Single Lady wanting to move to Ecuador

Hello Pam....Thank you so much for the note
email is TahoeHomes4U@aol.com  The house sounds wonderful and with a GARDEN...thats all I want to do when I get there. are you out in the country or near downtown.
How did the dog make the trip was it hard on her? Him?
How are the markets? and did you ship lots of your things over...
Sooooooooooo happy you wrote to me.

Trish

Still plan to come over in October.

Thank you so much for the note...Yes outside of town would be grand, I need a home with outdoor space to plant flowers and a garden....
Will be coming in October for 3 months to look for a home and meet up with friends that live in Cuenca.
Hope you are having a wonderful day and thank you again for your note.

Trish

It does sound dull and scary.  I understand why people go, just not why they stay.

beadwindow wrote:

I'm tellin' ya, if you're under 70 or have the mind of a 50 year-old or less, you will kill yourself. Or save time and money and just move to Ft. Myers and watch the zombies do their shuffle. At least the food is better there and the company most likely as well.

As spokesman for the Cuenca expat community, let me say I am sorry Ecuador did not live up to its first place rating in International Living magazine.  At least you got to eat at Joe´s Secret Garden; something I have not done in two year living here (I can´t afford it).

P.S.
Isn´t India the country where like half the women have been gang raped at some point in their lives?  One of the more notorious gang rapes occurred in your dream retirement city.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Mumbai_gang_rape

I have spent a month in Cotacachi... the first person i met, a journalist ... quietly said to me: all they do here is gossip.. yap... i think the key is to stay productive... the Times we live !!!... surely there can be many great causes... money to be made as well... Yachay will be a happening  place...there is no more such thing as "organic" in usa.. just look at the sky... make Moringa powder.. or fermented noni jiuce..?.. daisy tea?... I think that is the key to sanity, cooperation..joy of feeling accomplished.. there is a wonderful woman Catherine Austin Fitts (search Solari report )... formerly a member of the government... speaking of creating the world we WANT to live in...she is quiet an inspiration.. may be where we are is not as important as WHO we are, what we stand for.. and if growing flowers gives one joy and peace.. a meditation of a sort..why not?? It is a question of being clear what you want in your experience and creating it.. is it not?

Beadwindow: You say in one of your posts that you don't want to live among expats -- which is OK with me.

But if so, why the heck did you move to Cuenca, of all places? What did you expect to find there? It's touted all over the place as the place for retirees on a budget -- and then you express outrage that the place is full of ... retirees on a budget. Well, duh!

Let me give you a hint ... try Antigua, Guatemala next. Or maybe San Miguel Allende in Mexico.

One man's trash is another man's treasure. Not implying Cuenca is trash, or treasure.

For some Cuenca is a perfect fit, and others not so much. It's not really rocket science. You go there, and if is a good fit that's great, if not move on. Pretty simple process.

Nards Barley wrote:

One of the more notorious gang rapes occurred in your dream retirement city.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Mumbai_gang_rape

I believe his point is that he does NOT want to live with a lot of retired baby boomers who live there strictly for economic reasons.  He actually makes your point and helps your cause of keeping the boomers flowing in to help maintain or increase property values.  He admits the $1,300/month retirees have no better place to retire, would be worse off in the USA.  Of course he is rather harsh and puts everyone into the same basket.  I do not believe he fears being raped in Mumbai.

mugtech wrote:

Nards Barley wrote:

One of the more notorious gang rapes occurred in your dream retirement city.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Mumbai_gang_rape

I believe his point is that he does NOT want to live with a lot of retired baby boomers who live there strictly for economic reasons.  He actually makes your point and helps your cause of keeping the boomers flowing in to help maintain or increase property values.  He admits the $1,300/month retirees have no better place to retire, would be worse off in the USA.  Of course he is rather harsh and puts everyone into the same basket.  I do not believe he fears being raped in Mumbai.

And as to Bob´s point, the fact there are many economic refugees here should have been self-evident before he came here.  And my point is Beadwidow prefers living in a community where gang rape is part of the culture, but is entirely free of expats living on social security.

Nards, I agree with both you and Bob about what the man should have known, and I have no love for the culture of Mumbai.  I am saying he makes the case for many SS retirees that they will have a better standard of life in Ecuador than in the USA.  Cuenca should have special allure since there are so many ex-pats in the same boat.  They can learn from each other and help each other while keeping the real estate values high for the vested class.  Sounds like a win/win situation for all ex-pats.  I am sorry to read there are so many scratching to get by in a land they do not know and either cannot afford to take classes or cannot learn the language.

mugtech wrote:

I am sorry to read there are so many scratching to get by in a land they do not know and either cannot afford to take classes or cannot learn the language.

