The unofficial web page of the greater Cuenca expat community

BobH wrote:

Their Assange article is lifted word-for-word from this.

They credit Reuters, which is nice, but that does not make it any less of a copyright violation, according to the way I was taught.

Apparently they must think that if they say, "I stole this money from Bob", that I then have no grounds to complain about their theft.

Thanks Bob. I will contact Reuters tomorrow.

As an addendum, here is a brief and simple page on copyright law for bloggers. The same principles of course apply to Highlife.

And here is a more legalistic FAQ, which has the specific question we are dealing with: "Can I copy an entire news article from a commercial news web site and post the article on my web site?"

The answer is too long to post here, but it can be summed up in one word: "No."

Someone on another thread yesterday made the charge that I donŽt get out enough, questioning whether I am actual expat living in Ecuador.

Well, I had an excursion this morning and now I am sharing it with the peeps.

I got the idea from either the Gringo Post or the Gringo Tree, I donŽt remember which.

Here is the destination.  A waffle stand in the Vergel shopping mall where the SuperMaxi is located:



The guy who runs the stand is from Holland and has been living in Cuenca for like 2.5 years.  He and his partner own another stand in the Pumapungo (“Door of the Puma” in Quechua) Archaeological Park is located, right near the bird cages. I remember stopping by that stand when I visited the park once before to ask if they sell smoothies, which they do not.

Here is what I ate:



For the record, it was good and it cost $2.

Is that the Super Maxi by the stadium? The rental I'm in is about 1.5 miles from there. I was there yesterday for my first official shopping. Great store! I'll look for the waffles.
Cha Cha

Yep, that is the one.

Thanks for the link and the info. I did it, but will have to investigate it later. I don't see anything in the tray, and I activated the account with the email confirmation.
I saw the famous bench this afternoon where the waffle shot was taken. For any that have any doubts, there is in fact a waffle dude right outside of Super Maxi. (I came in from that side today) I was surprised he was selling them in the afternoon.
Now I have to figure out how to get to Bananas for breakfast, and I'll be all set!!!!
I'm Out!

Look for this building:



Calle Larga 9 - 40 | Between Padre Aguirre y Benigno Malo,

Is that walkable from say the stadium? I have to get a decent map. Is the Kookaburra the same restaurant as Bananas? I thought they were different joints. I'm staying at Remigio Tamariz y Frederico Proano.

Yeah, Bananas moved there

You staying in the Aaaaaah Cuenca bloggersŽs condo?

10 minute walk from where you are. Just take Solano (short for Fray Vicente Solano) towards town, walk up the staircase, turn left onto Calle Larga, cross street and after about a block of walking you will find it.

That be where I am, Dano's place. Pretty nice place. Good location. Thanks for the directions.

I hope the water is sufficiently warm for you.....and that there isnŽt a stench eminating from the drainage, and that the sound of the motors from the pumps doesnŽt annoy you.

In response to todayŽs copy and paste of an entire article without the publisherŽs permission by CuencaHighlife.com, I left the following comment:

Resurrected the old frown thumbs down pic of your pre-cedula days I see. I like the new one much more, so positive.  By the way, I read on a local blog that you should never tell someone what to do, for it is rude.  This applies to gringos telling the locals or gringos telling gringos what they should do.  Of course the person saying this is rude, telling others what they should do.

mugtech wrote:

Resurrected the old frown thumbs down pic of your pre-cedula days I see. I like the new one much more, so positive.  By the way, I read on a local blog that you should never tell someone what to do, for it is rude.  This applies to gringos telling the locals or gringos telling gringos what they should do.  Of course the person saying this is rude, telling others what they should do.

What is the old saying, "do as say, not as I do"

Yes, you should, I mean might want to, read said blog.  Claims he never saw any expat be rude or insensitive, that the whole behavior modification program for gringos is either a cruel Nazi joke or just plain stupid.  I gotta agree that gringos lecturing gringos on how to act is just as bad as gringos telling the locals to learn English, but the whole issue seems blown way out of proportion compared to what is or is not actually happening.  If this social butterfly has seen no such incidents in 3 years, how bad can it be?

Apparently there is a crisis of bad expat behavior in Cuenca. I was confused by saidŽs recent take on the situation since I thought his earlier articles placed the spotlight on the "problem".

