Why Ecuador’s landmark EU investment agreement could reshape capital flows, energy security, and institutional reform. While roads crumbled and walls fell in the Sierra, a foundation was being poured in Brussels. On Friday, January 23, 2026, Ecuador achieved a...
Zapotillo’s annual yellow bloom passes its peak, closing a brief but vital season for nature and local economies. The greatest show in the southern dry forest is ending. The annual flowering of the Guayacanes in Zapotillo, a natural phenomenon that rivals the cherry...
Relentless rains trigger landslides, sinkholes, and closures that isolate communities across Loja and neighboring Azuay. While the people of Vilcabamba fight for security, the geography of the entire Loja province is fighting a losing battle against the weather. The...
A heritage home’s sudden fall exposes the fragile balance between history, safety, and neglect in Ecuador’s highlands. The morning of Saturday, January 24, 2026, began like any other in the Andean canton of Cotacachi. The air was crisp, the streets around the central market were beginning to hum with the quiet commerce of the weekend, […]
Residents protest rising crime as armed robberies target foreign homeowners and expose a fragile police presence. Vilcabamba, the fabled “Valley of Longevity,” has long sold a promise to the world: eternal spring, health, and peace. For decades, this promise attracted a unique demographic of international retirees, wellness seekers, and tourists, transforming the sleepy agricultural parish […]
Tourism rebounds as beach crowds return under the watchful presence of armed patrols. Salinas is a city living two realities in January 2026. Walk along the Malecón of San Lorenzo and you see the version that fills postcards and Instagram feeds: families clustered under umbrellas, vendors slicing coconuts, the smell of ceviche drifting through the […]
After months transforming public spaces, the XVII Bienal closes following record attendance and international recognition. For the past few months, the streets of Cuenca have been a gallery. The XVII Bienal de Cuenca, titled “The Game” (“El Juego”), has turned colonial plazas, museums, and heritage homes into spaces of interrogation, play, and critique. Now, as […]
Peak inflows near 119 cubic meters per second offer temporary relief for Ecuador’s most critical hydroelectric reservoir. In the industrial parks and living rooms of Cuenca, eyes are fixed on a single number: 2,153. That is the maximum elevation (in meters above sea level) of the Mazar reservoir. It is the magic number that guarantees […]
There’s a certain rhythm to the news when things start to wobble. You feel it before you fully understand it. A story here. Another one there. A road gone. A house down. A reservoir number that everyone suddenly knows by heart. None of it feels catastrophic on its own, but taken together, it starts to […]