So...you want to be an Expat? Several recent events have led me to reconsider this question from a slightly skewed perspective. Be patient...this *will* be about Ecuador...and *will* be on the topic heading.
So, I was recently severely chastized here by someone who felt that I focused too much on empirical fact and data, while not relying on personalized first-hand accounts. In fact,I was told...seriously, it was not even a suggestion...but *told* that my facts and data, with supporting citations, were not valid, because I had not lived in Ecuador long enough and could not comment absent that specific personal experience. At first, I thought this was an isolated incident of someone taking a slight and, I hoped, momentary detour from sanity. That was until someone else seemed to make an argument suggesting that all facts on a forum were merely opinions...no one any more valid than another. That sort of knocked me for a loop. Until that moment, I thought I had a pretty firm grasp on separating fact from opinion.
Example 1: Fact, the USA was founded by 13 Colonies, who adopted the Declaration of Independence via the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.
Example #2: Opinion, given the current state of affairs in the USA...we´d have been better off if the British won.
See? Pretty clear. It has been factually documented and verified by scholars that the USA was established by 13 colonies...not 4...9...37...but 13. Now, as to whether we´d have been better off under British rule, have you seen *their* budget deficit? Proportionately, they might be the only nation on the planet to have bolloxed their economy worse than us. That´s an opinion. Seems clear.
So, what does this have to do with being an Expat in Ecuador (or elsewhere for that matter)? Well, that connection occurs in the context of a private email I received (said email remaining private), where someone gung-ho on being an Ecuador Expat now has beome hesitant due to the "Cafe Coup" attempt. The definition of a cafe coup, btw, is a coup attempt where folks sit at their local cafes, sipping coffee, pina coladas or whatever, while watching the TV for "coup updates". See, in a *real* coup, folks are seen running through the streets in a hysterical panic, generally fleeing pursuers. In a *really bad* coup, they are too afraid to even be on the streets, hysteria not withstanding. I simply offered the writer some comparative advise, but wthout really trying to sway their decision one way or the other. Becoming an Expat is a highly personal decision and I can hardly blame anyone listening to the unsubstantiated blather coming from the USA news media for being "afraid". You´d think there was an active civil war here from listening to media accounts, not a simple one-day event that lasted 18-hours to quell. As one USA-based friend aptly put it, "Sensationalism sells, facts don´t."
My experience, in 27-years of extensive global travel, is that those folks best suited for the Expat lifestyle are *precisely* the folks that can separate fact from fiction. That can separate fact from opinion. That can separate fact from sensationalism. They question everything. Demand verification for everything. They dig...they research...they explore, until they truly understand. Those are the folks that make good Expats.
So...even though those that claim to know me better than I know myself wish to paint a picture of someone who´s own selfish business interests have them promoting Ecuador...here is the *real deal*: If those factually erroneous and ridiculously hyped "news-blather" reports from the USA scare you...or cause you pause...then you don´t belong in Ecuador. Stay home. You are not likely cut out for the Expat lifestyle. And that is...just one man´s opinion.
HGQ
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