Speaking of bad behavior, I want to demonstarate the proper way to credit the source of digital photography that you post on a news website you are administering--something I have never seen occur on a CuencaHighlife.com news article.



That photo is courtesy of sangay.com

I doubt I will get a reply, but I posed the following question to Cuencahighlife:

Hello,

I have seen repeated instances of your website copying and pasting entire articles from English-only websites in apparent violation of those websiteŽs "terms of use" (providing a link notwithstanding). This practice also does not appear to be supported under the doctrine of "fair use", at least in the United States where your website is hosted.

I was wondering if you would comment on whether you believe these two issues (terms of use, and fair use) apply to you, or whether you believe being located in Ecuador provides you greater "flexibility" with respect to how you interpret and apply copyright rules.

Here is Gringo TreeŽs "terms of use". Gringo Tree of course is related to CuencaHighlife and links to their content just about everyday in the daily emails:

Content. Gringo Tree contains stuff from us, you, and other users. You agree not to copy, modify, or distribute Gringo Tree, our copyrights or trademarks. When you give us content, you are granting us a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, sub-licensable right to exercise the copyright, publicity, and database rights to that content. (We need these rights to host and display your content.) If you believe that your rights have been violated, please notify us and we will investigate the matter. We reserve the right to remove content where we have grounds for suspecting the violation of these terms or of any payment rights.

Does it seem hypocritical that they expect us to abide by those terms, while willfuly ignoring similar terms on other websites?

P.S. In fact, Cuencahighlife and GringoTree are so related`, that the editor--Sylvan Hardy-- from Cuencahighlife.com wrote the promotional page for the new book published by Gringo Tree Publications, Expats in Ecuador: Life in Cuenca

In case you didnŽt know how GringoTree.com got started, it was essentially an email service where people made announcements. However, the manner in which they promoted the existence of the email service was through the web page CuencaHighlife.com, which provided a link for people to sign up for the email service. In fact they still provide that link on Cuencahighlife.com
The email service was essentially replaced by GringoTree.com website, although they still use the email to promote what new content has been added to GringoTree and CuencaHighlife.

Gringo Tree has since branched out into publishing with the creation of "Gringo Tree Publications".  Their first publication was a free ebook on foods of Cuenca. If you open that book up, you will notice that they have configured the ebook so that the reader cannot do a copy and paste of the content. Why do you suppose they donŽt want you to copy and paste their material? Maybe it is because it is because they donŽt want you posting the content to your blogs and websites.

They have two new ebooks that cost $5.50 and are availble in pdf format.

I was wondering whether these books have copyright, disclaimers or photo credits. I took a screen grab from the free ebook of the pertinent sections:

Hi there,

I am a regular reader of  the CuencaHighlife news website.

I know Cuenca Highlife is part of the GringoTree family of businesses. I was reviewing the terms of use for the Gringo Tree website and the copyrights associated with the Gringo Tree Publications, and had a question.

Based on the disclosures I have read, it appears you may not want people copying and pasting content from your website or from the Gringo Tree publications to other peopleŽs blogs and websites.  The fact you have configured the pdf files to prevent the copying of content seems to suggest that fact. However, I am confused why you would not authorize that activity when you seem to be engaging in the very same thing on your website.

What I would like to know is using whatever legal standard that you apply on a weekly basis to post entire articles from various English-based news websites to CuencaHighlife without their permission, would I be in violation of any law or copyright if I were to post content from Gringo TreeŽs website and/or Gringo Tree PublicationŽs ebooks to my web page or blog?

If so, how do you differentiate between what you do, and what I would be doing, if I were to hypothetically  copy some of your content to my website.

Of course, in this hypothetical scenario, for any of your content that I would copy to my website, I would provide a link back to GringoTree and state the name of the authors of the ebooks or articles, just as you often do.

If you do not respond, I will assume that you are implicitly accepting the fact that I am within my rights to use the content from Gringo Tree or Gringo Tree Publications on my blog or website.

warm regards,

Nards Barley

If Gringo Tree or Highlife were to sue anybody for copyright violations there is what is called the 'clean hands' rule.

But I'm not a lawyer, of course, and Ecuadorian law may differ.

Another day, another suppressed comment by the frugal bloggers in response to this post.

My recommendation is to embrace the lentil bean. I know I have.

I am starting to wonder if they are screening for my ip address, because I thought the above comment was on-topic and was a spontaneous reply on my part, due to the fact I have become the bean master since moving to Cuenca, because I canŽt afford chicken.

