You either love it or hate it! Me, it’s my go-to whenever I fancy a piece of toast. But my carefully protected stock is running low – I’m down to my last jar! With no prospect of a trip home to the UK, for the foreseeable future to restock, I’m now having to ration myself, using my precious stash for emergencies only. (I get clusters of cervicogenic headaches, and marmite toast is the only food I can eat.)

Not being able to access the British foods I sometimes crave here in Ecuador got me reminiscing. I’ve not lived in the UK for over twenty years, but every now and then, I get a yearning for all things British; summer Sunday afternoons at a village cricket match; light summer evenings spent with friends at a countryside pub, sipping a cold glass of cider – even cold, wet winter days spent on the terraces supporting my favourite football team hold a perverse sense of longing.

Until covid, I managed a trip home every two years. Now, with quarantine still in place for red-list countries, of which Ecuador is one, I have no idea when I’ll be able to go home again. But life still goes on. Here in Cuenca, shops, stores and cafes are opening up again, life is slowly returning to the city. I am constantly amazed by the resilience of the Ecuadorian people, their kindness and pride in their country. I may run out of marmite, but I wouldn’t swap the life I’ve built here in Ecuador.