Stories: Ecuador
-
Life Under an Active Volcano in Ecuador
It was June 1877 and summer in the Sierra. The dry, Andean wind carried specks of ash that sprinkled down upon the sprawling haciendas and lush swaths of green pastures as hundreds of farm animals grazed at the foot of Cotopaxi, one of the world's highest active volcanoes. Since the beginning of the year, the majestic snow capped summit,...
-
Oil and Lava
On the final day of March 2014, President Rafael Correa was blinking away tears on live television. Extreme close-ups showed the bombastic leader struggling to suppress emotion as he listened to student Daniela Armijo thank him for creating “the hope of a new Ecuador.” But Armijo was not just any student. And this was not a run-of-the-mill political event....
-
The Rise of the Trash-Picker Collective, in Latin America and Beyond
As the sky lightens from pink to blue in this gritty oil boomtown on the border with Colombia, vendors at the local campesino market set up baskets of pan de wawa, platters of fresh cheese, and heaps of mangos and bananas. The waste-pickers are close behind, pedaling squeaky metal carts through the rutted streets. They’re among Ecuador&rsquo...;
-
This Couple Aims to Make Ecuador the Cradle of Fine Chocolate Making
Most of the world's chocolate today comes from America and Europe, and it's made from cacao (cocoa) beans grown in Africa. But at least one South American company wants to make the best chocolate in the world from beans grown at home in the cradle of cacao. "Latin America has been sitting on a gold mine of cacao...
-
Cidade do Equador convive com a ameaça do vulcão Cotopaxi
Vista aérea do vulcão Cotopaxi. Os policiais chegaram sem avisar naquela madrugada de 15 de agosto. Bateram nas portas gritando para que os moradores deixassem suas casas na urgência de cinco minutos. "Explodiu o vulcão, corram!", foi a ordem ouvida pela equatoriana Ximena Guaman, 31, que despertou de seu sono para, de repente,...
-
Meet the Only Female Amputee Runner in Ecuador
Kathy Pico is hummingbird tiny, hummingbird fast. Growing up in Quito, the sky-high capital of Ecuador, she’d always loved to run. But by 18, she’d developed a mysterious, chronic pain in her left leg. She limped for years until, finally, doctors diagnosed a tumor in 2009, and told her she’d have to undergo chemotherapy and...
-
Program Gives Ecuadorian Amputee Chance to ‘Climb Mountains’
After being diagnosed with cancer in her ankle, Kathy Pico was faced with a decision: years of chemotherapy that may or may not work, or amputating her left leg. Pico decided on the amputation, and now her life has been transformed with the help of a Chicago doctor who has used his own experience to help patients in Guatemala and...
-
Colombian Refugees Seek Justice in Peace Deal
After three years of negotiations between the Colombian government and FARC rebels in the Cuban capital, Havana, a peace deal that could bring more than five decades of conflict to an end, appears to be in sight. On Tuesday, an agreement on the crucial sticking point of victim reparations and special tribunals to try former members of FARC, the Revolutionary...
-
What the Heck Is Shade-Grown Cacao? This Pricey Treat Is Actually Good for the Planet
In Ecuador’s Amazon region, above the banks of the swirling Aguarico River, Luis Chamba grows cacao - the basis of chocolate and cocoa butter - on his family’s tiny finca. The furrowed, football-shaped cacao pods flourish under a steamy canopy of banana trees, balsam, cedar, and other local plants. Chickens strut and cluck, and a...
-
Ecuador’s Media Express Fear Over Freedom of Speech
Ecuador's government must not start regulating private media and social networks, journalists and press watchdogs warned, after its National Assembly voted to constitutionally define communications as a public service. President Rafael Correa's party, Alianza Pais, enjoys a two-thirds majority in the assembly. It voted on Thursday to lift presidential term limits, prompting violent street protests and...