Ottawa area family

Hi Andrea and John!

Welcome to Expat.com!

Armand

It has amazed me at the number of North Americans who are looking at Ecuador as a place to retire, or move to.  As an ex member of the Canadian Forces, (Navy) but not a retiree, I am aware of the generous pensions that the Forces hands out.  I also suspect that your husbands age would not preclude him from continuing to work in the civilian world.  As exotic as Ecuador may seem to be and even though a lot of people have made the move, there are also a large number of people who have moved back.
You do not hear very much from the latter group and I would say that not all of the positive reasoning for living here is actuall or factual.  I have been living here for a year while I have been working as a Superintendent building the new airport in Quito and I am leaving in 12 days.  I cannot wait to get home but that is mostly because my family, wife and son, are there and did not join me in Ecuador.  They have visited and we briefly considered moving here to continue working on the airport but that did not work out on many fronts.
In other posts that I have made regarding moving down here I have said the same thing to anyone who wanted to listen; listen to what everyone will tell you and advise you on but come down and see it for yourself first.  Travel to the areas that are recommended and experience what is offered and not offered.  Prices of basic goods is less expensive but other sundries that you are used to back home are more expensive.  Housing is less, boht in price and quality.  If you invest in realestate you will not make the same return in Ecuador that you would make back home, in fact the chances are that you will break even or loose.
Ecuador is a beautiful country, the people are polite, friendly and genuine.  It is not Canada by any stretch of the imagination and you realy cannot bring down any expectation of "normalcy" and think that it will work here.  Some things will just boggle your mind and you have to accept it.
There are many expat areas through out this country and I am sure that you will soon here from many differnet people with a far greater and more positive opinion than mine, but you need to get both sides of the story before you can make an educated decison.  Ulitmately it has to be your decsion and the more information the better.  Enjoy your investigation into Ecuador and your education into the climate, people, culture, traditions, politics and all the other aspects of making the move to another country.  I wish you luck.

Kind regards,
John