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When my husband, Ken, and I moved to Ecuador in 2019, we fully intended to make the most of the myriad cultural, historical, and scenic attractions that our adopted city of Cuenca had to offer. After all, those were high on the list of reasons we had chosen to live in this UNESCO World Heritage Site in the first place. But we soon fell into an inevitable and familiar weekly...
"Just getting the foreman to use a spirit level was a huge struggle,” says New Yorker, Dek Tillet, about building a dream home on an Ecuador mountainside. But what a house it is! The master bedroom has floor-to-ceiling windows that literally hang out over the valley, and the infinity pool seems to flow right over the edge of the mountain.
In early 2016, Dek and Val Klein found and fell in love with a 32-acre plot of land outside of the Ecuadorian highland village of Vilcabamba, in the predominantly indigenous neighborhood of Mollepamba. They immediately saw potential for building their dream home at the top of the mountain—something that Dek had envisioned for 40 years but couldn’t afford...
The Ruta de las Guitarras lies about 22 miles to the east of Cuenca, just outside the small village of San Bartolomé. Along a short stretch of road winding through some photogenic countryside, a handful of family-owned workshops are clustered together, where visitors can learn about the guitar-making process and see the end product of a highly-skilled craft...
In Ecuador’s third largest city, Cuenca, many expats are actively engaged in volunteering with various local charities. Below is an overview of the organizations that were kind enough to talk to me about their missions and current openings for volunteers:
After a while we started to feel a little limited without our own vehicle, and about nine months after moving to Ecuador we finally caved in. So here are the ins and outs of car ownership in Ecuador, and what you might want to know before deciding to buy or not to buy…
On my way home from the pharmacy one morning last year, I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to surprise my husband, Ken, with a visit to his workshop in our newly adopted city of Cuenca. As I arrived, I saw a flurry of black fur in the overgrown grass outside his shop, and emitting a tiny yelp, the most adorable little puppy bounced up to greet me...
It’s true that many people visit or move to Cuenca because they are seduced by its UNESCO-recognized colonial center, its year-round pleasant climate, and its relatively low cost of living. But just outside the city limits, Cuenca’s backyard is one of dramatic mountains and stunning Andean páramo vistas, making the area an absolute mecca for outdoor enthusiasts.
Enjoying a locally-grown coffee on my sunny terrace in Cuenca, Ecuador, with my husband Ken and our little rescue dog, Sally, I’m wondering what my family and friends are up to in England. I’m smiling because the dream of living in South America finally came true, almost 15 years after the seed was planted.