You know, there have been a spate of credible recommendations for Mexican food lately, that has my mouth watering.

From a former Expat-Blog participant via the Gringo Post:

El Agave Mexican Restaurant

I have tried two Mexican restaurants in Cuenca, but neither come close to El Agave 17.5 km south of Cuenca. It's a little out of the way, but it is worth the trip. They are open Thursday thru Sunday. They serve breakfast too. Some of the best Chicken Fajitas I have ever had. You wont leave hungry.

The address is Panamericana Sur Km. 17 Via Cuenca-Giron, after the turn-off to Machala and Yunguilla.

Mike Lovett: [email protected]

Then there is this one from the Gringo Tree:

La Enfrijolada
May 22, 2013
There is a fantastic new Mexican restaurant in the El Vergel neighborhood across from the 911 Center called La Enfrijolada. Their food is wonderful and the prices are very reasonable. The cooks are students from San Isidro cooking school and they are very talented. The wait staff is friendly and the atmosphere is fun. They seem to be open only in the late afternoon and evening. Check it out!

Recommended by Kathleen Ashbrook, [email protected].

Then there is this one from Sumatra from Cuencahighlife:

Because Mexican food seems to be an integral part of the North American diet, I have to tell you how to find Tacanijo, probably the best Mexican restaurant in Cuenca. A major complaint about Tacanijo is that it's hard to find, being off the beaten path for most gringos. To find it, check a map or Google it, and you'll find Av. Turuhaico that connects with Av. Las Americas and España. If you're approaching from Las Americas and turn on Turuhaico towards the airport, take the first unnamed street on your left, go one block and you will see Tacanijo on your left. I almost fell off my chair (NO, I haven`t been drinking!) when I saw Tacanijo named on Google's map.

As for Tacanijo's food, it's terrific  and there's nothing on the menu over $4. Order anything as you won't be disappointed. I particularly enjoyed the sopes. And they even have an authentic Mexican Salsa. It is madly popular with locals, which means you have to get there at 6 p.m. because by 7 p.m. they will be full. Tacanijo is open Wednesday through Saturday from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tel. 411-0387.

I had already heard about the following, but

no one seems to say good things about Taco Pronto, so I have never gone. Frugal Bloggers concur.

I tried the Pedregal Azteca, but didnŽt care for it. The frugal bloggers liked it.

We briefly had one decent Mexican restaurant here in Cebu, but it closed. The problem here (besides not knowing what Mex food is) is getting the ingredients.

Sounds like things are much better there. Three good ones as described would have me in heaven.

LOL. Got a reply from Gringo Tree Customer service. What do you guys make of it?

GringoTree and CuencaHighLife can be considered brother websites, as one of the principals in both is the same. But like brothers anywhere, they're often different. The fundamental difference between CuencaHighLife and GringoTree is that CHL repackages news stories, while GT publishes original content.

We can't address your concerns about CuencaHighLife, but here at GringoTree, we not only permit reprinting of our content with the proper citation, we encourage it. If you'd like to copy something from one of the pdfs to your website, let us know and we'll send you the unprotected version.

Sincerely,

Customer Service

I think they want to be in the Good Graces of one Nards Barley!

Sir Nards Barley, you da man, gettin' the respect you deserve.

CuencaŽs bloggers give crappy directions.  I have tried three times to find this place:

We have tried yuca bread from a number of different locations and while we liked all of it (except the frozen kind from the grocery store that we baked ourselves = SALTY!) our favorite is definitely from a little shop called Deleyt on Luis Cordero y Juan Jaramillo 5-92. Enma (the shop owner) is so sweet and her yuca bread is always wonderful. Each bun costs $0.15.

The address in the photo below is 5-94 Juan Jaramillo y Hermano Miguel and there is no place selling Yuca Bread to the left or right of it.



I have also looked around the intersection of Luis Cordero y Juan Jaramillo and there is no place selling yucca bread.

Since yesterday was "clean the sty thursdays", I decided to have late lunch at the La Enfrijolada

Nards,
Are you talking about a sound that comes on from time to time that sounds like a compressor kicking in when you mention the pumps? What the hell is that? Not too bad, I just don't know what it is. As far as the stench is concerned, most of it cleared up when I took a shower Plenty of hot water, but you have to run it for like 5 minutes before the hot kicks in. I thought they were concerned with water consumption here. Not real effective to have 5 minutes of water " go down the drain ", with no use of it.
Stay Well,
Nags

Nards Barley wrote:

Since yesterday was "clean the sty thursdays", I decided to have late lunch at the La Enfrijolada

So how was it. I'm so desperate for decent Mex that I savored the menu. I decided on the Enchiladas Rojas.

