The Adventurer's 2016 Bucket List .. and a Gringo Retiree's Take on It
Ecuadorian entrepreneur Dom Buonacami is greeting the New Year by publishing a bucket list.
Here are items from El Aventurero's list followed by what a Gringo retiree might think about each....
Bucket list: Hike and summit Chimborazo, Cotopaxi and/or Cayambe -- 19,000+ ft. volcanos near Quito.
Gringo's input: Since Cotopaxi's summit has been put off limits to hikers since the volcanic activity of mid-2015, that narrows the choice here.
Bucket list: Begin importing and/or exporting something with continuity.
Gringo input: Good luck with that, Adventurer. Especially the parts where you have to deal with Ecuador's dogs of SENAE, the opaque customs agency that is a law unto itself. To launch such a project, one really needs to be clear on the answer to this question: Was I really put here on this planet to buy stuff for a dollar and sell it for two?
Bucket list: If the dollar stays high, buy a property on coast of Spain or in Colombia.
Gringo's input: Right. 
Welcome to the "wonderful world" of absentee ownership -- dealing from hundreds or thousands of miles away with tenant vacancies, deadbeat non-payers, damage to the property by tenants, long-distance maintenance, dealing with distant bureaucrats, finding/replacing a property manager who walks away when the first serious problems occur. Like flood damage.
Bucket list: Hang out for a night with the artists/hippies along the infamous Cocktail Alley in Montañita and see if they will show me how to make some of their jewelry.
Gringo's input: Yeah, sure, the hippies can't wait to teach a newcomer to Cocktail Alley the artesenal skills that could put you in direct competition with their livelihoods.
Bucket list: Hitch-hike on the coast of Ecuador. I've heard it's easy.
Gringo's input: It could be easy, but is it safe? The folks who pick up strangers on the side of South American roads are historically not well-vetted.
Bucket list: Bike down the entire Ecuador coast.
Gringo's input: That coast is over 900 miles long. So pack light.
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We're just getting warmed up here.
cccmedia in Quito
Dom's bucket list for 2016 -- Part 2....
Bucket list: See an Anaconda in the most remote area of Ecuador, the Yasuni.
Gringo's input: No, tell us you don't really plan to risk exposure to a large and dangerous snake in remotest Ecuador 
with the nearest medical facility many hours away.
Bucket list: Take the newly re-opened train through the high Andes from Ibarra to Salinas.
Gringo's input: Lucky for you, they no longer are allowing passengers to ride on top of the train. 
Bucket list: Watch the Tungurahua volcano erupt at night from the look out over Baños.
Gringo's input: Don't get too close to the volcan. It's right at the edge of town. Scientists say a major eruption could destroy Baños.
Bucket list: Scuba dive in the crystalline waters of Galápagos off Wolfe Island where it's common to see schools of hundreds of hammerheads and dozens of whale sharks.
Gringo's input: We retirees generally prefer to avoid swimming with the sharks. But, hey, go knock yourself out! 
Bucket list: Hunt for fossils along the banks of the Nargaritza River.
Gringo's input: Puh-leeze. Way too boring unless someone's bringing the grandchildren. How did this item get on your so-called bucket list?
Bucket list: Eat two buckets of the locally-famous garlic crab at one of Guayaquil's best crab houses -- Manny's Cangrejal near San Marino Mall.
Gringo's input: Eating two buckets of anything in Ecuador is just asking for trouble. This item is certainly not a good enough reason for anyone to visit the largest, most dangerous, hot and humid city en la República.
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Nevertheless, we wish Dom well as he launches his bucket-list quest in 2016.
Source of bucket-list items: an e-mailing to subscribers of Dom's ecuadorrealestate.org
-- cccmedia in Quito
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