The unofficial web page of the greater Cuenca expat community

While working on my Spanish futilely here, I found an English version  here that I thought might be of interest.

Excerpt:

UK had an "alarming" shortage of people able to speak any of the 10 languages identified - with three-quarters of the population unable to speak any of the languages fluently enough to hold a conversation in them.

Nards Barley wrote:

Excerpt:

UK had an "alarming" shortage of people able to speak any of the 10 languages identified - with three-quarters of the population unable to speak any of the languages fluently enough to hold a conversation in them.

And 15% speak French while only 4% speak Spanish

Continuing to work my way through the breakfast circuit, I stopped in at a hostel called La Cigale.

An expat told me he likes to go there for happy hour because they have nice music and good mix of locals and gringos as a clientele.  He said there was plenty of elbow room and free wifi.

From outside:



From Inside:





Breakfast Menu, which you probably can´t read:



I ordered the pancake breakfast which included juice and coffee for $3.30 I think:



/Begin rant

The pancake was good but they only gave me one regular size pancake. Who is satisfied with eating one effing pancake! I am from the U.S. where we have voracious appetites.  I know you clientele are travelers on a budget, but how much more does it cost add a second pancake!  You will not get many repeat customers serving portions of that size.  Someone contact the owner and complain!

/End rant

Nards Barley wrote:

The pancake was good but they only gave me one regular size pancake. Who is satisfied with eating one effing pancake! I am from the U.S. where we have voracious appetites.  I know you clientele are travelers on a budget, but how much more does it cost add a second pancake!  You will not get many repeat customers serving portions of that size.  Someone contact the owner and complain!

/End rant

For $3.30 couldn't you make a better breakfast for yourself back at the fort?

mugtech wrote:

Nards Barley wrote:

The pancake was good but they only gave me one regular size pancake. Who is satisfied with eating one effing pancake! I am from the U.S. where we have voracious appetites.  I know you clientele are travelers on a budget, but how much more does it cost add a second pancake!  You will not get many repeat customers serving portions of that size.  Someone contact the owner and complain!

/End rant

For $3.30 couldn't you make a better breakfast for yourself back at the fort?

Normally, I have granola and banana with liquid yogurt poured over with a cup of coffee, which would be under $3.30. However, I was out of those ingredients and needed to go to the post office to pick up my second order of Old Navy jeans, size 32x30.

The BBRC (Baby Boomer Reception Committee) has its news logo under construction. Let me know what you think.

While walking on Vargus Machuca, I crossed paths with Cuenca celebrity blogger Said from the Said blog. He appeared to be dressed in workout attire, which leaves me to believe he had recently completed his workout at the The Art Gym located on Alfonso Jerves.

He was wearing a green colored beret on his dome and mirrored aviator styled sunglasses. I am guessing he was walking in the direction of Cafe Nucallacta to buy coffee. Cafe Nucallacta will be closed this weekend and relocation to a new location on Calle Larga. This is a paid announcement.

P.S.

It appears Said has a new favorite restaurant which he announced on the Gringo Post. (Another Expat jumping the Gringo Tree ship onto the Gringo Post bandwagon)

Salvia, modern European kitchen

Last night, four of us had the pleasure of experiencing the elevated cuisine prepared by Salvia while owners, Gavin and Karen Quinn, guest-hosted at Roux. Everything we ordered was delicious and elegantly presented. Folks, this is an entirely new level of dining in Cuenca that you simply must enjoy for yourselves. We can't wait for their new restaurant to open.

By Edd Staton: eddstaton@gmail.com

Said's most recent blog posting has pictures of himself covered with blue and red mud.  View at your own risk.

Cuenca photo of the day, taken in route to El Centro on Bus #7. Those are flowers in case you can´t tell.

Nards Barley wrote:

It appears Said has a new favorite restaurant which he announced on the Gringo Post. (Another Expat jumping the Gringo Tree ship onto the Gringo Post bandwagon)

Does Quito have a resource similar to Gringo Post/Tree?

I saw something on Tree saying that they were starting a Quito version (I hesitate to say 'branch' for fear of being accused of committing punnery), but it hasn't happened yet.

BobH wrote:

I saw something on Tree saying that they were starting a Quito version (I hesitate to say 'branch' for fear of being accused of committing punnery), but it hasn't happened yet.

Take some comfort in realizing the seed has been planted.

BobH wrote:

I saw something on Tree saying that they were starting a Quito version (I hesitate to say 'branch' for fear of being accused of committing punnery), but it hasn't happened yet.

No that would be prunery.

Gardener signing out/

;-)

It seems that puns are in full bloom here.

Help me! I can't stop!

