Ecuador impressions

[ScottFromUtah]

Are you at all concerned about government hijinks? When I was on a Galapagos tour in 2008 the guide was very unhappy about some new government legislation that would in effect confiscate inheritances. This would not affect ex-pats of course. But just the idea of living in a country with a really high handed government would make me nervous.

Having lived in Latin American (Peru), I know it can be great and it can get ugly. I someone decides to move there, or anywhere, they might want to consider a backup plan in case things go sour.

 

[Zoocat]

Having lived in Latin American (Peru), I know it can be great and it can get ugly. I someone decides to move there, or anywhere, they might want to consider a backup plan in case things go sour.

"Ugly" is probably an understatement in many cases. I hope you weren't in Peru during the Shining Path terrors.
But at present Peru is a beautiful country. I liked it much more than Ecuador.

 

[wcv56]

Retiring to my condo in Costa Rica and hope to do some traveling.
Thanks all for the lovely post of areas close by.
I done most of last 20 years vacationing in Thailand and Philippines.
I bought a nice place in Thailand but decided a friend needed it more than
myself so sold it to him and picked up condo in Jaco Beach C.R.
I lived and worked in Germany for 12 years in the 70's thru early 90's ( on and off). A trip back to see some old friends would be nice but need to get strated
on retirement again, tried it a couple years ago but failed on first time, think I am ready this time. Maybe start a little pub or something somewhere, not for the income just a place to hang out when bored.

 

[ScottFromUtah]

"Ugly" is probably an understatement in many cases. I hope you weren't in Peru during the Shining Path terrors.
But at present Peru is a beautiful country. I liked it much more than Ecuador.

I was not there during the Shining Path, but the aftermath still has people spooked. I did have a young man grab me and pull a sharp knife on me at an outdoor market in the San Martin de Porres area of Lima in January 2009. Fortunately, the Peruvian bystanders yelled at him to stop, and re ran off. No harm no fowl. I blame myself for even going into such a market. With more wisdom on where I went, I felt perfectly safe under all circumstances after than, especially when we were up in the high Andes. The Peruvians there were wonderful to us.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Scott, can you tell us more about Peru?

Oldbabe? How about you?

It is sounding interesting.

Thanks.

 

[ScottFromUtah]

Scott, can you tell us more about Peru?

Peru is enjoying a good economy, with a fast-growing middle class--at least in Lima. Peru had one of the fastest growing economies (percentage wise) in the world, or at least that's what the country's president said last year. Outside of Lima, I see much of the fruits of the improved economy.

My wife and I were able to live in Peru for about $1300/mo, which including rent, food, travel (lots of it). We were missionaries there, so we didn't live high on the hog.

I didn't meet any ex-patriots while there, but I did meet a couple who spends their Canadian winters in Lima and their Canadian summers in Canada. They had a nice condo near the beautiful beach in the upscale Mira Flores area. DW and I went to the condo once. It had a spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean. I don't know how much it costs them.

Things in Lima seemed to run well--good telephone and Internet service in our apartment and good public transportation throughout the city. We lived there in a gated, guarded community, so we felt safe. Well-to-do people who lived outside of guarded communities needed good security systems. Those who didn't got robbed. (Some Peruvian friends of ours got robbed three times before getting their security system installed!)

In the mountains, where we lived for 7 months, we felt safer. Peruvians seemed more honest and didn't try to overcharge us as the taxi drivers did in Lima. But the mountain towns seem to have more strikes, which shut down public transportation for a couple days at a time. (We didn't have our own car, so we relied completely on taxis.)

I would hesitate recommending Peru as a retirement location unless the retired persons spoke Spanish and/or had other with Peru or Peruvians.

I can't think of what else you might want to know.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Many thanks, Scott. Spot on.

 

[haha]

I had dinner last night with a professional class Ecuadorean man. He says that the large mountain cities have such bad air that you feel like you have a cold all the while you are there. He also says that there is no way he would return to live there. He is in his mid thirties, and first came to the US for university.

Ha

 

[ScottFromUtah]

I had dinner last night with a professional class Ecuadorean man. He says that the large mountain cities have such bad air that you feel like you have a cold all the while you are there. He also says that there is no way he would return to live there. He is in his mid thirties, and first came to the US for university.

