Continuing north along the coast, two areas of note are Ayampe and Puerto Lopez. Both are of the picture postcard variety, where luxuriant green hills close in on the beach. Puerto Lopez has been one of my all-time favorite Ecuador beach towns since I first saw it in 2001.
Since our move to Ecuador a few years back, interest in this country has exploded. We get questions about how best to travel the country and what not to miss…we’re asked which is best: mountain or beach living…and how Ecuador compares to Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama…
Everything is old in Loja. Of course, that’s not literally true…but stroll through the historic colonial heart of this city in southern Ecuador and you’ll feel like you’ve stepped back in time. If you wish away the cars and buses and try not to see the youngsters with their stylish hair-dos and piercings (this is a university town, after all), you can sense what this city must have been like, oh…nearly 500 years ago.
This place boasts the world’s best climate…averaging daytime temperatures in the mid-70s every day of the year. So where am I? In Loja, a manageable city of about 180,000 people in southern Ecuador. At 6,750 feet above sea level, Loja is at a lower elevation than many of the country’s other major cities perched along the spine of the Andes mountain range.
Rent overseas before you buy. That’s good advice for anyone looking to try a new country on for size. Despite its incredibly low real estate costs, Ecuador is no exception. Fortunately, rental costs in Ecuador are very affordable, too.
Ecuador is a retirement paradise. Yes, it is the winner of IL’s Global Retirement Index 2012. But you don’t need an index to tell you that the climate is incredible…and varied—lush mountains, dense Amazon jungle, sun-drenched Pacific beaches…
“We’re right on the beach and we love that,” says expat Cynthia Kelley. “We can hear the ocean at night and we love to watch the sunset over the water in the evenings.” It’s easy to get the feeling that you’re a million miles away from the rest of the world in Canoa, on Ecuador’s northern coast.
We started researching retirement property, making full use of the Internet, libraries, networking, country visits, and, of course, International Living. It was a part-time job for us…and in no particular hurry, we passed on properties that didn’t measure up; settle for less, and that’s exactly what you’ll get. In July 2006, after searching for five years, we found a property in Vilcabamba, Ecuador.
“You’re out of your mind!” This was one of the milder things people said when I announced that after 30 years of living in the paradise of Maui, Hawaii, I was moving to South America. And at 80 years of age. Alone. Without speaking a word of Spanish.
When my old boss asked us if we wanted to go to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, over Christmas week, we jumped at the chance. It was such an amazing experience we never looked back. A Christmas in Mexico with all its color, warmth and vibrancy became our new family tradition. We didn’t miss the snow. The gorgeous blue waters and the long, warm evenings saw to that.
As far as I’m concerned, Ecuador rocks. It may be a small country, but it has more to offer than you can imagine…great cities and quiet villages….the majestic snowcapped Andes mountains…impossibly beautiful beaches…and the glorious Amazon rainforest. Importantly, Ecuador has a low cost of living and some of the world’s lowest real estate prices.
Fourteen years ago, while on a Caribbean sailing trip, I decided that some day I would find my own place by the ocean. As time went on, that dream became ever-more important. I was sick and tired of corporate greed and useless politics in the U.S. It was time to make my dream a reality and check out moving overseas.
I was at the International Living Live and Invest in Ecuador Seminar 2011 that wrapped up about a week ago. I wish you were there, too. We learned why Ecuador makes so much sense for anyone looking to find a way to stretch their modest savings and social security checks…and yet enjoy a high quality of life.
I’ve rarely seen such an explosion of interest and exploration in a country after one of our international events. The promise and potential of Ecuador has fired the imaginations of a huge percentage of our attendees here.
When Patrick Robinson lived in Hawaii, he made a snapshot list of what the perfect society might look like. The more research he did the more convinced he became that this place was Ecuador. One place in particular jumped out at him. But still, he wasn’t sure he should go off on this adventure. After all, he was more than 80 years old.
“In 2007, we had great jobs and were pulling down good money. Our retirement account was growing steadily,” says Ron Moore. “Then, it seemed like overnight, everything changed.” The car dealership where Ron and his wife, Terresa, were both part of the executive management team, went out of business. As the economy down-spiraled, so did the couple’s savings.
John and Sue live in Vilcabamba in southern Ecuador. Known as the Valley of Longevity because it’s such a healthy, stress-free place that residents commonly live to be 100 or more, you gotta figure it’s a very good thing that living there costs so little. John and Sue, who are right around 50 and have been retired for more than four years now, have a very long life ahead of them.
Over the last decade, we’ve explored much of Ecuador’s Pacific Coast—and one place we always enjoy revisiting is Puerto Lopez. It’s about halfway down the coast, midway between the larger cities of Salinas to the south and Manta to the north, right off the Ruta del Sol highway.
If you’re moving overseas, perhaps the most important number for you is property price. Of course, you’ll want that number to be low so that you can afford your new life overseas.
Along Ecuador’s Pacific coast, $50,000 buys you a beachfront condo. Expect to pay no more than $100 per month to cover your property tax, condo fees and other holding costs.
Mike spent a lot of time since then looking for somewhere that reminded him of those beaches in Southern California—including Guatemala, Mexico, and Costa Rica. But it wasn’t until he discovered one particular stretch of Pacific coast in Ecuador that he felt like he’d “come home to 50s California…”
Jack and his wife, Debbie, had it made in the States and they could have retired anyplace they chose. But when it came down to quality of life and value for money, they chose to retire to Cotacachi, Ecuador.
Douglas Willis didn’t come to Cuenca, Ecuador, with the intention of retiring. When he arrived in 2007, it was with his wife Lisa, and their two children and they came as part of a volunteer program.
The Annual Global Retirement Index is 12 months in the making. Rivers of data, facts, figures, and numbers are crunched, analyzed, and distilled to a perfect list of, this year, the 23 best places to retire in the world.
Not long ago, Ron and Terresa were having a tough time back in the U.S. They’d both lost their jobs and were watching their hefty nest egg evaporate before their eyes, thanks to a global economic downturn. So they pulled up stakes and moved to Ecuador.
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