IN ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTIONS

Dear Family and Friends,

We are receiving so many emails daily with questions from you readers about moving to Ecuador that we cannot keep up. Since many of your questions are the same, we have collected all the questions and are going to answer them all on this post.

We can only answer your questions from our personal experience. We will refrain from giving you information that we do not know first hand. Hear say information could cause you trouble down the road.

ALTITUDE:

The altitude of Cuenca is about 8,000 ft. It took us a few days to adjust to the altitude. Chuck seems to adjust faster than I do but Chuck is a more active person than me.

COAST vs. ANDES:

This, of course, is a personal preference. We chose Cuenca because we do not like hot weather.

CUENCA WEATHER:

We have learned that in Cuenca we have no need for air conditioning. Actually, the houses and condos here do not have central air conditioning or heat. Small heaters are available to buy if you need one to take the chill off on cool mornings or evenings. Chuck and I have a heater but we have never used it. Our condo gets sun during the day, our next door neighbor’s condo does not get as much direct sun and his condo is much cooler than ours.

The temperature ranges from about 60 degrees to 78 degrees during the day. The temperature changes during the day depending on weather the sun is out. When the sun goes behind a cloud it can drop several degrees. At night the temperature can drop to the 50’s. Current Cuenca weather conditions are available at by clicking here.

There are two seasons: Dry and Rainy. The dry season (in general) is during June, July, August and September. The rainy season usually starts in October and lasts through May.

During the dry season the temperatures seem a bit cooler.

During the rainy season it is very rare that it rains all day. Usually it is sunny in the mornings with rain showers in the afternoon. The rain showers can be heavy or light. Heavy rain does not usually last over an hour. Chuck always carries a couple of umbrellas in his messenger bag whenever we go out.

Protecting skin from the sun is very important here. The sun is directly overhead and at this altitude it is very strong. I have already had one spot removed by a dermatologist and he said to apply sun screen twice daily. I do this religiously now.

CLOTHING:

Personally, I have to buy my clothing in the U.S. I wear plus size clothing and I have not found clothing here that fits. My friends do buy clothes here, but by and large I think it is more expensive to buy quality clothing here than in the U.S. I wear comfortable walking shoes. These are not easy to find here as many Ecuadorian women wear high heels.

Chuck does not seem to be as choosy about his clothing. He buys clothes here. He wears a size medium and does not seem to have trouble finding clothes that fit. He does, however, have trouble finding shoes that fit. He wears a size 11.5 shoe.

We both have very, very casual wardrobes. We are retired and consider jeans and sweatshirts our uniform.

I have a nylon (unlined) windbreaker that has a hood that will fold away in the collar. I brought it with me from the U.S. and find that I use it all the time. It folds into a small bundle so it is easy to store when I want to take it with me but do not need to wear it. I can use it with the hood in rain to stay dry.

Since the temperature varies during the day, dressing in layers is recommended.

REAL ESTATE: BUY/ RENT

Chuck and I own the condo we live in now. But before we bought our condo, we rented a furnished condo for seven months. I posted on our blog about our rental experience and you can read about it by clicking here:

We have friends who rent their apartment and plan to never buy one. When you rent an unfurnished apartment here, this means that you will have to buy kitchen stove, refrigerator, washer and dryer as these are not provided in unfurnished apts. For that matter, even when buying a house or condo, people take these items with them and you will need to buy them.

Chuck and I found appliances here that we are happy with. There is one manufacturer (Indurama) of stoves and refrigerators right here in Cuenca. We have an Indurama stove and love it. Our refrigerator is an LG and our washer and dryer were made by Whirlpool. You can pay a lot or a little for appliances. It depends on your budget and what you want.

Another question we received was if kitchens come with cabinets and bedroom with closets. Yes, kitchens come with cabinets. Bedrooms come with built in units for clothes if you buy or rent in a newer place. Some older places do not have built in units and one would need to buy a stand alone unit. I have seen these wardrobes for sale at Coral Centro and other locations.

Chuck and I believe that renting before buying was the best thing we could have done. It gave us a chance to get to know Cuenca and where we wanted to live. Unlike some places people retire to, Cuenca does not have a “gringo section.” Ex-pats live all over the city and in the country side. We really like this aspect of Cuenca.

