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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 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   [...]

[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   [...]

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 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 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   [...]

[email protected] The Metropolitan District of Quito (DMQ) covers an area of 422,802 hectares (almost 1050 acres), with altitudinal ranges from 500 to 4.800 meters above sea level: a true rainbow of microclimates, habitats, landscapes and bio   [...]

[email protected] Tourists come to Quito, visit the central historical district, the Mariscal, and some of the other attractions around the city (mostly in the northern part of the city) and they leave thinking they have seen Quito.  But what   [...]

[email protected] The International Bureau of Cultural Capitals declared Quito 2011 American Capital of Culture. The reality of Quito’s dynamic city life amidst a layered cultural heritage of landmark buildings was instrumental when consideri   [...]

By LANCE BRASHEAR It would be hard to imagine a more complicated venture than Kapawi Eco Lodge and Reserve located in the Achuar Territory of Ecuador, near Peru.  You might think the most challenging aspect of Kapawi is the logistical nightmare of   [...]

By LANCE BRASHEAR  Laszlo Karolyi, owner and creator of Cafe Cultura, Quito's first boutique hotel, says that people from all over the world have one thing in common: drinking coffee.  "Coffee is an international word.  [When you say coffee] ev   [...]

By DEKE CASTLEMAN Atahualpa.  Gil Ramirez Davalos. Luis Cordero. Padre Aguirre. Presidente Borrero. Remigio Crespo. Parque Calderón. These names fill the history books of Ecuador, and dot the city map of Cuenca. But who were these people? A   [...]

By LANCE BRASHEAR Very few things in Cuenca are new, which gives the city part of its charm.  Many things in Cuenca, however, have been renewed, remodeled, refurbished, or restored, giving them a new use and a new life.  Eight years ago, following   [...]

By DEKE CASTLEMAN In 1897, 16-year-old Rosalía Suarez carried ice from Mt. Imbabura to her home in Ibarra in northern Ecuador. In a large copper pail, she mixed tropical fruit juices with the ice, inventing "helados de paila," or copper-pail sherb   [...]