Daily coverage from across the country, written for the expat community
Quito was pounded by hail and electrical storms Wednesday afternoon, then blanketed by dense fog Thursday morning. Ecuador’s weather agency forecasts intensifying rainfall through March, raising mudslide risk in the capital’s surrounding valleys.
Extortion rackets once concentrated on Ecuador's coast have spread to Quito neighborhoods including Carapungo, Calderón, and Solanda. Business owners report demands of $100 to $2,000 per month, and 62% of small businesses nationwide have paid.
Coffee grown in Quito's UNESCO-designated Chocó Andino Biosphere Reserve is gaining international recognition and finding growing markets in Europe, adding another dimension to Ecuador's agricultural export story.
The original 18-karat gold FIFA World Cup Trophy is on display at Quorum del Paseo San Francisco in Cumbayá from 2:30 PM to 9:00 PM today — the fourth time the trophy has visited Ecuador. With La Tri set to face Germany at MetLife Stadium this summer, World Cup fever is running high.
Two armed men in motorcycle helmets robbed a café on García Moreno and Vía del Ferrocarril in Cumbayá on February 9, demanding phones and belongings at gunpoint. It's the second café robbery in five weeks in the valley — after the high-profile January 7 holdup at influencer Michelle Katz's Boker Tov café that left the community shaken.
A major landslide at kilometer 36 of the Calacalí–La Independencia highway on Friday night has completely shut down one of the two main routes connecting Quito to the coast. Travelers face 7-hour detours via Alóag–Santo Domingo as Carnival weekend begins.
An 'urgent' efficiency law working through the National Assembly would force Quito to slash current spending and could eliminate 5,000 municipal positions. Mental health services, community dining, animal welfare programs, and even Metro expansion plans are on the chopping block.
Overnight storms collapsed a hillside in Quito's La Bota neighborhood, damaged multiple homes, and interrupted water service. No fatalities were reported, but the incident underscores rainy-season risks in the capital's hillside neighborhoods.
Quito has approved a new urban development plan for La Mariscal — the city's historic expat and tourist district. The centerpiece: Avenida Amazonas will revert to two-way traffic as part of an economic revitalization strategy.
The Metropolitan Traffic Agency will blanket Quito with 711 officers, 36 control points on major highways, and monitoring at 63 high-traffic locations from February 13-17. Drunk driving operations, terminal coverage, and restrictions on ‘chivas’ party buses are all in effect.
Mariscal Sucre International Airport expanded terminal space by 17,600+ square meters, boosting annual capacity from 5 million to over 7 million passengers. Meanwhile, Aeroméxico resumes Quito-Mexico City nonstops on March 23 with four weekly flights.
Quito residents are reporting water bills that tripled or quadrupled overnight after the municipality shifted garbage collection fees from the electric bill to the water bill starting February 1. The mayor says the charges are correct — the sticker shock comes from how shared meters divide the cost.