When we bought our condo we heard about it being for sale from a friend. It was being sold by the owners (Ecuadorian) and we bought it directly from the owners. We were lucky because we are not fluent in Spanish and this would have been very difficult without our friends help.

Many of our friends have used Cuenca Real Estate for buying their home and have had a very good experience. Another good thing about Cuenca Real Estate is that they speak English. When we used them for renting our condo we were very pleased.

Regarding the price of our condo, real estate prices are slowly rising as more people are buying. Supply and demand I guess. There seems to be an influx of gringos at this time so what we paid for our condo would not be applicable to today’s market. For a good idea of prices I would again suggest that you go to the Cuenca Real Estate website to get a ball park idea of what places are selling for. I think whether you buy through an agent like Cuenca Real Estate or whether you buy from an Ecuadorian, the fact that you are a “gringo” will influence the asking price.

MEDICAL CARE and MEDICAL INSURANCE

At this time Chuck and I are self-insured. It is possible to get medical insurance here but since we do not have it I hesitate to speak about the particulars. I do know from our talks with an insurance agent that the amount of coverage you can buy and the cost of the coverage are directly related to your age.

We have used the medical system here and are very satisfied with it. We have a doctor who speaks English. There is at least one other doctor here that speaks English and the people we know that use him are very pleased.

Our doctor visits are $30 for an office visit. When we call for an appointment it is quite common that we can come in the same day or the next day. Although we have not used it, I understand that our doctor makes house calls here. I assume others do as well.

We have had the following procedures done here: stress test, colonoscopy, blood work and found them all to be much cheaper and just as professionally done as in the U.S.

We have had dental work done and have been satisfied with the quality and the cost. Some dentists are more expensive than others. There are several English speaking dentists here.

Someone asked if we gave up Medicare when we moved here. The answer is NO. Chuck is covered by Medicare and a supplemental policy. I am not eligible yet. I have insurance through my previous employer which I maintain. We want to have that coverage because even though we plan to live here forever, we never know when something might change. Also, we will be visiting the U.S. quite often and need to have coverage while in the U.S. Heaven forbid if we would have to pay out of pocket in the U.S. It could ruin us financially.

One other thing that someone asked us about and that Chuck and I have discussed with each other and that is long term care. As far as I know there is not a long term care facility here. Chuck and I know that if we live here forever there is a strong possibility that one or both of us will need assistance or even nursing care before we die. Actually, I see having an English speaking assisted living facility a good business opportunity for someone who might be interested. I say English speaking because people who suffer from dementia tend to forget their second language and revert to their mother tongue.

At this time, we are thinking that we will need to buy a condo that has room for a live-in care giver. We will pay to have a person care for us.

A couple, who are our friends here, are remodeling a condo to make it handicap accessible. They will rent it out for now, but if the time comes that they need it, it will be ready for them.

SHIPPING HOUSEHOLD GOODS

Chuck and I did not ship household goods. We do not know anything about the time it takes or the expense. We decided to bring the things we could not buy here with us. We set aside what we thought we wanted to bring here, prioritized it and brought it in suitcases.

We have found that sheets and bedding is of low quality here. If you want better quality you will pay a dear price for it. So when we came back to Cuenca after purchasing our condo we brought sheets for our bed. We also brought a wok and a few other odds and ends. We have made several trips back to the states for various reasons and on each trip we go through the items we have left and bring what we still want. Some of the things we thought we needed here we no longer need because we could buy it here.

It is amazing how many things you might think you need to bring that you can buy here. Sometimes they may cost a little more here, but compared to the cost of shipping household goods we felt that it was cheaper to buy here.

We have bought all our furniture here. We have been very satisfied so far. We have had furniture made here. Some of it we are very satisfied with, some of it we are using, but will probably replace in the future. The cost of furniture here is much lower than in the U.S. and Cuenca is the furniture capital of Ecuador. There are many furniture manufacturers and craftsmen here.

We had a question about our dishes. We bought our dishes here. There is a factory that makes ceramics called ARTESA. They have beautiful patterns and you can visit the factory and buy the dishes by the piece. They are reasonably priced. The factory even has a seconds section where you can buy for a deep discount. Some of the seconds have defects that are hard to find and others are very obvious. When I bought my dishes, I bought some out of the seconds and some out of the showroom. Artesa is a fair trade company and they ship all over the world. If you were to buy their products outside of Ecuador you would have to pay at least four times the cost of buying them here.