I'm not in Cuenca, so I don't know, but I'm sort of wondering how true that is. I have no doubt there are some folks who are just squeaking by (the ones who believed IL about living here on $800/month), but I wonder how many are in that boat. My guess is that it's not a huge number, but I suppose there's no way to know -- if they're that poor, they can't afford internet to come here and tell us, and they aren't hanging out at the pricey expat restaurants.

As for me in Quito, I have met very few expats, and those few I met at Spanish school, which I guess automatically disqualifies them from this conversation.

You are correct in that no stats were offered, just his general impression.  I would think the ex-pats in Quito would be a better economic class of people, as your comment about meeting them almost entirely in Spanish class would support, plus the way Cuenca is marketed by certain publications. And the last stats indicated many more live in the greater Cuenca area rather than Quito, even though Quito is larger and the capital.

beadwindow wrote:

Per capita, Nerds. A city of 20M is going to have more of everything. You need to get out more. I don't expect everyone to have been to the 35 plus countries I've been to, but you really do need to get out more.  Mumbai is averaging about a billionaire a week two. 1.5, actually. When I go on a 15,000' hike around here, I go alone. I don't cater to 250 pound plus 63 year-olds carrying oxygen tanks. The numbers are all relative. And by the way as I already stated, most in India (few in Mumbai) get hanged. Try THAT in your beloved USA...where I'm from.

Sorry I missed your offe for Joe´s Secret Garden. It was probably the last opportunity I will have to eat there.  I did get to eat at  Valley Farm Butchers in Paute. Of course I didn´t pay since I literally work for restaurant food...............

beadwindow wrote:

How about Zurich or Amsterdam, Nerds? Your math and I suppose wiki is wrong for once for you people who live off quoting one source. What you admitted to is that 11,000,000 women have been gang-raped; the number of females in Mumbai. Hey, you should go too, you might pick up someone and get laid. Out of 35 countries and thousands of cities (foreign and domestic) this (Cuenca) is the worst place I've ever been. So spank me.

I have spent thousands of dollars trying to learn Spanish, not to mention opportunity costs.  The best I can say is I am able to read it reasonably well and ask for things.  My recommendation to most expats is learn enough expressions to get by.  For others, it gives them purpose, regardless of how futile the goal is.

Beadwindow, excellent name, your net has been compromised.....

Have to wonder about someone so worldly as this guy spending so much time posting on the Ecuador Forum. Looks and sounds pretty cranky. I guess there are whack jobs everywhere.

I was thinking that myself!

globalwoman wrote:

I was thinking that myself!

You're not the only one.

suefrankdahl wrote:

I guess there are whack jobs everywhere.

You guessed right, but I think the old boy really just needs to let off steam.

Beside that, how are you, and are you going to go to Ecuador?  We're still committed, but it looks like it will be mid 2015 before we can get everything squared away.

Hello Lefty!!! Good to hear from you. Am free to leave here end of September but still am wondering where to go or wait another year for pension and go back to Europe. Also thinking about doing a year of humanitarian work  with UN or International RC. Ec still has a lot of allure. Maybe if I went down there I'd find my niche and stay.

Gentlemem- please don't jump down my throat but there seems to be a bit of a double standard. People (two females-one very recent) did express some negative opinions about their Ecuador experience which to me seemed fair to post and Beady can rant and rave and it is okay for him to "left off steam." I certainly wouldn't want to hang out with whiny American pensionados. Part of living and traveling overseas for me has been the adventure. Unless someone was going to see my passport I always said I was Canadian. There are places in the world where we have targets on our backs "rich" or "ignorant" or "rude". Some places we are "blamed" for our government's foreign policy. Other places they love us as individuals and are curious about the US. Embracing the culture is part of the fun and I feel badly for the "ecomomic refugees" (Beady's quote) that are trying to recreate a little America. What must the Ecuadorians think or say about us? I was disappointed to learn about all the American fast food chains in Quito and how well frequented and beloved they were by the expats last Spring. Will Walmart be next?

I posted on another thread that I was having doubts about Ec and got a reply to the effect of it being the only and best place to retire well and what was I doing on the Ec Forum. I answered that there were people I liked and followed and that it was a very active site with good on the ground info. We all are unique and have different plans, perspectives, finances, interests and comfort levels. Living in a third world country has advantages and disadvantages Everything is a trade off.

