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SUZAN HASKINS
ParticipantI am not sure — probably best for you to contact Roberto Moreno or Santiago Andrade, attorneys who are listed in our experts section.
ParticipantYou really can’t get to Cuenca on the same day, unless you fly to Guayaquil and have a driver waiting to take you there immediately. And if it is a foggy night, driving can be iffy.
ParticipantYou’ll like Cuenca. Enjoy your trip!
ParticipantLet me get back to you — I’m not sure a website like this exists in Ecuador, but let me look.
ParticipantYou might also check out Hotel Quito and Hotel Sebastian (ask for the International Living rates) — they are more expensive that Andino and you’ll pay the VAT and tourist tax, etc. on top of any rate you are quoted. And you’ll pay for breakfast…
ParticipantI have lots of favorite hotels in Quito — Hotel Andino is great at $35 a night which includes taxes and breakfast. It is in a great location, too — close to the Swissotel. http://www.andinohotel.com/
But don’t expect the Marriott at that price. 🙂 NO climate control (but we never need that in Quito). And no safes in the rooms, but they may have one in their office — we’ve never worried about our stuff there. Andino is were Dan and I stay most often when we are in Quito. The proprietor, Miguel and his wife, Paola, are great people.
Check out the itinerary section — you should find other recommendations there. But if you have any questions, send them my way.
Suzan
ParticipantMost people fly to Ecuador from Miami (American Airlines) or Houston (United/COPA). TACA AND LAN also fly to Ecuador from Miami and Delta from Atlanta.
I use http://www.kayak.com to search for airfares. It compares several different airfare aggregators and will pull up the best fares for you. And if you can be flexible with your dates, you can include that info in your search and ensure you’re getting the best deal for your travel timeframe.
ParticipantThere was another post on this forum about golf — one of the earliest threads. If you go back and read that, you’ll see a list of golf courses. In Ecuador, they are all private courses and they’re near the major cities and largest population bases: Quito and Guayaquil. And there’s a 9-hole in Cuenca, I believe. Golf is for the wealthier people in Ecuador, but I understand the courses here are very nice. And your drive will go much farther in the rarified air at a high elevation — a plus, perhaps…
ParticipantI love Quito, and I’d recommend a guided tour of Old Town – -there is so much to see and so much history that going with a tour guide is the best. I’m sure the hotel can hook you up but if not, contact Julieta Muñoz at Nuevo Mundo: julieta@nuevomundoexpeditions.com. Besides Old Town, you might want to go to Capilla del Hombre, the home and museum of famous Ecuadorian painter Oswaldo Guayasamin. And a lot of tourists enjoy Mitad del Mundo, the middle of the world and equator museum. Or you can take a day trip to the market at Otavalo, especillay a treat on a Saturday.
As for restaurants, right across the street from Hotel Quito is one of my favorite carnivore haunts, a place called Hunters. Another excellent (and expensive, for these parts) restaurant that is just a few blocks away is the Peruvian seafood place called Segundo Muelle. And for sure you should go to Plaza Quinde at Foch and Reina Victoria and sit outside and people watch. They have heaters if it is cold or rainy…
Here’s something I wrote about Old Town:
Two of the highlights of Old Town are La Compañia de Jesus Church and the Basilica del Voto Nacional.
La Compañia is one of the great baroque masterpieces in all of South America, built by the Jesuits between 1605 and 1765. The intricately carved exterior façade is unbelievably detailed, but the interior will take your breath away…almost every inch is decoratively covered in gold leaf. The place glows!
The Basilica, on the other hand, is a neo-gothic marvel. Instead of gargoyles on its exterior, you’ll find animals indigenous to Ecuador…tortoises, iguanas, sloths, and more. The nave itself is beautiful with its giant multi-colored stained-glass windows and 24 chapels. But be sure to go to the third-floor café where you can climb a metal staircase inside the clock tower and even farther up into the bell tower, the tallest in South America.
From there, you’ll have a bird’s-eye view of Quito, including El Panecillo (“Little Bread Loaf”), the famous 200-meter high hill, topped with a statue of the winged Virgen de Quito. And on a narrow wooden walkway with rope handrails you can even walk through the open space between the ceiling and the roof of the church, several stories above the center aisle. But beware — the walkway bounces dramatically if several people walk on it at once.
After all this excitement, make your way to Plaza San Francisco, a sweeping cobblestone plaza that’s home to Ecuador’s oldest church, the imposing whitewashed Monastery of San Francisco. You can grab a hot chocolate or coffee and a bite to eat at CafĂ© Tianguez, beneath the church. Tianguez means “market” in Quichua and you’ll find a top-quality artisan shop here that winds catacomb-like into the bowels of the church and is filled with uniquely embroidered textiles, rich wood carvings, and masks, ceramics, and other pieces inspired by pre-Columbian artisan traditions.
ParticipantDonald, this is totally up to you, and depends on your tolerance levels and the amount of time you have on your hands. There is a new immigration office in Cuenca that’s very efficient and easy to work with, as I understand it. They’re used to dealing with English speakers and have bilingual staff on hand to help. So if that’s where you’ll be living, I’d suggest you give it a try there and see how it goes. If you’ll be living elsewhere in the country and, therefore, working with the immigration office in Quito or Guayaquil, the process might not be so easy. My husband and I went the attorney route — we’re still working so we have time constraints. And it was easier for us to have someone telling us exactly what we needed. And he could go to the immigration office either on his own or with us to deal with the bureaucrats. I know people who get a kick out of doing this stuff themselves, and more power to them, but I’m not one of them!
ParticipantThanks, John, that’s good to know. And just to be clear, you studied at the Simon Bolivar School in Cuenca, right?
ParticipantMary, I don’t recall any B&B tours that I’ve read about in IL — check out the suggested itineraries in the Travel section on this Ecuador Insider web page — you’ll find contacts in just about every place you’d consider going. You may be thinking of the Pathfinder Chill Weekend tours. You can find out about one to coastal Ecuador here: http://www.pathfinderinternational.net/chills/view/ecuador_property_tour1
Also, Sarah Dettman runs expat tours through her company and she’ll be happy to explain the details is you email her at s.dettman@yahoo.com or see here website: http://www.ecuadorexpatjourneys.com
ParticipantMark, it depends where you want to teach — in an accredited school, you’ll need a certificate. Elsewhere — especially if you work as a private tutor — you may not.
ParticipantMike, contact Bernie Uhe: bernie@huilcorealestate.com.
ParticipantGillian, there are a couple of ways to get products to Ecuador from outside the country. Club Correos is one. As long as the invoice inside is not more than $400 you won’t pay customs duty on it. If you have several items from different vendors you’ll want to have one invoice issued (probably will need a friend to help with this) indicating the total cost is not more than $400 — at least that’s my understanding. I’ve not done it myself. Here is an article about Club Correos: http://www.captivatingcuenca.com/club-correos.html
There is also another new service, called Doral Cargo which supposedly accepts all packages, even from different vendors, repackages it to 8 lbs and costs about 35 dollars. Contact them at:786-387-2238 or see http://www.doralcargoexpress.com.
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