CABLE TV and INTERNET

We use a company called TVCable for both television and internet. (This cable company also provides telephone service which we do not use.). We understand that TVCable is not available in many buildings in the historic center. Luckily, our building was pre-wired for cable.

We get 71 TV channels for $21.50. Of these, only about five are in English, although many of the programs on the Spanish channels are in English with Spanish subtitles. We are not TV people, and watch perhaps an hour or two per month, Chuck is ready to cancel the TV, but I like to keep it available, especially when we have house guests.

Internet through TVCable is available at several speeds and monthly costs: 100K-$19.90; 550K-$39.50; 700K-$49.40; 1.1M-$69.90; 2.5M-$99.90; 3.1M-$114.90. We are internet intensive people, and currently subscribe to the 2.5M service. (Internet and TV service is our largest fixed expense.)

An alternate cable provider is DIRECTTV Ecuador. They provide many English channels and a ton of sports channels including pay per view events such as the world cup.

DSL internet service is also available through the phone company ETAPA. We do not know anyone in Cuenca who uses this service. They claim that they have new technology to increase the speed.

One of the local cell phone companies, PORTA, offers internet via a USB Key . This appears to work well, and you can carry your laptop throughout Ecuador and maintain your internet connection. The USB devise is limited to one computer. You have to buy the device and sign up for one of the plans.

CRIME and SAFETY

Crime is everywhere in the world. According to Cuenca High Life, we live in one of the safest larger cities in Ecuador. Yes, we do have crime. Mostly pick pockets. I have had three cell phones lifted off me since December. It is my responsibility to protect my belongings and in each case my cell phone was in an outside pocket that was easy to get at. Our housekeeper recently had her cell phone stolen while she was on a crowded bus.

Chuck and I live in a condo building that has a security guard 24 hours a day. We feel very safe in this situation.

I think using good common sense is the best protection from crime anywhere. We always use a taxi at night. If I carry a purse, I use a shoulder bag that I wear across my body to make it harder to snatch. Mostly, I wear a vest that has inside pockets where I keep my money and not even carry a purse. I don’t wear good jewelry unless I am going out for something special and taking a taxi. I have a friend that has had two thin gold chain necklaces torn from her neck. I never wear fine jewelry when riding the city bus….for two reasons (1) I feel that if I ride the bus I should not be looking like I have a lot more material things than other passengers. I want to be just one of them. (2) Wearing fine jewelry while riding the bus is a good way to have it stolen.

It is our opinion that Cuenca is a safe city as long as we take precautions to not make ourselves vulnerable.

CAR and CAR INSURANCE and DRIVERS LICENSE

Chuck and I do not own a car. Since we live in the city, we find that we are much better off by walking and taking the bus or a taxi. Parking in town, I think, would be a problem. We have not missed having a car as most buses run very frequent (5 minutes apart) and only cost 25 cents. There are many taxis and the cost is very reasonable.

The only time we miss not having a vehicle is when we travel to other areas of Ecuador. We either fly or take the bus. Because Chuck and I like to stop along the way and visit little towns we have been contemplating buying a 4-wheel drive vehicle. If we do, we will only use it for out of town trips.

There is mandatory car insurance here. It is called SOAT. We have not looked into that yet so cannot provide information there.

As far as Ecuadorian driver licenses go, we still have a lot of investigating to do. We do not know for sure if a valid U.S. license will work here or if we have to get an Ecuadorian one. Some of our friends use their U.S. license. We will be looking into this before we buy a vehicle.

Cars tend to be more expensive here. I understand that new cars have a set price. There is no dickering as in the states. You pay the price advertised. I am not sure if this is a government set price or how it is set but it is the same across Ecuador. Used cars prices seem quite a bit more expensive than in the U.S. since they hold their value here. We have decided that for us, if we buy, we will buy new. When buying a used car it is important to know the history. Where did that car come from? If it was from the coastal region we would need to worry about rust. It is possible to import a new car from the U.S., but there are strict rules about make, model and engine size. When the imported car arrives the duties imposed bring the cost up to what you would pay to buy within Ecuador. We do not know anyone who has imported a car.

