Cuenca – CEDEI

Blinded by Carnival

February 15, 2018

You need to travel to Latin America as to fully experience the Carnival holiday. It´s such a unique and bewildering event, containing massive celebrations before Lent (a time of holiness and moderation). You´ll notice in the days leading up to Carnival weekend that many people are walking around the city, soaking wet, and returning the cold, wet favor to random passersby. You´ll also become much more familiar with this evil substance known as “carioca” (which is pretty much just aromatic…

Ecuadorian Yes Man

February 8, 2018

Alec Tripp

CEDEI, Cuenca, Ecuador, Study Abroad

“The limits of my language are the limits of my world.” -Ludwig Wittenstein As it turns out, journeying to a foreign country entails learning its language (quite well) and transitioning to its customs. Unluckily for me, I was hardly proficient in Spanish coming into Ecuador, and I knew even less of its unique traditions. To cope with the massive influx of new information and Spanish conversation, I had become accustomed to just replying to nearly anything that my host family…

Eating Ants in Ecuador: My First Week

January 31, 2018

Alec Tripp

Cuenca, Ecuador, Study Abroad

It’s going to be QUITE difficult to recap this past week and a half, as it’s been filled with so many incredible experiences. I’ve been blessed with a great group to make lifelong memories, and I look forward to what lies ahead. I arrived in Quito a day early (after some stressful flight delays) and got a quick glimpse of the capital city before I met the rest of my group. Ordering for myself in a foreign country was a…

Cuenca-Loving Program Coordinator: Janae Knipp

November 9, 2017

Kristen Sawyer

Cuenca

Cuenca is Calling! Nearly four years ago I walked through Cuenca for the first time and felt enchanted. The river! The mountains! The cobblestone streets! I was under the spell of its South American charm. As I started my teaching contract, my feelings didn’t change too much. Sure, there were the normal frustrations. On rainy days, I really wished I had my car. I missed almond butter and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. I got frustrated when the Cuencanos’ strolling pace…

Settling Into Cuenca

November 7, 2017

Martina Maya-Callen

CEDEI, Cuenca

On a bus after the first week of adventures in Ecuador there were small bits of anxiety in the pit of my stomach as we are heading to Cuenca, Ecuador, the city in which I will be living for the next semester. We arrive at CEDEI and all of the students line up to meet their families for the first time and I am kindly greeted by my host mother. We swiftly leave CEDEI so that I can get acquainted…

Daily Life in Cuenca Tips

October 23, 2017

Kristen Sawyer

Cuenca

Wisdom Collected from Students and Staff How can I make calls to the US/use the internet? At various locations around Cuenca are cabinas, which are places that have phones and computers available to the public for a small charge. To make a call to the US, you first need to put in the US IDD, “011” then the area code and number. Calls to other countries have their own IDD. Calls typically cost anywhere from 3 to 12 cents…

5 Things to Know about Life in Cuenca

October 16, 2017

Kristen Sawyer

Cuenca, Ecuador

As in any city, there are customs and rituals that are different compared to daily life in the States or European countries. The observations on this list are small things, noticed over my two years of living in Cuenca. The topics vary from extended mealtimes to excessive high heel use. These customs are so woven into the fabric of daily life, that you may not even realize how commonplace they are until you pause during your daily stroll and really…