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[email protected] Quito, Ecuador's capital city, conquered 476 years ago by the Spanish, is considered to be the best preserved Spanish colonial city in the Americas.  Designated more than thirty years ago as one of the first World Heritage s   [...]

[email protected] The region of Umbria, Italy is known for its olive oil, black truffles, and exquisite wines from the many vineyards populating the countryside.  And, as in all of Italy, one's senses are enhanced by the fresh pastas, breads,   [...]

By Deke Castleman For many years, Cuenca has offered a handful of strictly vegetarian restaurants, but the choices continue to improve as the world, including Cuenca, embraces vegetarian options and lifestyles. Nector Tea House Last Octo   [...]

[email protected] Museo del Niño… y del Niño en el Adulto (MNNA) offers a new artistic proposal for men, women, and children of Quito.  Since last summer the  "Museum" has been in the business of bringing out the child in everyone who visits.   [...]

By Lance Brashear "On the latter part of the plain – known as Callo – which runs from Latacunga toward the north, there stand the walls of one of the palaces inhabited by the Inca Emperors, kings of Quito.  Its name has remained until today.  Pres   [...]

By Deke Castleman Ketzel Levine is sitting in a vegetarian restaurant in Cuenca. She pauses in her narrative of how she went from a long career at National Public Radio to animal advocacy in Cuenca, and checks her watch. She has an important commi   [...]

[email protected] Ecuador is undoubtedly the most under-appreciated region of South America for discovering delectable cuisine.  Often described as a "mestizaje"  Ecuadorian food is a mixture  of influences and ingredients that have simmer   [...]

[email protected] Ecuador has nine national parks and 24 protected areas.  It has 12 volcanoes with peaks over 16,000 feet.  Though it is about the size of the state of New Mexico, it contains 10% of the Earth's animal and plant species. E   [...]

[email protected] With Thanksgiving and Christmas past and New Year upon us there is one food dish whose popularity will quickly wane until the Fall of the coming year.  Though you could eat turkey anytime, it seems dearest to the celebrat   [...]

By LANCE BRASHEAR Have you ever looked at a little dot on a map and wondered what you might find there?  Perhaps you have seen a place with a nice name, seemingly in a nice location, but few people seem to know much about it. If you look at   [...]

By SUSAN SCHENCK From nearly anywhere in Cuenca, look south (toward the rivers), then raise your gaze and you'll see a big white church on a hill. The Church of Turi, with a commanding view of the entire Andean valley, has been home to civilzation   [...]

By LANCE BRASHEAR Once again a cloistered religious order in Quito is opening its doors to the public for the first time ever as part of a baroque art exhibit. In July the nuns of the Santa Clara Convent hosted a baroque art exhibit and now the   [...]

By LANCE BRASHEAR With Christmas season upon us perhaps you have already tried the traditional desserts served during the holidays.  The sweets on this page can be enjoyed throughout the year but are fancied even more during the holidays.  There a   [...]

By LANCE BRASHEAR The city of Quito has just launched what is certainly their greatest tourism initiative in recent years, perhaps ever.  It is one that has been long overdue:  City bus tours. Taking a city tour in Quito was never difficult   [...]

By DAVID MORRILL To tourists and foreign residents, Cuenca's Christmas Eve “Pase del Niño” parade, or Passing of the Child, is a colorful, often bizarre, mixture of the sacred and the profane. To locals, it is a time-honored Christian festival of   [...]

By Gail Burkhardt Seventeen years ago when Rosía Santa María and her husband Joselito Rosales were working in the Amazon they saw a group of Quechua people ready to kill and eat a baby tapir. Knowing the animal was endagered, the couple persuaded   [...]

By David Morrill Where most woodworkers see problems, Ed Konderla sees possibilities. "The wood I use would be thrown on the burn pile by most carpenters. It's unstable and gnarly, and it wouldn't work for furniture or general carpentry," he sa   [...]

By LANCE BRASHEAR Situated on the barren hills near Otavalo is a stone amphitheater where shows are performed twice a day.  This is neither Greek Tragedy nor Shakespeare, but it is quite dramatic and offers insight into an American tragedy and one   [...]

By LANCE BRASHEAR Not all cities have personality, at least not the kind which makes itself apparent through the everyday activities and annual festivities of the town.  Celebrations throughout the year lend identity, from the feast of Corpus Ch   [...]

By DAVID MORRILL "If you told me ten years ago that I would live in Ecuador one day, I would have told you that you were crazy," says Sharon Monroe, a 64-year-old grandmother and retired restaurateur from Redwood City, California. "At that point i   [...]