VILCAMBAMA vs CUENCA

Many people have asked us about which place is better. We cannot speak to that question. We have been to Vilcambama only once. For us, we find it too small of a town and too remote. But this is just our opinion. Many people are retiring there so obviously there is a reason they choose it over Cuenca.

RESOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION

It is our opinion that the best resource for specific information is the well organized Ecuador Forums chat group. If you have a specific question or need, all you need to do is submit your question and hopefully you will get a first hand answer. You must be aware that a lot of people pass on “hear say” information that may or may not be accurate. Another resource site we like is Move to Ecuador.

Good luck with your research and we hope this posting is helpful to you and others.

Nancy and Chuck

Trip to Machala and Back

Dear Family and Friends,

Chuck and I headed out last Thursday morning for Machala. We went by bus and it was a comfortable and scenic ride. It takes about 4 hours to get to Machala but the road is good all the way and the pass is much lower than going through the Cajas.

As we went along, the bus stopped at various places to drop some passengers and pick up others. It was at some of these stops that vendors would board the bus and tempt you with their offerings - mostly some sort of cooked food or fresh fruit. This is a picture of one such stop.

We had reservations at the Rizzo Hotel. This is a hotel built about 30 years ago and is in need of some remodeling. When we checked in, the clerk informed us that there was no hot water. Being the adventurous souls we are we said we'd stay anyway. We did receive a small discount from the regular rate.


One thing that is nice about this hotel is that it has a swimming pool and it is only about a block and a half from the main plaza.

On our last visit to Machala, I was not very impressed. The city is not as clean as Cuenca, waste paper seems to be haphazardly thrown away by the residents. The other thing I did not like about Machala is that it was HOT and HUMID. I don't like hot, but combined with humid it is not tolerable.

So, to get me to agree to go back to Machala, Chuck reminded me of the air conditioned casinos they have. He suggested that maybe I'd like to go back and try my luck.


Luckily, Machala was not too hot or humid while we were there this time. The casino was fun and it was one of the first things we did after arriving.

Here is Chuck posing by the banana tree that is right outside the front door of the hotel.


They have a restaurant but we only ate our complimentary breakfast there. Below is a group of men enjoying a beer on the porch outside the restaurant.


On Friday morning (October 9th) we went to the main square. Here is Chuck viewing the church on the square.


The main plaza is very nice. It has a big fountain, water falls and pools of water with koi, lots of trees and benches for enjoying the evenings after the sun sets and the temperature is cooler.


While we were at the square, we heard a band playing. We discovered that a parade was coming down one of the main streets right by the plaza.

We were surprised to find that the parade consisted of just one high school. The whole school. The name of the school is - 9th of October (9 de Octobre). October the 9th is the day that the city of Quayaquil obtained its independence. The school was named for this date.

It is very common in Ecuador to have schools and streets named for important dates. In Cuenca we live on 3 de Noviembre (November 3rd) which is the day that Cuenca obtained its independence.


First came the majorettes and the high school band.


Then came the teachers, first the female teachers


then the male teachers...


Then the students, first the girls...


then the boys....


They were all so wholesome looking. The students were all wearing their school uniform. Even down to their socks.


This was a big high school. The parade stretched for two and a half blocks.

On Friday afternoon, we decided to go to the beach. We took the city bus to Puerto Bolivar (about a 20 minute ride - 25 cents each) to have lunch.

This cute little girl was playing with Chuck by going up and down in her seat. He covered his eyes with his hat and every time she appeared he would drop his hat and look at her.


When we got to Puerto Bolivar we walked one block to the waterfront and had lunch at Pepe's. We ate outside and had a great time.


Chuck had fried calamari....

and I had shrimp...

Excellent!!

After lunch we walked out on the pier and looked at the big container ships being loaded with bananas.



We also bought tickets for a boat ride across to the Jambeli beaches. The boats leave about every hour.


It took about 30 minutes to go across. When we got off the boat we walked out the beach. We found a very primitive little beach, not the resort type at all.




We found it quite charming. Many people from Machala just go to the beach for the day. Therefore there are not many places to stay. We checked out one place while we were there and are getting information from our friends David and Christa about others. Chuck and I decided it was a come back to place.

We took the boat back across the water to Puerto Bolivar and then took the bus back to Machala.

