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Something an expat often hears from family and friends is “but what do you do there?” Sometimes they are let down to hear that in general, our lives are not much different from other retirees. That is not the whole story though, since we are also living day to day in a different culture...
I was a little choked up on stage at the amount of applause when I proclaimed to the audience, “Hooray, I’m fat.” Maybe I should explain a bit here. I was giving a talk at a recent International Living conference.
When we talk to family and friends about our lives now that we have moved to Ecuador, they are often amazed. “That’s such a big change,” they say. “I could never make such a big leap.” And it is true that moving to a foreign land can be quite a leap of faith.
There are plenty of reasons to go to La Libertad, here on the Santa Elena peninsula that juts out into the Pacific Ocean on the west coast of Ecuador. You can go to take care of business at one of the government office like the IESS (social security and healthcare) or SRI (income taxes).
My wife, Rita, and I just returned from a three-week visit to the States and, as usual, we are very happy to be home. Home for us, at least for the past three years, is the resort town of Salinas, on the southern coast of Ecuador.
When Rita and I made the decision to move to the most popular beach resort in Ecuador, the number one reason was the climate. We traded cold, snowy winters and hot, blistering summers for a place where there are no extremes.
Sprawled along a valley between towering green mountains, Quito, the capital of Ecuador, is a multi-cultural and vibrant city. It offers museums, fine arts, restaurants of many cuisines, modern malls—and some great places to live. Here are just a few examples from three of Quito's most popular neighborhoods.
For more than three years, my wife, Rita, and I have lived in Ecuador without any form of Ecuadorian health insurance. When we first arrived, we checked into getting private plans, but we found them to be a little difficult to use, and questioned whether they were worth the expense.
It's no secret that the coast of Ecuador has some of the lowest-priced coastal properties in the world. Still, cash is king in the real estate market here, and not everyone can take advantage of the bargains to be found.
When you live in another country, every once in a while something happens that makes you stop for a moment and realize how much you have been changed by the experience. My wife, Rita, and I have been living in Salinas on the sunny southern coast of Ecuador for three years now, so this has happened to us a few times before.