Expat Life

By Dr. Lee Dubs You can find a lot of articles that tell you that Ecuador is the perfect place to retire. Plenty of writers encourage you to move to Ecuador, and many want you to make that move for reasons of their own. Some even use words like “thousands” when wanting you to believe...

[Editor’s Note: Pets are important to many expats. The following article is an excerpt from Expats in Ecuador: Life in Cuenca Second Edition by David Morrill and Deke Castleman. It mainly deals with bringing pets with you to Ecuador and was written about a year ago, so some of the facts might’ve changed. We’d appreciate hearing from anyone...

By Deke Castleman and David Morrill Although most expats get by without a car in Cuenca, many own one. You’ll find prices for new cars to be about 20%-30% higher than in the U.S. For used cars, the markup is can be even higher, since most Ecuadorians can’t afford new cars. Also, we’ve observed that Ecuadorians...

Ecuador finds itself in a familiar position in International Living’s 2015 Global Retirement Index, released on Friday. The index rates it the world’s number one retirement country for the fourth time in seven years. International Living’s index rates countries based on eight categories including cost of living, real estate and rental  prices, climate, infrastructure, health...

By David Morrill Angel Salvador Ortega stowed away on a banana boat out of Puerto Bolivar in 1994 and was on his way, he hoped, to being an illegal alien in the U.S. when his fortunes took a dramatic turn. Life was hard in his native Oña, a town of 3,000, set in a dry...

By Mark Johnson I’ve met quite a few single expat men and women who have packed up life in the UK and headed overseas to search of a new life and who are desperately seeking new love. In many cases there’s a happy ending. A man or woman, perhaps jaded by the career ladder, or...

The Special Foods of Cuenca  10 Alfajores  11 Aguardiente  11 Ají  12 Almuerzo  12   Babaco  14   Café  14 Canelazo  15 Ceviche  15 Chaulafán  16 Chicha  16 Chifles  17 Chirimoya  17 Choclo  18 Churrasco  18 Cuy  19   Encebollado  20 Empanada  21 Espumilla  21   Fanesca  22   Granadilla  22 Granizado  23 Guanábana  23...

Introduction  1 Who Are We to Write This Book? 3   PART ONE: ATTRACTIONS AND DOWNSIDES CHAPTER ONE: Why Expatriate To Cuenca? Why Expatriate?  6 Why Cuenca?  6 The Rush to Cuenca  8 The Nature of Duality  11   CHAPTER TWO: Climate Why Can’t I Get a Reliable Weather Forecast?  14 Here Comes the Sun? ...

Introduction  1 A Note About Cuenca  2 How This Book Is Organized  3 Why We Wrote This Book  4 Similarities and Differences with English  8   Part One: Learning at Home Chapter One: What To Expect from the Spanish Adventure Acquiring a First Language: How We Learn  10 Learning a Second Language at an Older Age...

Introduction  7 People Watching in Parque Calderón 9 Abdón Calderón, Revolutionary Hero  9 The Park Scene 10 Around the Park 11 Shopping at the Mercados  15 The Mercados of El Centro 15 Feria Libre 17 The Coopera 19 Dining Out  21 Almuerzos  21 North American  23 Chinese  24 Ecuadorian  24 Gourmet  25 Indian  25 Italian...