[GARY POLLICE]

We’re arriving Sunday and will be there for a month. So if anyone is around we’d be happy to get together to talk about experiences.

[GARY POLLICE]

I’ve had it not show up a couple of times. I also have had it change position in the header area. Sometimes it’s all the way to the right on the same line as “Search Forums” and other times it’s below those words. I’m using Google Chrome, but I also tried it with Safari and saw some of the same results. I went to look at the source for the page, but since it’s dynamically generated, it would take much too long to parse all of the HTML and Javascript.

I haven’t seen the problem in the last couple of days though, so maybe they’ve worked out some of the kinks.

[GARY POLLICE]

Thanks Andrea. We’re going to take the bus I think. It seems to be the simplest option, and one that will be reasonably comfortable. We’re definitely getting excited for the trip.

[GARY POLLICE]

Thanks Edd. Maybe I’ll see you in a few weeks. I’d like to pick your brain over coffee sometime.

[GARY POLLICE]

My wife and I used Happy Gringo last year when we spent 18 days going through a lot of Ecuador. We told them what we wanted and they did a great job for us. The only problem was the two days we spent in Loja where our driver really spoke no English. This part of the journey was subcontracted out by Happy Gringo. It really wasn’t that bad. There were just a couple of times when my limited Spanish failed me and we had difficulty communicating. Overall, we were very satisfied with Happy Gringo.

[GARY POLLICE]

Thanks Edd. A colleague of mine is from Cuenca and has put me in touch with one of his high school friends who took us around last summer. We’ll be meeting with them again and will also be contacting a few realtors. I just wasn’t sure how far in advance I should start to get some advice on the whole moving and relocating process. You’ve ansered that.

[GARY POLLICE]

Last year we stayed at Hotel La Rabida in Quito. It was great. Gloria, the day manager was fantastic. I highly recommend it. It’s close to Plaza Foche where there are lots of restaurants.

[GARY POLLICE]

Here’s the article about it. It looks like the operators of the vans perhaps did not want to pay for the proper licenses. You can decide how questionable the activity is.

[GARY POLLICE]

Thanks Edd. That’s a help. I’ll also keep looking for something that identifies where each sector named in the real estate listings is located. It seems like there are a lot of them, not all corresponding to the bus routes, but it’s a start.

[GARY POLLICE]

Well Edd, if we move down there (which probably will happen in the next couple of years), you can let me know so I can avoid him. 🙂

[GARY POLLICE]

We just spent three weeks in Ecuador, going to many of the places we might want to consider for retirement and to some of the other interesting places. We never felt as if we were in any danger of being victims. While I’m not an expert on Ecuador, I have travelled quite a bit in the last 40 years and lived abroad in Europe. The key to being safe is to understand the local culture and customs and be as vigilant as you are in the US. I am not a city person, but I teach in a moderate-sized city in MA. I guarantee that smart people don’t walk around many parts of that city alone at night.

While we were in Quito we walked and took taxis. In Cuenca we took a couple of taxis, but walked almost everywhere. We never felt threatened. The people were warm, friendly, and very helpful. I will say that the only person I encountered whom I wouldn’t want to be around again was someone from the US in a restaurant who was booming out about how good he was at working real estate deals. He obviously wanted everyone to know how wealthy and important he was.

From my experiences and research, I am confident that if you move to a country and don’t expect that you’re moving from the US to a less expensive US, you’ll do fine. If you’re adventurous enough to fit into the country rather than expect the people there to adapt to you (the ugly-American syndrome), you can be really happy.

[GARY POLLICE]

I’ve used it for German and am now quite a bit into the Spanish lessons. It’s a very good site. It’s like “Rosetta Stone Lite.” I find that Rosetta Stone is better for conversation and Duolingo is good at getting my reading ability to increase faster. But everyone has different learning styles. The US foreign services language courses are also online and ree now. They’re somewhat outdated, but yet another good way to prepare for immersion.

[GARY POLLICE]

Thanks Edd. I didn’t know about Gringo Tree. I appreciate it.

[GARY POLLICE]

Thanks so much Edd.

[GARY POLLICE]

Thanks Suzan. It’s not a clear cut question. I know that there is public health coverage for residents and would suspect that it would be a viable option for catastrophic things. We’ve been looking at countries in Europe as well and health care is probably blocking factor for us. It looks like it would cost about $15K/year for fairly minimal coverage in countries like Germany. Possibly a bit less in Italy since we could get into their public system. Ecuador keeps rising on our short list. We’re heading down there in June / July and will do some more on-site research.

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