Expat Community > Ecuador

boncur
Joined 2009
Posts: 1180

My Hat Goes Off...

14 years ago

My hat does go off to all the expats who have actually made it down here, and have to get visas through LAWYERS and purchase property with NOTARIES, while barely speaking the language! No easy feat in the NEW Ecuador! Just to sell our property we are jumping hoops, and more hoops! I can't imagine anyone doing all of this without knowing the language or knowing the Notary personally! I think the laws are changing so fast that even the workers here can't keep up with it! To sell my property we have had to get a voting card, but we are not obligated to vote, then we were told we "did not need one." We must now get the property 're-inspected' by town hall (again), documents, documents, documents and it takes time to get these things! The lawyer who drew up the "Promise to Purchase" contract now wants to charge the poor buyer 4 grand to "walk us through this." (Big land deals bring out the greed in the lawyers here.) We have now cut her out and will proceed to do it ourselves! Thank God I know the Notaries here and can speak the language! I detest all this "Tramite" (red tape) and my respect goes out to all of you who are enduring it, to try life in a completely different place! It takes courage! The legal system down here is pretty scary--even for someone who already lives here!

And of course, the situation in this little Indian town is complicated this weekend because Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales and millions of Indians from all over, as well as our illustrious prez., are here in Otavalo for 2 days and 2 nights to sign the ALBA accord and have meetings with the Indians AND it is the biggest indigenous fiesta of the whole year--San Juan or Inti Raymi--lots of dancing in the streets, lots of costumry, and lots of secret service agents and police now also!. The tribal dress of some of the jungle Indians is pretty amazing to see. As it is, on a slow day, one can not drive around town because the streets are small and there are too many cars. Well, I'm sure we will be walking everywhere for the next few days, perhaps stopping to dance a bit with the San Juan dancers that are out and about everywhere. The fiestas go on for about 10 days every year, and if anyone is ever here around this time, I highly recommend a visit to Otavalo.

The new owner of our property has had very good luck, and is impressed with, the Visa Lawyer in Quito--Paola Gachet, in the offices of Horowitz and Paz. The price is extremely fair and things are being done very rapidly. Very professional people. This lawyer was recommended some time ago by Carol McKinney on this forum. I think folks can use her with confidence.

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