Hello all, buckle up and sit back for a good laugh and then pass on some advice to this silver haired lobo.
My name is Kim, a Canadian boy, who left Canada almost 2 years ago after finding out he was very sick and not supposed to live. I found health moving South to Colombia first for 10 months and now 13 plus months in Venezuela. While I found health, I lost out on money and love, so the last 13 months have been very difficult. BUT THEN..... From across the ocean back in my old neighbor county the old US of A, comes love in the form of a family. I am totally smitten and ready for this, cough cough. No seriously I am ready.
BUT! I have had a taste of South America and the thoughts of moving to the USA, well, not my cup of tea. Back to Canada are even further from my mind, but Ecuador, well now you have my attention!
So, here we go, we are planning to have our first official meeting of the lovebirds and family in Ecuador and to spend the Christmas of 2012 there together. WITH the hopes and dreams of moving there, as soon as possible. Initially we were looking at Quito with the dream of living in Cotacachi, but our dream has shifted South to the city of Cuenca. With two young girls aged 10 and 12 we felt the culture of the city would be a blessing to not only their education, but to our education together as a family.
Since I am in Venezuela, I am looking at travelling by bus to Ecuador and arriving mid October first of November 2012 and looking for a place to spend 3 weeks with my new family, for their arrival in December.
Okay here is the list of questions, are you ready? I hope so.
1. Looking for a place to rent while we explore the country and have fun as a new family. Two bedrooms with a couch for me would be fine for now.
2. Residency, the $25,000 is an option for investment in property or in a bank. how long does it take and does it need to be completed before we move there.
3. Is the ruling on 90 days in 365 days as a tourist still the rule and is there any way around that. Colombia and Venezuela have very different rules on that. With timing I can arrange to stay in either country for a year working on a 90 tourist visa/passport stamp. So, it would be good to know my options here.
4. Bringing a new car over to Ecuador, what are the implications and costs? It is a brand new Kia Sorento.
5. And this in reality is number 1, schools for the girls, i am sending them a course to learn Spanish, but the reality is that until you are there and are using it, Spanish via any course is just that, Spanish via a course.
6. Recommendations as to what to bring, we heard that technology is not up to speed and yet we see computer stores with prices online for the same and less than in the USA. So we are confused by this. Do I sell my PC here and buy new in Ecuador or do I import toilet paper as a better choice. Inside joke, toilet paper here is 45Bsf for 4 rolls or just over $10.00US, but gas is only $0.19 a gallon. Instead of how many dollars a gallon it is how many gallons per dollar. jajaja
7. We will be bringing an Internet business with us as well as I have been teaching English here and so we have several sources of income. I am assuming to get a bank account you need to have a cedula, or can you open a savings account without one. This is very possible in Colombia, but in Venezuela it is getting hard to even buy toilet paper without a cedula, so a bank account is out of the question here.
8. Lastly, we need to get married. If we marry in the USA my good looking bride will loose over 50% of her pension. Thoughts on this one as well.
Well, that is it for now. Keep smiling and any help would be a blessing.