Bob

On my trek over to have lunch yesterday, I noticed the following hotel under construction:



The sign says "proximadamente" (soon) which I tend to confuse with "aproximadamente" (approximately)

Location of hotel and contact details: 
    RIONE HOTEL
    Tatiana Palacios        ()
    Luis Moreno Mora y Eduardo Malo (esquina)
    Cuenca
    Azuay,59307
    EC
    Tel. +593.72883757

"Tatiana" sounds Russian although "Palacios" does not.

In any case it appears they have secured the domain name RIONEHOTEL.COM, although no page exists to date.

There are certain names you repeatedly see on Gringo Tree ads or Yahoo group postings or elsewhere, but you may never be able to associate those names with a face.

Well, there is one less name you can cross off that list:

http://willharper.com/

Under those tents were lots of cookies and sweets.



It was too crowded for me to walk under those tents, but the longGoods took plenty of photos.

While the lonGoods photos donŽt show it, there were a hell of a lot of bees hovering over those treats.

BobH wrote:

So how was it. I'm so desperate for decent Mex that I savored the menu. I decided on the Enchiladas Rojas.

Bob

It was good.

I was hoping I could order a combo platter like this:



But settled on the three tacos a la carte ($4) with a coke ($1).



Spent 2 bucks extra for guacamole:



Plus $2.50 for flan and $1.20 for coffee thick as tar:



The frugal bloggers would be disappointed in me for spending $10.70 on lunch, so I wonŽt be making a habit out of it.

Nice patio, by the way:

The patio looks really nice (depending on weather, of course). The tacos looked good to me, but why didn't you get to combo platter -- that looked like something I'd kill for these days.

Bob

Love the table top! BTW: We'll be in Cuenca from the 12th-16 (June). We have some room in a suitcase-backpack if you need something from Oregon. Tell me today or tomorrow. We leave Monday night for GYE. Staying in a room in GYE booked on air.bnb then taking the bus (in the daytime) to Cuenca. Then staying in the #1 rec. Hostel (by the Frugals  that I booked via hostel.com). till the 16th (Posada del Rio). Hope to meet up with y'all before we head to the coast and up to Mindo-Quito-GYE. Gerry

Bob, no combos available. I think donŽt think they even have mexican rice a la carte, just frijoles. The guy who runs it is an authentic Mexican from Mexico. Maybe we need some Americans to complain.

Aterosin, so this is a exploratory trip to Ecuador?


Peeps, we need some speculation as to who is selling and why.

Sounds like California Kitchen to me. I thought the kids were going to inherit it.

Popular Cuenca Restaurant for Sale

Located in a restored house in the heart of the historic district, this three-year-old restaurant serves a large clientele of expats, travelers, and Cuencanos. The North American/Continental menu is overseen by a U.S.-trained chef with 18 years experience in high-end U.S. restaurants. The main dining area has seating for 130; a separate room is used for frequent social and professional gatherings.

The kitchen equipment, furnishings, and custom-made bar are in excellent condition. Point-of-sale software tracks sales. Financial records are current, monitored by an accountant.

The restaurant has a meal-service contract with the hotel in the same building, an extensive e-mail list, and a strong reputation for live entertainment, meal specials, and Sunday brunch.

The business is profitable and sales continue to grow. For the right buyer, this is an exceptional opportunity in one of Latin America's most popular destinations.

For more information and pictures, contact [email protected].

Explore Ecuador = Affirmative. I'm a teacher of 37 years teaching Orchestra (Middle School & High School) about to retire. My husband is a pro bass player, I'm a cellist. He wants to keep playing professionally so we are looking at Cuenca since they have a decent Orchestra. I hope to meet up with the Cuenca Sym Conductor and some of the musicians. Anyway, we have 3 weeks. First week = Cuenca then back to GYE, up the coast, over to Quito and back down and out to GYE July 2. We're from Oregon & Ecuador is about the same size so I think we'll see most of it in 3 weeks. Yikes,, that reminds me, I have to write my retirement letter before I get on that plane Monday. G