Expat Community > Ecuador

JoeBtfsplk
Joined 2016
Posts: 12

Researching Ecuador

8 years ago

My wife and I are visiting Ecuador for two weeks starting on Sept. 27, 2016.

We are hiring a car and a driver to take us on a circular route. I found that to be cheaper than renting a car and trying to muddle through a country foreign to me.

And your traffic speeding laws almost ensure I would spend 3 of our 14 days in jail, if what I read is accurate.

The purpose of our trip is to scout out a place to live.

We are both retired and in our mid to late 50's.

We are open to both the coast and the Andes. My wife's main concern is mosquitoes. They love her much, much more than she loves them. I haven't been bitten by a mosquito since I was 13 so I don't care.

However, I prefer a little warmth and we lived on a California beach for 10 years, loving every minute.

Our planned itinerary is a circuit from Quito to Cotacachi, to Riobamba, Cuenca, Loja, Vilcabamba, Guayaquil, Salinas, Montañita, Puerto Lopez, Manta, Crucita, Bahia de Caraquez, Canoa, Esmeraldas, Checa and back to Quito.

Our preference is to live in an English speaking, gated, ex-pat community anywhere along that route. Emphasis on SAFE.

We currently live in a close-knit gated retirement community in Sacramento, California and my wife loves getting involved in community life and events. She currently leads both the morning water aerobics group and the monthly book club meetings. We were both teachers for 20 years and I was in private business for an additional 26 years both pre and post teaching.

If any of you who might read this in the next few days know of such communities along our route as might interest us, I would greatly appreciate you sending me names and locations so I might incorporate them into our itineraries.

We will be arriving in Quito on Sept. 28 and leaving Oct. 11.

Also, any recommendations for lunch or dinner spots in any of the cities I've mentioned would be most welcome. I hate having to rely on Trip Advisor. We like everything from fine dining to Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. If the locals like it and you think we shouldn't miss it, send the name and city/town/village it's in. This would be most helpful

Thank you for whatever guidance you can give me in these areas and any other advice or tips you might have for us, especially about types of US currency and coins are best to bring and the acceptability of US credit cards.

Thanks for reading this,

Joe

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Researching Ecuador

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