I'm really surpised by this. The opposite is true in Peru. The mountain cities have wonderfully clean air, whereas Lima is very polluted. For the 4 months in 2008 that DW and I lived in Lima, I had bigtime problems with my asthma. As soon as we moved to Tarma (10,000 feet above sea level in the high central Andes), I went off my asthma medicine. We traveled almost weekly to large mountain cities between 10,000 and 14,000 feet (Huancayo, Huancavelica, Junín, etc.) and they all had clean air, except the La Oroya (12,400 feet), which has many mines and refineries, and according to one TV documentary I saw, is the most polluted of any inhabited city in the world!

 

[haha]

I'm really surpised by this. The opposite is true in Peru. The mountain cities have wonderfully clean air, whereas Lima is very polluted.

I think he meant cities, not towns. Quito and Cuenca.

My personal experience of air pollution, not of Ecuador, is that living in a huge city in a bowl in a sunny place usually means bad air.

When his mother was last here she spent a lot of time remarking on our clean air; and we are not the best at all.

Ha

 

[FUEGO]

My personal experience of air pollution, not of Ecuador, is that living in a huge city in a bowl in a sunny place usually means bad air.

Mexico City cough cough.

 

[haha]

Mexico City cough cough.

Yes, my friend worked there for time and he says it is the only place he felt worse than in Quito. I first went ot Mexico City in 1964, and it was wonderful. Over time it changed as did many other Latin Cities. During this same time much of the US got better air.

Ha

 

[FUEGO]

Yes, my friend worked there for time and he says it is the only place he felt worse than in Quito. I first went ot Mexico City in 1964, and it was wonderful. Over time it changed as did many other Latin Cities. During this same time much of the US got better air.

Ha

I spent a week and a half there back around 2000. I had a sore throat the first 3-4 days until I got used to the thick smog. Mucus turned black from inhaling all that particulate matter. Otherwise a nice city (in a New York City kind of way).

 

[kcowan]

I spent a week and a half there back around 2000. I had a sore throat the first 3-4 days until I got used to the thick smog. Mucus turned black from inhaling all that particulate matter. Otherwise a nice city (in a New York City kind of way).

DW had to go to PV when she lived in DF because FIL could not handle the air in Mexico City. It was carry an oxygen bottle or get away from the air.

 

[simple girl]

When we were in Bangkok in 2000, the air was so bad that the tuk-tuk drivers wore masks:

 

[kramer]

Yeah, I still consider the Quito air about the worst I have ever encountered, although it was my first trip to a developing country so maybe I would think differently now. Actually, the worst air up to now is in Chiang Mai during the fire season but before the rainy season, generally all of March. It is almost 100 degrees daily, horrible air quality and visibility. The degree varies by year. The rest of the year the air in Chiang Mai is great. I researched wearing masks and almost bought one, but they really don't do that much good, as near as I can tell.

 

[Urchina]

Yeah, you really haven't sucked down diesel fumes until you've walked through Quito.
Add the 10,000 ft+ to the air pollution and us sea-level folks gasp like fish out of water.

I also liked how the buses and big trucks have their exhaust pipes right about 3 feet off the ground and pointed at the sidewalks, so when they stop or start a giant black plume gushes out to smother the pedestrians on the street. It was a nice touch.

And let's not even get started on the way buildings are built -- I shudder to think of what will become of our family there when another earthquake hits.

 

[kcowan]

What about the volcano fumes and ash?

 

[DangerMouse]

Sometimes I think it is was you get used to. I lived in Mexico City for 2 years in the 1990s and whilst I noticed it was polluted, I never felt that it meant I couldn't walk the streets.

 

[FUEGO]

Sometimes I think it is was you get used to. I lived in Mexico City for 2 years in the 1990s and whilst I noticed it was polluted, I never felt that it meant I couldn't walk the streets.

After a few days my sinuses got used to the air. And we were outside a lot walking around as tourists, so it was probably worse for us being so close to the streets and the key source of the pollution. Indoor air quality is probably a lot better in el DF.