The next morning, Saturday, we had planned to go to an old mining town....Zaruma. We got to the bus station early and took the first bus out. We got the bus to Loja thinking it would go through Zaruma and we could get off the bus there. Unfortunately, it did not go through Zaruma. We spent 7 long boring hours going to Loja. It was up one mountain after another, the windows on the bus were dirty, but it didn't matter, the view was not that great anyway.

We arrived in Loja about 3:00 completely travel weary. We decided we deserved our favorite hotel in Loja so we had the taxi take us to the Grand Victoria Hotel. We stayed there once before and it is really first class.

After checking in, we went to see if the swimming pool was open. When we went outside we saw this beautiful setup. Rose petals lining the way to a table for two.



We don't know the story behind this, but decided we didn't really need to go swimming.

Chuck ended up watching the soccer game on a big screen TV put on by the hotel including drinks and snackies. I went to our room and read.

We had a very nice steak dinner in the hotel restaurant and went to bed fairly early.

Here is Chuck reading the paper in the hotel lobby.



Sunday morning we went to the town square to hear the police band play and then we went to the bus station to get a bus back to Cuenca.


The bus ride back to Cuenca was not a long as the day before...only 5 hours. But the scenery was so beautiful we enjoyed the ride.



We got into Cuenca about 5:00pm. We decided to go to the BQ, our neighborhood sports bar, for dinner. We called our neighbors, Rich and Nancy, and they met us there for a relaxing evening of dinner and chit chat. A perfect ending to a whirlwind get away trip.

We had a great time, but are glad to be back home.

Love,
Nancy & Chuck

German Food and Everyday Things

Dear Family and Friends,

We have had a quiet week. Since our work was completed (for now) on our condo we decided to try a new German restaurant in town. The restaurant is the Stein Haus (Stone House). You can read Sumana's review of the restaurant on Cuenca Highlife by clicking here.

The restaurant is in a converted old stone house. Hence, the name of the restaurant. Chuck and I went there for lunch. We each ordered an entree and ended up carrying half of it home with us. The food was excellent. I ordered a beef dish....cooked just to my order and very tender.


Chuck ordered the sausage dish.


Along with our entree we were served German potato salad, sauerkraut, and a red cabbage salad. Everything was very tasty.

While eating I thought of our friend, Christa Hirsch. She is German and I knew that she would really enjoy this restaurant. So Chuck and I went back for a second time in two days with Christa and David.


This time we were smart and only ordered one entree for each couple. We ordered a pigs knee. I don't remember the German name of the dish but again it was very good.


On Saturday morning I went to the co-op for veggies and fruit. It is just across the street, about a 10 minute walk from our condo. Of course, just across the street also means on the other side of the river. As I crossed the bridge, I couldn't resist taking a picture of the indigenous people washing their clothes. The river is very low right now because it is the dry season.


After crossing the bridge I headed for the co-op. I passed an empty lot and and saw these two adorable calfs enjoying their lunch.

You know, I am still getting used to the marvelous sites here in Ecuador. I hope I never get to the point that I don't appreciate it's uniqueness. These are sights I would never have seen in Richland, Washington, where we lived before moving here.

I ordered drapes for our living room windows at the same time I ordered the furniture. Well the furniture has been made and delivered but we are still waiting on the drapes. I was starting to get concerned because I had not heard from the people who were making them. I had the throw pillows for the easy chairs made from the drapery fabric. What if they had miscalculated and didn't have enough fabric for the drapes and were hesitant to call? I had lost their telephone number, so Monday I hopped a bus and went down town to talk with them.

I was promised that the drapes will be delivered a week from Friday.

When I got back to the bus stop the traffic was being held by motorcycle policemen. I could hear bands playing and then came the parade. The parade consisted of school children and bands marching. Then came along the folkloric dancers. I couldn't resist...out came the camera.


On Monday morning our doorbell rang and the security guard told Chuck something about washing the windows. When the windows are washed above us, the workers climb up on scaffolding and wash them. Luckily, all of ours can be done from the patio and Lourdes keeps them washed regularly.

Chuck said they could use the patio. We didn't realize what a big job it was. Actually, they are not washing windows, they are sealing the brick wall from rain. I guess people above us have had problems with water seeping through the walls when it rains.

