Loja Cost of Living

1. Small rooms can be had in family houses, usually private and secluded on the terrazza for $50-$70 a month.  Apartments can go anywhere from $150 for very simple accommodations up to around $350 to $400 for something rather comfortable.

2.  Yes on the Sunday ticket.

3. There are a number of language schools here that are always looking for native English speakers to teach. I believe but am not certain that with any resident visa one can legally work.

Terry, you may want to revisit this thread:
https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=250254

Yes, you should be able to work with a Permanent Visa. High schools here do teach English and there are sometimes openings at the beginning of the school year. It is considered in bad taste to not honor your contract, so openings later are rare. The salary is about $500 per month, but will vary according to experience. On a daily basis, you are expected to stay at the school for the full duration of classes, even if you have only one class; that just changed. There are occasionally some jobs where you just go and spend about 4 hours in an immersion class just talking to students. That can be fun, depending on your idea of fun.

If you want to teach here, be sure to have your college degree(s) certified and get an apostille for each. They may not be accepted otherwise. Having documented teaching experience is helpful, but is not absolutely necessary. Native english speakers are highly valued. In Loja, English Fluency is not that great among adults, so knowing Spanish will be helpful for you. But, the English courses themselves are mostly full immersion. As Aculand mentioned, there are language schools here that will probably accept TEFL certification, one is a Canadian School. But, I have little knowledge of how they work or salaries.

As far as apartment costs, they will vary considerably according to where in Loja: the closer to the center, the greater the cost, but the prices here and in the other thread are all good examples. As far as houses, they are a bit different in the city than what you are used to. Typically, there is no yard (I am speaking of downtown), and the first floor may be a business and/or garage. So, the distinction between a house and an apartment is not always obvious. The houses usually have a terrazza, which, with a creative mind, can be used for many things. I am so used to a terrazza, I would hate to be without one.

An addition to the above. A little while ago friend of mine gave me a ride up to SuperMaxi. She is Colombian and her husband is Ecuadorian, with American citizenship. They are moving back to the U.S. at the end of the year. They will be moving out of their two bedroom apartment soon, for which they now pay $180/mo. The landlord said he is increasing the rent to $200. It is in a nice neighborhood near the Howard Jhonsons and close to a number of nightclubs, and the movie theater. That section of Loja is called Valle (bah-yeh).

You might have fun going to maps.google.com and searching for Loja. A lot of places are marked on the map. It would be very helpful to be familiar with the "layout" of the city before you get here, as well as understanding where the major landmarks are; for example, Parque Recreacional Jipiro (a major park, recreational area, swimming pool, and zoo). A really fun place to be on the weekend.