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Hi Malcolm:

I am a Canadian as well and am looking into the same thing (either snowbirding or retiring). If you google “Ecuador Expat Journeys” you will find information on a tour for expats that covers all parts of Ecuador. My wife and I are slated to go in November, but they have all different kind of dates available.

Oral Kenzie

[ORAL KENZIE]

Hi Marcia:

My wife and I are going on the November 23rd crash course. We then are planning to stay in Cuenca for a week after. I see you are going in sept so you will experience this before us. I would appreciate a blurb either on this forum or email me directly at okenzie1@gmail.com with any information that you would like to share on how you liked the course.

We had originally wanted to go on the May course, but there was too many other life events happening so we had to settle on the Nov course. This is not such a bad thing in that it can get very cold in Alberta Canada in Nov and Dec. And if we decided to snowbird that is likely the time that we would go anyway.

Oral Kenzie

[ORAL KENZIE]

Hi Suzan

Thanks for the info. I appreciate it and I cannot find any thing but praise for these tours when I scan the net.

Too bad there was not a chill weekend around the same time, so that we couls combine both events,but that is not too likely.

Oral Kenzie

[ORAL KENZIE]

Thanks Danica:

I will check it out.

Suzan:

In Canada if you use your credit card to withdraw money from an ATM you are charged interest from the Day that you do the withdrawal until until the time at which you pay your balance owing. If you purchase goods then you can pay the balance of your statement without interest.

Oral Kenzie

[ORAL KENZIE]

Hi Suzan:

You are right you can use your credit cards at ATMs or banks but there is a daily limit usually $100.00, unless it is different in Ecuador. Also, interest on the amount you take out from an ATM is charged immediately. I was looking to minimize the charges. It just annoys me that I already have US$ in a US$ bank account in Canada that I have already paid conversion costs on and cannot use it. At this point it looks like I will have to bring money with me and carry it around or a Bank draft.

I may be able to get a US$ account in the US and set that up in Paypal. Out of my 4 inquiry’s with PayPal I have two saying I can and two saying I can not. I think I will try this!

Thanks for your suggestions!

Oral Kenzie

[ORAL KENZIE]

Hi Danica
I have a US dollar account with TD in Canada, and I have their US credit card. My problem is that the person I wish to pay for a tour we are taking in Ecuador does not take credit cards. So I was hoping to do a wire transfer over the Internet from Ecuador to his bank account in the USA to pay for the balance remaining at the end of the tour. TD bank will not let you do this over the Internet, in fact you must do this while at your bank in Canada. They need a signature.

I phoned TD to see about a US Bank account with US$ located in the US. They have one but you can not do a transfer over the Internet.
They say you can phone them and transfer money, but I would like to know of a Canadian whom is doing this, before I go to the effort of opening a US$ bank account in the US. There are implications with IRS if you make interest on a US bank account and are a Canadian citizen. I looked into Paypal and depending on whom I talk to I get different answers. This is very frustrating!
I will contact the RBC and see what they say, as I have seen other info on the net saying they will be my best bet as well.

I am just not a big fan of carrying lots of cash on me, but in the end I may have to do that.
If you find a way to do this please let me know and if I find a way I will let you know. Sometimes I wish as a intl living subscriber they would have more info for Canadians but I guess we are such as all part of the market that we do not count.

Oral Kenzie

[ORAL KENZIE]

This is a very good question, I also wonder about what people do that live in the lower elevation  coastal regions, for yellow fever or dengue fever as well.  Is there any issues with mosquito born diseases in these areas.  Is DEET readily available or can some one comment about their experiences.

 

Also, it would be great if this forum had a search function, as this may have been covered already but going thorough all of the posts to find it is kind of time consuming.  Just a thought.

[ORAL KENZIE]

In Canada & the US we have free internet access at places like McDonald, Tim Hortons, Starbucks, etc. Is there a franchise there that has the same access? Also, it is routine to get free interent access when staying at hotels/motels here. Is this common in Ecuador as well?

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