BobH wrote:

Does Quito have a resource similar to Gringo Post/Tree?

Not yet but soon. I guess with Cuenca getting saturated, Quito is an emerging market for boomers.  Even the Frugals are trying to get a piece of the pie with their latest guidebook, based on the entire 4 weeks or so they have spent vacationing there.

I am glad it is raining this afternoon. The Tomebamba River seemed awfully low while walking through town today.  Might have someone to do with why I had a brief electrical outage yesterday.

It's snowing here today...UGH. Cuenca, here I come!

No electrical outage on my side of town.
I noticed the river being way down also. It's the lowest I've seen it since June.
Now you can really see all the trash that is in it. Terrible.

Nards Barley wrote:

Not yet but soon. I guess with Cuenca getting saturated, Quito is an emerging market for boomers.  Even the Frugals are trying to get a piece of the pie with their latest guidebook, based on the entire 4 weeks or so they have spent vacationing there.

WOW!! 1% of the population = saturated.  Hard to believe boomers will now flood Quito, ignore Cuenca.

mugtech wrote:

Nards Barley wrote:

Not yet but soon. I guess with Cuenca getting saturated, Quito is an emerging market for boomers.  Even the Frugals are trying to get a piece of the pie with their latest guidebook, based on the entire 4 weeks or so they have spent vacationing there.

WOW!! 1% of the population = saturated.  Hard to believe boomers will now flood Quito, ignore Cuenca.

I am only speculating on how they may see things.  Clearly they are motivated to grow their revenue steam, and maybe they see some changing migration patterns.

P.S.
I am predicting at the end of 2014 that percentage bumps up 2% which would mean the expat population grows to 10,000 or so.

Of course, a lot of that depends on whether Said and IL implement some of my ideas to hype the Hell out of the place, moreover than they are already doing.

Nards Barley wrote:

Of course, a lot of that depends on whether Said and IL implement some of my ideas to hype the Hell out of the place, moreover than they are already doing.

Would that be possible, more hype?  Doubling the expat population  of Cuenca would probably mean twice as much complaining, but I'm sure it would aid the real estate inflation goals of certain local celebrities.

I like to associate the names of places with their objects. In this case the Republic Sur which is frequently advertising their wares on the Gringo Post. Here was the most recent ad from this past Tuesday.

If anyone has been there feel free to let us know how it is.

Cinema at Republica Sur

This Tuesday and Wednesday we continue with our film series at 7:30 PM. We invite you to come for free. Always in HD quality and in English with Spanish subtitles.

* This Tuesday, Star Wars "A New Hope", directed by George Lucas and soundtrack by John Williams. American film, 1977

* This Wednesday 4th with "Moon", a film by Duncan Jones and soundtrack by Clint Mansell. United kingdom Film, 2009.

Republica Sur, Paseo 3 de Noviembre, 4-78 and BajadaTodos Santos, just past the broken bridge.(Cuenca)

BobH wrote:

"Best Place to Live in Ecuador" is now only about 12,400 views ahead, plus it has fallen off the front page, which will probably mean it will get fewer views.

Things are looking good, Nards.

And 4 weeks later the lead is down to 9,000. At this rate Nards should be in the lead sometime in March, 2014.  Let's start planning the celebration.

And speaking of celebrating, looks like Ecuador got a good enough draw in the World Cup group E, thrown in with France (the favorite)Switzerland and Honduras.  USA fans be complaining about the bad luck of being in Group G with Germany, Portugal and Ghana, who beat the USA in 2010, while Germany is picked by some to win it all.  Until now the biggest USA World Cup story has been about how unprepared Brazil is to host and then the Olympics in 2016.  Obviously the Economic Hit Men did not do their job in Brazil, or we would be hearing, though not necessarily true, much brighter stories about the great economic leaps of 21st century Brazil.

I saw a gringo walking on Calle Larga yesterday yelling at a driver who didn´t yield enough to his satisfaction on a sidestreet he was crossing. It is easy to loose your cool being a pedestrian, especially if you consider that we are not use to having to dodge cars to cross streets.

The newspaper El Tiempo does a good job covering the difficulties of being a pedestrian. Today they were talking about a community on the periphery of Cuenca called El Valle.

The caption of the following photo is "Residents and students risk their lives each day trying to cross the principal road".

mugtech wrote:

USA fans be complaining about the bad luck of being in Group G with Germany, Portugal and Ghana, who beat the USA in 2010, while Germany is picked by some to win it all.

USA got a really tough draw. Our team seems to be much improved under Klinsman, but this will be quite a test.

Did Gringo Tree pull this out of their ass or what? I find it extremely patronizing that the editors send out something like this in an email without telling us where and how they learned of this study, in case we might want to read it for ourselves.

