Ecuador Insider Articles Archives

“We have horses, pigs, geese, dogs, and one chicken,” says Deb Swansburg. Caring for so many animals may not sound like a relaxing retirement to everyone, but for Deb it’s the perfect life. Deb spent the last 20 years in New Mexico and she always dreamed of living on her own ranch. She just never expected that her dream would come to fruition near the little town of Cotacachi, Ecuador. But that is exactly where Deb, along with her husband David Meade, are spending their retirement today and they’re keeping busy by managing a small farm.

I'm sitting on my roof terrace looking out at the beautiful Pacific Ocean. It’s an absolutely picture-perfect postcard kind of day here in my new home of Olon, on Ecuador’s coast. And I'm basking in the feeling of being on a permanent vacation. If I turn around, I can see the coastal mountains awash in various shades of green. While much of the coast here is desert-like, the weather is perfect most of the time, creating a micro-climate that is quite pleasant for people, animals, and the large variety of birds that fly in and out of the terrace and the garden below.

The other day my wife Rita and I were sitting in a local restaurant enjoying a $3 almuerzo (lunch special, typically a soup, small salad, rice, and meat or fish with a juice) when I overheard a new arrival behind us say with obvious glee, “I got up today and had no idea what day of the week it was!” I had to turn around and tell him, “That’s nothing. Wait until you can’t remember what month it is!” Sounds odd, but it’s true. Living in Salinas on the Pacific coast of Ecuador, there are few changes to mark the passing of time. This close to the equator the days are always 12 hours long, and the high and low temperatures only change about 10 degrees between the height of summer and the depths of winter. It’s surprisingly easy to find yourself trying to remember if it’s March or October.

What exactly does it mean to live a healthy lifestyle? There have been mountains of articles and books on the subject, infomercials abound, and ads touting the benefits of this or that food jumping out at us daily. But in the middle of all of the noise and the sometimes contradictory claims, there seems to be three things that everyone can agree are important for a healthy life; a healthy diet, regular exercise, and time spent outdoors breathing fresh air. Fortunately, we have those things in easy abundance here in Salinas, Ecuador, on the shores of the Pacific Ocean.

“Here’s your lunch,” my neighbor Eloisa proudly proclaimed as she thrust a squawking, flapping mass of feathers into my arms. “How do you like to kill your chickens?” “Ummm, I don’t,” I replied. “I don’t like to kill my chickens!” She gave me a perplexed look and no doubt wondered how I had managed to survive all these years without knowing how to transform a live bird into a feast for my family. But she graciously took the knife, did the dirty deed, and walked me through the steps of cleaning, plucking, and finally cooking the bird in her wood-fire oven.

The tourist board promotional slogan “All You Need is Ecuador” could not be more appropriate. Although my life in Cuenca is wonderful, it is always nice to be able to take a trip to other areas of this diverse country. One place that should not be missed is Mindo. About two hours north of Quito, it hosts an amazing assortment of birds, butterflies, waterfalls, and activities like zip-lining.

Yesterday my wife Cynthia and I discovered Greek yogurt in our grocery store for the first time. We can almost hear your collective response: “So what? Big deal.” We get it. Whenever visiting our family in the States, we invariably go to a humongous supermarket stocked with everything one could possibly need or want. In the U.S., grocery shopping is a chore to be squeezed in with all the other activities that fill life.

Sometimes, life can be just the luck of the draw. That was literally true for Noemi Gonzalez and Tom Bradburn. They met in 2000 while playing poker online. Romance bloomed, and soon they were married and living in Taos, New Mexico. But the cards were still being shuffled for them. Although they loved their lives in Taos—in fact, they still keep their home there and visit from time to time—they wanted to spend their retirement someplace warm.

My wife Susan and I lived in more than 30 locations in eight different states before moving to Ecuador. A retired marketing executive who started an email company in 1981, I had always wanted to experience living in another country. Susan, retired from working in administration and finance, shared that dream. In January 2015, we realized our dream and moved to Cuenca. We originally explored the Andes region of Ecuador because of its low cost of living and spring-like climate. What really hooked us when we first visited though were the friendly people, the relaxed pace of life, and the year around availability of fresh fruits and vegetables.

We got as far as the town square in the small village of San Vicente on Ecuador’s northern coast when our car ran out of gas. I pulled to the side of the rutted, muddy road among a huge crush of writhing, smiling people as sultry Latin rhythms shook the windows of the car.