By Mark Bradbury Most of you reading this will remember the hot coffee case that changed the way US courts looked at civil cases. Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants, also known as the McDonald's coffee case and the hot coffee lawsuit, was a highly publicized 1994 product liability lawsuit in the United States against the McDonald's restaurant chain. Quick summary: A woman had purchased a cup of coffee at a McDonald’s Drive Through and while attempting to remove the cover she spilled the entire...

By Mark Bradbury I’ve been writing articles for different magazines over the past 15 years, and sometimes I get an assignment that can almost write itself. This month’s topic, the People of Ecuador, is one of those subjects that I am talking about. It is an easy discussion about the people I have met here in my seven years living along Ecuador’s Pacific Coast. About eight years ago, I began researching Ecuador as a retirement destination. I read dozens of articles and blogs, and watched quite...

By Mark Bradbury Three years ago, in September of 2019, I was contacted by Tina Rettka, a Canadian expat living here who wanted to do an art show in Manta. Tina had a contact with a large orchid grower here in Ecuador, and she proposed that we have a joint show for art and orchids. I thought it was a great idea, so we decided to go ahead and plan an event. I was living in a condominium building near Mall del Pacifico, the Pireos Building, and the owner, Jose Atiaga, was kind enough to tell...