Cuenca Expat Numbers, Influence May Be Exaggerated
 
The number of English-speaking expats living in Cuenca as well as their influence on the local culture and economy are grossly over-estimated, according to a new study of international expat communities.
 
Hamburg, Germany university professor Maria Richter, who is studying the effect of expats on communities in Latin America, Spain and Southeast Asia, puts the number of expats in Cuenca at between 2,500 and 3,000. "Estimates by local business organizations and some immigration officials claim that the number is between 5,000 and 6,000, but these figures have little basis in fact." She says that it is difficult to get accurate numbers, pointing out that Ecuadorian-born U.S. and Canadian citizens are often included in the expat count.

Also exaggerated, says Richter, is the effect that expats have on the larger Cuenca community. "What is overlooked, even by native Cuencanos, is the impact of Ecuadorians who have lived in North America and Europe and who have returned home to Cuenca. Since 2007, between 30,000 and 35,000 Ecuadorians have returned to Cuenca and Azuay province and their impact has been dramatic."

Although Richter says that expats have considerable influence culturally and economically in some communities, such as Boquete, Panama, and Costa del Sol, Spain, they have less effect in a larger community such as Cuenca. "There is little evidence that expats have driven up real estate prices, for example," she says, adding that North American and European expats tend to have an "exaggerated sense of their influence" on local communities.

Richter says she sees a "plateauing" of the numbers of expats coming to Cuenca. "They are still arriving but many are leaving as well. Although the numbers will continue to rise for the foreseeable future, the 'boom' created by various Internet expat services is probably over."

Cuenca Expat Numbers, Influence May Be Exaggerated
 

 
Hamburg, Germany university professor Maria Richter, who is studying the effect of expats on communities in Latin America, Spain and Southeast Asia, puts the number of expats in Cuenca at between 2,500 and 3,000. "Estimates by local business organizations and some immigration officials claim that the number is between 5,000 and 6,000, but these figures have little basis in fact."

Also exaggerated, says Richter, is the effect that expats have on the larger Cuenca community. "What is overlooked, even by native Cuencanos, is the impact of Ecuadorians who have lived in North America and Europe and who have returned home to Cuenca. Since 2007, between 30,000 and 35,000 Ecuadorians have returned to Cuenca and Azuay province and their impact has been dramatic."

Although Richter says that expats have considerable influence culturally and economically in some communities, such as Boquete, Panama, and Costa del Sol, Spain, they have less effect in a larger community such as Cuenca. "There is little evidence that expats have driven up real estate prices, for example," she says, adding that North American and European expats tend to have an "exaggerated sense of their influence" on local communities.

Richter says she sees a "plateauing" of the numbers of expats coming to Cuenca. "They are still arriving but many are leaving as well. Although the numbers will continue to rise for the foreseeable future, the 'boom' created by various Internet expat services is probably over."

Sounds like she is saying that the expat population is not going to be anywhere near your 2014 prediction of 10,000 in the greater Cuenca area.  It also supports their idea that returning Ecuador citizens are showing up at a rate 7 times that of expats and they are changing the economy more than gringos created by the net.  She thinks you gringos have an exaggerated sense of influence, but I agree, let's see the original report, we will read it and draw our own conclusions.

mugtech wrote:

Sounds like she is saying that the expat population is not going to be anywhere near your 2014 prediction of 10,000 in the greater Cuenca area.  It also supports their idea that returning Ecuador citizens are showing up at a rate 7 times that of expats and they are changing the economy more than gringos created by the net.  She thinks you gringos have an exaggerated sense of influence, but I agree, let's see the original report, we will read it and draw our own conclusions.

I don´t see why they count returning Ecuadorians who are U.S. or Canadian citizens. Aren´t they already Ecuadorian citizens, and therefore are easily excluded from the headcount of people who are from the U.s or Canada and have been issued residency visas?

If the report (which I can't find on Google) is accurate, then the expats account for about 0.5% of the city's population.

I questioned how much economic impact they could be having when the estimate was 1-2 percent. At half a percent, it would seem likely the impact is negligible.

Nards Barley wrote:

I don´t see why they count returning Ecuadorians who are U.S. or Canadian citizens. Aren´t they already Ecuadorian citizens, and therefore are easily excluded from the headcount of people who are from the U.s or Canada and have been issued residency visas?

One would think it would be as simple as getting the names and addresses of everyone who was issued a residency visa, with some spot checking to see who has died, left the country etc.

Never have been able to buy into the idea that a relatively small number of expats could have an over sized influence on a city that's been around for a very long time.

