If you look at the numbers above, you may be a little shocked to see that this is the last issue of the eighth year of The Cuenca Dispatch!

I, for one, know that I’m surprised. I honestly never imagined that what started as an amusing little newsletter for restaurant clients would turn into one of the top sources of news for expats in Cuenca—and all of Ecuador.

For that, I want to personally thank all of you, our readers, who have stuck with us through the good times and the bad.

You longtime readers will recall that The Cuenca Dispatch was originally called The Vegetable dis-Patch—a clever play on words, since it was launched at The Vegetable Bar restaurant.

In the beginning, the newspaper was something for people to read while they waited for their food, and we only printed good news. I couldn’t stand seeing people reading bad news on their phones just before they ate our food!

The Vegetable dis-Patch grew organically, going from four pages to eight, which led to people asking to advertise in it so they could reach the “gringos.”

And with that, we felt it was time to turn it into a real newspaper. So, we took a small eight-by-ten newsletter and transformed it into a large-format, 16-page newspaper.

Along with more content and advertising, the biggest change was that we removed our policy of printing only good news. We thought, if we’re going to be a newspaper for expats, they need to hear both the good and the bad of what’s going on in Cuenca—and, more importantly, in all of Ecuador.

We began dropping off our printed newspapers throughout Cuenca in restaurants, bagel shops, and even bookstores. Then, the regional manager for Supermaxi approached us about advertising, and with that came the offer to place newspaper racks in three Supermaxi locations in Cuenca.

With that, The Cuenca Dispatch was printing 2,500 copies a week, often running out within three days of releasing the latest version. We had made it; we were a real newspaper.

In fact, The Cuenca Dispatch became the first English-language newspaper in the country.

Who would have thought that something that started as more of an entertainment piece would be able to claim that distinction?

And then came COVID-19.

Along with much of the rest of the world, our printer shut down, forcing us to move The Cuenca Dispatch to an online format.

As the founder of the newspaper, I can assure you that this was never our intention. Why? Well, because I love the feel of newsprint. I grew up reading the newspaper with my grandfather every day—he would read everything, including the obituaries of people he didn’t even know.

But times change, and so did The Cuenca Dispatch. As you, our several hundred loyal readers, know, it’s now an online subscription service.

Each week, we still try to give you the news we feel is most important for our readers. We still cover both the good and the bad throughout Ecuador. And there’s plenty of both.

As we enter our ninth year, know that we appreciate you—our reader—for your continued support of our newspaper.

And we promise to always keep your needs in mind as we move forward, hopefully toward an illustrious tenth year!