This meant that the week we thought we had free, turned into another week (or who knows how long) of worker sitting. For security, it is important that someone be at home while work is being done. So Chuck and I have been trading off the chore.

Yesterday, Chuck and I were sitting outside and he said let's go to Machala and stay a few days. So, we told the workers that they would have to stop work and come back when we return next week. This seemed reasonable to us since we were never asked if it was convenient to use our patio for this work. We will talk to the building manager and tell her that in the future she should consult with us before starting projects that involve our patio.

So we have our new patio furniture, but the view looks like this.

There are two guys working and they climb to the top of this scaffolding without a harness to do their work. It is almost more than we can bare.


I will share with you about our trip to Machala when we return.

Have a great week.

We love you,

Nancy and Chuck

Quick trip to Quito and Otavalo

Dear Family and Friends,

Last week Hugo finished up the latest work we were having done. On Monday I flew to Quito to meet Chuck. But before I left, I received a call that our patio furniture was being delivered. They delivered our furniture just about one hour before I was to be at the airport. Hooray! We now have a place to sit on our enclosed patio.


Chuck and I spent a couple of days in Quito before returning to Cuenca. It was a much needed R&R. We have been pretty much home bound for the last month with the work we have been having done around here.

As is quite common with us, we had no special plans for Quito, we just made it up as we went along.

We went to a mall to do some shopping. The mall had a Mega-Maxi store. We toured through it and found our dishes, that we buy from the local factory, for sale there. This was great because I was having trouble finding more square plates to match. They had plenty so we bought some. We even found some place mats to match.


We went out for dinner at Las Americas Plaza. It is a building consisting of a multiplex cinema and many restaurants. No shops like a mall, just restaurants and movie. It was a very interesting concept and it seems to be working.



It was different from a food court in that it was not fast food. Nice places to eat at many price levels. Chuck and I chose a restaurant that specialized in Japanese/Thai food.

I had a Thai curry seafood dish....

and Chuck had a Japanese beef stir fry dish....


Both dishes were very tasty.

The next morning we went to Otavalo. Otavalo is a town that is known for it's market. The main market is on Saturday mornings. This is the main day that tourists like to be there. People come by the bus loads to see this famous market.

Since it was Wednesday, the vegetable, fruits and animals were not there. What we did see were the arts and crafts. This was fine with us because that is what we wanted to see anyway and we did not have crowds of people to contend with.



I would guess there were over 200 stalls of artisans in the plaza. Most of the items were woven, knitted goods. Rugs, sweaters, hats, purses, etc. We spent about four hours looking at all the items. Of course we stopped for coffee more than once because it can get overwhelming looking at all the goods.

We found a little place with a small sit out balcony overlooking the market. Here is Chuck enjoying the view while he waits for his cappuccino.


We took a taxi to Otavalo, but decided to take the bus back to Quito. It takes a little over two hours and we decided a bus would be more comfortable for getting back. Also, I think I can make better pictures from the bus since we are sitting higher. We shared the taxi with two ladies and it cost Chuck and I $17 dollars to get there, and the bus trip home cost us a total of $4 dollars.

Here is one of the pictures made from the bus between Otavalo and Quito.

Yesterday morning we got up early and went to the Quito airport. We purchased tickets to Cuenca and we were on our way home by 10:30 am. When the clouds cooperate the flight from Quito to Cuenca is very nice. You can see the snow capped volcanoes.


As we flew over Cuenca there were hardly any clouds and I was lucky to be able to make these photos.

The first is looking down on Edf. La Cuadra and the coliseum. (you can click on the picture to make it bigger)


This picture is looking down on Feria Libre market. It looks pretty quiet...since it was Thursday morning and the big market is on Wednesday.


We landed in Cuenca and as we went into the terminal a couple of people were passing out flowers to all the passengers. It was a nice gesture. After getting our bags we heard a live band playing just outside.


I asked the lady at the information desk what was the occasion. She said it was for tourists. I asked her if this is done every day and she replied yes.

Today Chuck and I will get back in our routine...whatever that is.

Chuck is on his way to buy flowers at the market. After he returns we are off to have lunch at a new restaurant and visit the people who are making our living room drapes.

We have been very conscious of how wonderful life is. Enjoying each moment is so important.

Love,
Nancy