In general we are here with limited incomes, not citizens and struggling to learn the language and understand the culture.  To my mind, not exactly qualities that move a group  into the movers and shakers.

I think it would be an interesting statistic to see how many expats come and how many leave.  How many rent and how many own.  And finally how many have become citizens.

I would also like to read the whole report and not an excerpt.

Just my two cents

Mike

Hey Zenner

Sounds like you are well grounded, appreciate your humour and the abs at the "ambassador"....

I had visited Cuenca as part of my Ecuadorian safari a couple of years ago. I love the place. In fact I loved Ecuador altogether! And I have traveled Colombia, Peru and Argentina btw.

I am retired, 67 yeas old, living in Calgary Canada and look to making a winter get away to somewhere a lot warmer...and less expensive to live. So, because I would require some activity to preoccupy my little brain for my time away from "home", what are the prospects for teaching Spanish to newcomers to Cuenca.

I am fluent as my Dad worked in South America for 12 years for Ecopetrol in Colombia with a stint in Peru.

In fact my teaching process is simple, everyday lessons which wd help shoppers/travelers/sightseers, etc. Anyone taking my lessons
would not even be obliged to pay!
Let me know your thoughts and warm regards

I guess Zenner = Zenspike. He is well grounded.

I enjoyed reading this blog post: The Gringo Paradox, which consists of

blatantly ignoring fellow "extranjeros" (aka foreigners) with what seems to be a vengeance. I think that we are operating under the delusions that if we ignore other gringos, we will prove that we are not a gringo ourself. Of course, this goes against all logic, truth and ignores the concept of self-acceptance, but many of us embrace it, none the less.

I have observed this behavior with some expats, and I suppose have participated in it to some extent, although it is not so much I am trying to ignore my fellow "extranjeros", but rather my fellow man. I don´t really see why I need to acknowledge every gringo that I cross paths with. It is not that I am willfully ignoring them, it is just that I am not paying attention to them.

Nards Barley wrote:

blatantly ignoring fellow "extranjeros" (aka foreigners) with what seems to be a vengeance. I think that we are operating under the delusions that if we ignore other gringos, we will prove that we are not a gringo ourself. Of course, this goes against all logic, truth and ignores the concept of self-acceptance, but many of us embrace it, none the less.

I have observed this behavior with some expats, and I suppose have participated in it to some extent ...

I don't want to spend all my time among gringos, but neither do I totally avoid them when overseas. Sometimes it is pleasant to spend time with people from 'back home' and share experiences.

To follow up on the quote -- some expats don't so much avoid fellow gringos as bash them. By loudly telling everybody how different they are from the 'bad' gringos, they prove their superior cultural sensitivity.

Nards Barley wrote:

I have observed this behavior with some expats, and I suppose have participated in it to some extent, although it is not so much I am trying to ignore my fellow "extranjeros", but rather my fellow man. I don´t really see why I need to acknowledge every gringo that I cross paths with. It is not that I am willfully ignoring them, it is just that I am not paying attention to them.

Excellent point.  If one out of every 200 people in Cuenca is a  gringo, why would you pick that one out to either purposely ignore or purposely start talking to them.  Why not let it all happen naturally?  You have to expect some USA imports to feel the need to be superior to other gringos, for some it is what capitalism is all about, and they are too old already to even think about changing.  Why would someone who thinks they are always right see a need to change?

If this was directed to me, thank you Sir.
As far as a possibility of teaching Spanish here, you would have a long line waiting at your door, with me probably being first in line.
Best wishes in your journey.
Neil/ Zenner/ ZenSPIKE

Nards Barley wrote:

I guess Zenner = Zenspike. He is well grounded.

You are most kind, Sir.

I was reading through the LonGoods one year anniversary celebration post.  No, I was not one of the invitees to their celebration at Fabianos. It is doubtful I will be invited to the 2nd year anniversary either. I still haven´t been invited over to the Frugals for lasagna, so there seems to be a definite and unexplicable pattern of blacklisting going on here.

Anyway, I was going to analyze their post in some detail but it will take to long, so I will just comment on two of their points:

I remember an evening with an ex-pat married to an Ecuadorian who continued to trash the Ecuadorians with his wife sitting right next to him.

I wonder if she had dinner with that Lenny(?) guy who briefly posted on this forum before being booted.

Humility and a desire to learn is what it will take to master this beautiful language.

Hmmm. Either there is some exception to this rule that she doesn´t know about, or I lack the requisite humility.

Nards Barley wrote:

I still haven´t been invited over to the Frugals for lasagna, so there seems to be a definite and unexplicable pattern of blacklisting going on here.

If you got a special message from Julien recently, then you are a very well regarded person.  If you did not get such a message, then never mind, no big deal.