Ecuador News Archives

When I was a kid, I spent hours playing softball with my cousins, batting the Swiss-cheese-yellow plastic ball between us. My grandmother, “Big Mama,” deemed it safer than arming us rowdier kids with hard balls.

If you follow Ecuadorian Facebook groups like I do, you’ll see that there’s a question just about every potential expat asks at some point; which area should I live in? The simplest answer for most of us comes down to what we’re looking for.

Loja was our choice for a number of reasons. It's a small city, population 200,000, and it's a cultural capital. It's a younger city with several large universities and several art and music colleges. We were looking forward to concerts and art displays and a continuous diet of events and celebrations.

A friend suggested Kathy and Tim book a private jet. They balked at this at first. They feared it would cost them an arm and a leg (maybe two legs). But then they crunched the numbers...

Would you think I was crazy if on New Year's Eve I joined a group of revelers carrying an effigy…and I later burned that effigy to a crisp, while wearing red underwear, and walking in circles around the fire with my suitcase, eating a bunch of grapes?

Once I moved, figuring out how to use my U.S. phone abroad was of the highest importance—since my sisters in the U.S. are likely to call the Ecuadorian embassy if they haven't heard from me about four times a day!

Of course, I worry about what would happen if I fall down and can't get up. Who is going to take care of me? This is a question that has loomed into view. So, I began researching options on in-home care—and found a lot of good ways to be prepared, "just in case."

Ecuador's towns are each unique, and usually offer their own specific local speciality. For example, Cotacachi is known for its leather goods, Ibarra for its ice cream, Cayambe for its biscochos, Otavalo for its huge artisanal market, and Illumán for its hand-made sombreros, just to name a few. Less-well-known finds are also plentiful—and make exploring this country even more fun.