Temperatures in Cuenca never get really hot or really cold. It can get as low as the 40s (Fahrenheit) at night, or into the 70s during the day, but the temperatures are mild enough that homes typically don’t have any heating or cooling, not even fans. You might open or close windows, but that’s it.… Read More »
Back in the 1950s, my dad was studying for his master’s degree at the University of Kansas. One day, he got a letter from his mother in New York. He didn’t think anything of it, since getting personal correspondence in the mail was commonplace back then, so he waited until evening to open it. She… Read More »
Things are going pretty well for me. I started Spanish classes on Monday, Jan. 3, and I’m making progress. Nowhere near as quickly as I’d like, mind you, but progress is still good. One thing I hadn’t thought of before this trip is that there’s a big non-pandemic difference between my current Spanish study and… Read More »
I started a new weekly newspaper called The Elizabethtown Advocate in 2010 after quitting my job in the Philadelphia bureau of The Associated Press. I had long been interested in running my own newspaper. Elizabethtown was a town of 12,000 people about 75 miles west of Philadelphia and it had lost its longtime paper, the… Read More »
Happy new year! I’ve been in Cuenca since Thursday night and I’m enjoying the city. I start Spanish classes on Monday morning. On Wednesday, I checked out of the place I was staying in Quito. I had the same cabdriver who picked me up from the airport take me to the bus station. I could… Read More »
Content warning: Kinda gross. Skip to the boldfaced part if you have a really weak stomach. Today I woke up early and had to use the restroom. I had a loose stool. I had multiple loose stools before I left the Airbnb where I’m staying shortly before noon. My first stop was a pharmacy. It… Read More »
There are a lot of ultramodern buildings in Quito, such as these. There is plenty of new construction going on. But there are also a lot of broken and uneven sidewalks. And when accommodations for people with disabilities do exist, they’re frequently done poorly. Take this ramp, for example: I’m not sure if this is… Read More »
Here are some photos of Parque La Carolina, a large park near where I’m staying. I wasn’t surprised to see many people enjoying the park on Christmas, since it was a beautiful day. I was surprised to see landscapers working there on the holiday. I can’t explain the airplane. The climbing structure in the center… Read More »
Ecuador has really low numbers for COVID-19 cases. The government is taking the pandemic really seriously. I don’t think that’s a coincidence. In this photo, you can see people waiting to enter a shopping mall in Quito on Saturday, Dec. 25, 2021. I had entered the same mall the previous day and had to show… Read More »
I got on an airplane in Columbus, Ohio, on Wednesday, Dec. 22, and arrived in Quito in the wee hours of Thursday, Dec. 23, and plan to be in Ecuador until Feb. 19. I’ve gotten quite a few questions about it, so here goes. Q. Did the Peace Corps send you? No, I’m making this… Read More »