Santo Domingo

Your best bet to find out the "real" news is to actually check out the ...real news!

Read the Ecuador papers on-line and use their search button to search Santo Domingo ...be aware there are many Santo Domingos so you will want to search for yours, which I believe would be Santo Domingo de Los Colores? Double check that.

You will need to enter the search item in Spanish but you can then take the URL (via cut & paste) and pop that into any of the many translation programs online such as Google Translate or Babel Fish and translate the entire article into English.

While not yet perfect, these programs supply a rather accurate version of the article from which you can discern the news and make a very educated interpretation of the facts.

You may also find videos on YouTube from the areas you are interested in, that local and local news sources have uploaded.

And last, check Social Media such as FaceBook and Twitter which will have posts concerning the area, and again use your translation program to check them out.

Obviously, never move to an area based solely on internet research.  Not here and not even in the USA.  Visit as a tourist first, with the ability to move around and stay in various locations  and learn the local before moving. And if you do not speak the language, seriously consider staying in an area where you have access to English speaking services until you have some grasp of the ability before moving where you are reliant on your skills.

Immersion sounds like a good idea ... but is not for everyone.

If you would like to know more, I am a professional consultant with over 8 years here in Ecuador and have been here since before the gringo invasion.  I would be happy to help with your individual needs, just write to me via private mail for my background information and more on how I can assist you.

Susan

Susan in Ecuador

Thanks for the suggestions. We have already done pretty much everything you suggested with the exception of Facebook and Twitter which I will not use (I am in IT so this is partly why).  While downtown earlier today stopped by the tourist police next door to the Russian Embassy and  talked to them....they pretty much verified what we have heard both from other Ecuadorians as well as reading the Ecuadorian newspapers online i.e. that crime seems to be on the rise in Santo Domingo de los Colores. We are crossing it off of the list of possible cities at this point possibly to be revisited at a later date.

In any case many kind thanks for your information and taking the time to reply.

Warmest Regards

Expat

expat42451 wrote:

Ecuadorian newspapers online (say) that crime seems to be on the rise in Santo Domingo de los Colores. We are crossing it off of the list of possible cities at this point possibly to be revisited at a later date.

Dear Expat,

Crossing Santo Domingo de los Colorados off your list:  excellent idea.

Re-visiting it later as a possible new home-location:  not so good.

The place, by all reports, is a Gringo-free zone .. or close to it.  You could go months without seeing another Gringo unless he was on the way from Quito to the coast and had to refill a gas tank.

Expat events and meetups... forget it.  Yes, S.D. is the fourth largest city in Ecuador, but, still, forget it.

Besides the crime you mentioned, there’s the weather.  Like most of interior lowland Ecuador, the place is hot and humid.  That’s probably the main reason this city is almost never on Gringos’ radar.

How you even came to consider Santo Domingo de los Colorados
is a mystery.

Congratulations on avoiding it for the foreseeable future.

cccmedia in Quito

ccmedia

Thanks for the reply. My pareja and I work in IT with clients in various parts of the world. We came to consider SD because it is one of  the cities served by Netlife (what we use now) for an ISP with fiberoptic to the house.

My pareja is from Venezuela. We  for the most part  assimilate well into  the local culture (as we have for the past 2 years in Quito) and  for us,  frequent  contact with others from either of our home cultures isn't that big a consideration in deciding where to live.  The hotter weather isn't that big a consideration either since both of us are from coastal areas in our respective home countries.  Crime however is  a very important consideration  for us both.

May thanks for your kind reply.

It may be advisable to check TONSUPA, in Esmeraldas; a developing tourist town preserving the local ambience.
No "gringo" invasion yet.

MM

marcomueses

We came up to Ibarra for a few days.

Thanks for the information and suggestion on Tonsupa. Have been there and will consider it.

Regards