “The advantage of having this service is that citizens don’t have to go to the ETAPA offices […]

When Danielle Elatri moved to Cuenca in 2014 she thought she was ready for retirement. She was wrong. Born in France, Elatri spent most of her adult life in Australia where she owned and managed an advertising agency and language school in Sydney. “I looked forward to a quiet, peaceful life in Cuenca but I […]

Cuenca’s newest service club has a vision. It’s to provide early childhood screenings, for kids six months of age and onward, in order to identify eye diseases early to prevent blindness. The thrust of the project is to find large groups of children to take the free exams, but adults are also eligible. The Cuenca […]

Claims of “fake” olive oil abound, but the reality of olive oil fraud in U.S. retail is a bit complicated. Purity problems—that is, the adulteration of olive oil with seed oils like soybean or canola, or refined olive oil added to extra virgin olive oil—are rare. Far more common is the mislabeling of olive oil […]

The Salesian Polytechnic University (UPS) of Cuenca has implemented a program called “Support Technology for Educational Inclusion.” It involves devloping artificial intelligence robots that can help in the education of children with special needs. The value of each robot is approximately $100. Technicians of the Artificial Intelligence Research Group and Assistance Technologies are responsible for […]

Since 2014, a team of local ETAPA employees together with researchers from the University of Cuenca, has carried out a study in the Cajas National Park on the morphology of the bodies of water that exist in the protected area. In the Cajas Massif—the fifth biosphere reserve in Ecuador— a total of 7,087 bodies of […]

Cuenca resident Franny Hogg Lochow is one of those individuals, who finds time between writing books and mentoring other writers to give back to the community through pro-active fundraising, organizing events, producing art projects in support of undertakings, and generally being a counselor and friend to those less fortunate. She recalls when she was growing […]

Wednesday, January 9th marked the 19th anniversary of the adoption of the U.S. dollar as Ecuador’s national currency. On January 9, 2000 President Jamil Mahuad announced that the country would end the use of the sucre, which at the time suffered Latin America’s highest rate of inflation. The national economy had contracted 7.5 percent in […]

Ecuador’s Social Security system (IESS) is facing a financial crisis, according to new board of directors president Paúl Granda, who says a reevaluation of the rates that members and employers contribute to the system is underway. IESS, which has 4.4 million members, 579,000 of whom are pensioners, provides retirement payments, health care, as well as […]

In 2018, the Ecuadorian Government took measures to rasie the prices on most types of gasoline. First, it was Super gas, which went from between$2.00 and $2.30 to $2.98. In December, eExtra and Ecopais went from $1.48 to $1.85 per gallon. This lastest increase is part of the economic measures adopted by the National Government—that […]

Following meetings with representatives of public transportation and freight shipping businesses, the government announced Monday that the subsidy for diesel fuel will remain in force. In December, President Lenin Moreno’s office announced that the subsidy would be removed and that diesel prices would be determined by the international market. Based on the government’s original plan, […]

On December 27, 2018, labor minister Raúl Ledesma announced a basic salary increase of $8.00 per month. This increase took effect on January 1, 2019. The information was released through a television ad and through Twitter account.  The minimum salary will increase from$386.00 to $394.00 monthly “After a technical analysis agreed as National Government, it […]

Throughout Cuenca this week, agents from Empresa de Movilidad, Tránsito y Transporte (EMOV) have been passing out information packets detailing the latest additions to the photo-radar systems that are popping up throughout Cuenca. The title of this education campaign is “Lo Importante, Es Llegar, Reduce la Velocidad,” which loosely translates to “what’s important is to […]

“It is well known that Donald Trump was not my choice for the Republican presidential nomination. After he became the nominee, I hoped his campaign would refrain from resentment and name-calling. It did not. When he won the election, I hoped he would rise to the occasion. His early appointments of Rex Tillerson, Jeff Sessions, […]

Last week’s column started quite a bit of discourse in the comments section of CuencaHighLife.com. I responded to some of those comments, something that I don’t usually do anymore. More often than not I don’t respond to anything that is said about me, I just let the conversation go and let others jump in. But […]

Marcelo Cabrera and Jefferson Pérez officially made their annoucnement for the sectional elections for Mayor of Cuenca.  In all a total of 13 candidates were qualified by the Provincial Electoral Board (JPE) of Azuay to compete for the Mayoralty of Cuenca in the sectional elections of March 24, 2019. “There is a lot more to […]

According to the Tourism Guides Corporation, the integration between traditional tourist destinations and the renewed interest in gastronomic offerings of local destinations is a trend that dominated in the last months of last year and will remain during 2019. “Several of our destinations also warrant being savored,” says José Luis Rodríguez, president of the Tourism […]

What if the “New World” conquered the “Old World?” Instead of European conquistadors colonizing the Americas, what if explorers from the Americas sailed east and subjugated the natives of Europe? How would history have been written by the victors? These are the questions that inspired Smoking Mirror, an exhibition by Quito artist and graphic novelist […]

The Superintendent of Communication and Information (Supercom), reports that in 2018 there were only two cases filed against media and journalists in the Azuay province, a trivial figure compared to the 103 cases filed in 2014. “There is less fear to inform” say journalists and academics. This does not mean that there is less control […]

Of all the people who die from cancer each year, more than 30 percent of them could have avoided the disease had they done one thing: quit smoking. And that’s not just cancers of the lungs and throat. Seventeen cancers are strongly linked to cigarette smoking including kidney, cervix and colon cancers. That percentage increases […]

I have written previously about dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, one of its principal manifestations. The focus was on the role of dietary changes in reducing (and potentially preventing) the onset of dementia with a focus on Alzheimer’s disease. Today’s focus is on providing some positive news and providing some relevant information focusing on the continuing research […]

This past Saturday and Sunday, Ecuador recorded two earthquakes registering  4.9 and 3.5 respectively on the Richter scale. Saturday’s earthquake, which occurred at 4:11 AM at a depth of 4.48 kilometers,  was centered in Esmeraldas province, 29.3 kilometers from Quininde. Newly install Vice President, Otto Sonnenholzner reported via social media that there were no reported […]

They say that home is where you hang your hat, and that’s certainly true for many of us expats. Grandparents and parents have passed away, and children are scattered around up north, starting their own families, creating their own homes and generating their own traditions. My hat is hung here in Cuenca with Jackie. We […]

Every Friday at 3 p.m., Mishelle Calle and María Belén Quintanilla walk the streets of the center of Cuenca, followed very closely by 10 or 15 foreigners eager to know more about the city.  The girls, law students at the University of Cuenca, started this entrepreneurial social event in February, 2016. Three years later, their […]

Stan Young, who has been living the good life in Cuenca for the past four years, belies his age. He’s 85 and demonstrates an exuberance and passion in pursuit of interests that would make younger individuals bend at the knees. In constant motion and with a zest for life, Young is fascinated with exploring other […]

Like almost every other country in the world, deaths or injuries due to traffic accidents in Ecuador are caused by a variety of different factors, such as chance events, mechanical failures, disrespect for traffic signals or lack of competence of the driver. But studies have shown that the use seat belts reduce the chance of […]