I am interested in being near the coast with maximum amount of days and hours of sunshine. I sure as s--- am not going to Fort Myers or end up in some "active senior" retirement park in AZ . I have read about things on Ec coast that have turned me off. What the weather is like in the "off season", horrible flies (Donald Murray), dust all over everything, petty crime etcThe cities and towns that are becoming boomtowns (the coast) in anticipation of Ec becoming retiree heaven. An infrastructure that can't support all these people. Probably the worst turnoff for me about the coast is all the North American so called "entrepeuners." I've said it before on this blog- people looking to make money on the only people with money- other North Americans. How much longer will the so called "locals" (what an awful freaking word for indigenous people- is Ecuadorian too hard to pronounce?) be warm and welcoming?  Maybe they'll start calling the people in Mumbai "Redskins". For me "gringo" or "howlie" or "foreigner" have negative connotations.

Anyway, my two cents, no negativity intended. I'm not rich and the airfare for me is over $1K. Maybe I'll keep it in the bank for awhile longer. Fair?

Sue

How much longer will the so called "locals" (what an awful freaking word for indigenous people

Wow. That is the first time I have heard somebody express outrage over the use of the word "local" or "foreigner".  Over at the immigration office they use the term foreigner all the time--and the opposite of foreigner is local, so you are one or the other.

And I take exception to your use of the word "indigenous".  Indigenous does not refer to locals but rather,

Indigenous communities, peoples, and nations are those that, having a historical continuity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies that developed on their territories, consider themselves distinct from other sectors of the societies now prevailing in those territories, or parts of them.

(reference)

There are plenty of "locals" who do not fall into the above description.

P.S. I think you are a bad fit for Ecuador. I recommend Bolivia which doesn´t have many foreigners and no McDonalds.

Nards

Debated gracing your remarks with a reply but if Beady sounded cranky you seem to be rude and downright insulting which certainly wasn't warranted. Perhaps indigenous was not quite the right word. They are a portion of the locals. I like to think that if I made my home in EC I would assimilate into the community and be accepted as one of the locals or if not at least an "expatriate" vs. foreigner. Language  can be very nuanced. When I read your comments it really sounds like I'd be a "bad fit" nor would I want to into the expat community in Cuenca if you are representative of them. 

As I also said in the email we are unique and have various reasons, plans, perspectives, finances, needs and desires etc.  Ec sounds like a lovely option. There is such a variety of climate, geography, urban, rural and certainly room for all kinds of people. I am sorry for your difficulty with the language but I commend you for trying. I am lucky to have a good facility for languages.

So I can say to you in French "Chacun son gout" which you can translate in the long way "In matters of taste there is no argument" or as an American idiom "To each his own"

As I explore such a big move it is important for me personally to weigh the negatives against the positives. I have lived and travelled in  third world countries and as I said everything is a tradeoff. From following this blog for over a year I am not inclined to consider a big city, high altitudes, or certain parts of the coast

A pleasant evening to you and the expats in Cuenca,

Sue

By the way, the "Fast Food" places you noted can also be found in many other countries. I have eaten KFC in Bahrain, Singapore, Hong Kong, PIzza Hut in Saudi, Dubai, and Manila.
The chance of you finding a Walmart in EC any time soon is very unlikely...
I agree with the others here, if you have more negatives than positives, then you should look elsewhere, The honest truth is, until you spend some time in EC you will never know so maybe it's best for you to save your 1K and order out Chinese..

You look like you were born NO earlier than 1960!

I'm a middle-aged single man who is planning to move to Ecuador in about one year. I'll work remotely for my company that is based in Florida for a couple years then retire / write / scuba dive / wander / read and whatever. While most of my life was spend trying to acquire things, I no longer feel like I need those things (except the newest apple products).

I am currently learning Spanish as I'm spending a couple months in Barcelona this summer, working and wandering around.

I love gardening, especially growing food. Funny that when I was young I hated dirt on my hands but now I dream of it.

Maybe we'll meet one day in Cuenca! My name's Roger.

Than I must be doing something right, with 80 countries visited to date, as well as 22 years active duty in the US Military. Canada included, I also worked for a company called Toromont Energy Systems out of Canada, when I spent my time in the oil patch.
I would be happy to meet with you I have good friends in Canada..
By the way that pic is only three years old, if it weren't for the 4" plate in my neck (service related injury) I would not feel a day over 35. I am of the opinion that your only as old as you act, meaning, if you start to slow down and act older you will look it and become it. I was surprised to have survived 22 years of service, and I was high speed low drag start to finish, and after retiring, I was surprised to see 40 as the oil patch does it's best to suck the life out of everything..
At 50 I can report; all my teeth, and hair. the eyes have taken a hit from looking through gun sites for years and miniature electronic repair, the ears as well, but years around things that go boom will do that for you.

I live my life by 4 general rules;

1. Don't sweat the small shit..
2. Learn something new each day.
3. Teach someone something each day.
4. Live each day like it is my last.

As well as adhering to the core values of Honor, Courage, and Commitment. A given for anyone raising their right hand in defense of their country.

I do apologize, I did not intend to go on so. I just felt chatty, I will "Lock it in".

Hi everybody,

Please note that some off topic posts have been removed from this discussion.
Reminder : the initial subject of this topic is Single Lady wanting to move to Ecuador.

Thanks,

Priscilla 

I hear you, but it is not my real name, if you actually mean me. I am, in a way, overprotected already. People noticed that I was a little too trusting, and started to worry about me right away. My new acquaintances from the Internations meeting and some who were born here, I knew from another visit in August last year. I have been all over Europe, Canada and the US of A and have developed some sort of sense about people. So far, so good.  I am not sure, if you were addressing me or not, but I am doing o.k.  Thanks for the warning, though. I have received a few of those, and I am taking it seriously. I will try and change my Profile Pic. Since I am quickly approaching 70, I did not think anybody would be interested in an old person. I was wrong, LOL.  I heard good things and things that were not so good, about Cuenca and I am determined to check it out for myself, with friends. I just read all the posts, and I guess, I was mistaken, thinking you wrote to me. Ah, well - my bad, as they say now. The thing with the language has me baffled. I speak, read and write German, French and English, and Spanish seems really hard to learn. Of course, it is harder at a slightly advanced age, too. Right now, I speak what is referred to as Spanglish, although half of it is actually French.  I do not like negativity, and when peeps complain about where they live, I always think they should just move to where they like it better.  You with me on that?   Kind regards, La Canadienne

Hello Trish:
Is very safe for you to live here in Ecuador, you just need to live in a good neighborhood surrounded by good people, like anywhere else there is good and bad people here, but I would say there is less crime than any city in USA.
I own an small  B&B in Quito, if you need help I can help you finding a home, and getting in this country, I am totally bilingual and I can be a good asset to you, I charge very reasonable prices and make you feel at home. I have helped many expats if you need any references please let me know. I am situated in Cumbaya,(upscale area in Quito) you can find many places to rent around here, if you find you need my services please feel free to email me to suquita352@gmail.com, so we can discuss further.
Hope you decide to join us in BEAUTIFUL ECUADOR.

Nards Barley wrote:

I think you are a bad fit for Ecuador. I recommend Bolivia which doesn´t have many foreigners and no McDonalds.

That is very noble of you, Nards, to give the woman your heart felt advise to not show up in Ecuador, even though it benefits you as a property owner to have the place overrun with baby boomer gringos.  Also agree with your analysis of said ugly words.  Keep up the good work.

AmberFenton wrote:

Since I am quickly approaching 70, I did not think anybody would be interested in an old person. I was wrong, LOL.

Why do I get the impression everyone on this forum gets propositioned except for me...........

I guess it is enough of a "problem" that wjwoodward had to bring the hammer down:

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=311987

mugtech wrote:

Nards Barley wrote:

I think you are a bad fit for Ecuador. I recommend Bolivia which doesn´t have many foreigners and no McDonalds.

That is very noble of you, Nards, to give the woman your heart felt advise to not show up in Ecuador, even though it benefits you as a property owner to have the place overrun with baby boomer gringos.  Also agree with your analysis of said ugly words.  Keep up the good work.

Mugtech, good to see you are still lurking in the Ecuador forum.

Nards Barley wrote:

Mugtech, good to see you are still lurking in the Ecuador forum.

Spent 3 weeks in Europe, just getting caught up.

Hello single lady,
I am a single man from Houston Tx., thinking of moving to Ecuador,buying property
& building a rooming house as the ladies think they want.
I would also have maids cook 3 meals for the crowd.
How does that sound.
OH< I would also like a companion,even though I am 78,very,very active &can spoil my lady.
Please answer me.
Barry  behoneycutt@yahoo.com  713 824 2194

This is a better dating site for you:

http://quito.es.craigslist.org/search/m4w?query=+

not looking for a dating site, but thank you

TahoeTrish wrote:

not looking for a dating site, but thank you

I do believe the comment was directed to the 78 year old rooming house man.

Oh, funny ...forgot about that post.....
I guess you can never have too many friends.........
And that is a good good thing

Trish

Mam, I didn't mean to offend you or any one else on this Expat.com!
I do not want you people to think I am seeking a lady by going to Ecuador
However, my Atty., has got in touch with a great Atty., in Ecuador for my business.
I always find & exercise precisely what I am seeking.
Thanks to all of you.
Barry Honeycutt Houston Texas, We have oil MONEY.

Yes mam, I am assuming the statement was for me,the man that is 78, however, I didn't mean to offend you either.
Since, I made a bad email, I think I will just read the great information you people give.
However, I wish I was in a high class as you people!
Thanks again

Mam, I am the Demoligest from Houston Texas,
I did no mean to offend any one,the ONES I DID, I ask for forgiveness !
Thanks to every one. Barry