How to be happy as an expat in Ecuador

Eh, for me happiness was pay cash for the house, so have a Pension and very few Bills. Then find a friend. My friend and I started an Organic Fruit Farm, Machalilla Organic Fruit Farms by Pajan.

I work all the time and like it. He put up land and me cash.

Hate to be a "Debbie Downer" - ironic considering I'm generally happy - but most studies show that happiness/satisfaction are relatively constant over a person's life... Which means, if you're unhappy where you are, moving here will generally not make you happy.  Of course, on the flip side, if you are happy no matter what, you can move here, be happy, and enjoy a "perfect" climate and lower cost of living.

IMO it's irrelevant what 'most studies' (none of which was actually cited) concluded about the supposed constancy of happiness levels.

For an individual, moving your work place -- even within the same town or city -- can have a significant and immediate positive impact.  For instance, if you had to deal with a toxic boss or co-worker(s), you may free yourself of a psychological burden by simply moving to a job with a better working environment.

Just moving out of a money-pit house -- that was in reality co-owned with the bank that held the mortgage -- and downsizing to a foreign condo with a pool and fewer responsibilities .. can make a major difference in how one feels, thinks and emotes.

Move out of a place where a divorcing spouse made life unbearable .. into a situation where you are meeting new people and reviving your social life.  Think that can't make you happier?

Move from Texas during the dog days of summer .. and find yourself living in cooler, fresh air along a lake or a river in your new place in Ecuador.  You're bound to be happier regardless of what was published about the average happiness of an anonymous group of people studied by researchers.

cccmedia

Don't want to argue too much, since I'm guessing we would end up agreeing.  The phenomenon was termed the "hedonic treadmill" 50 years ago and, if you're at least as old as me, you remember it from the 1978 finding that, within 2 years, lottery jackpot winners returned to the same level of happiness they had before winning.  the findings have generally been replicated (including divorce, like your example, where happiness returned to baseline within two years).

And, yes, people can make choices that make their lives better.  My argument would be that the people who are suffering in a bad job are the sort of people who either don't realize they could get a more enjoyable job a block or two away or lacked the courage or motivation to do so... In other words, if you take from a set of all people in the world the people who have maximized their comfort and realize moving across the world will improve an aspect of their life they cannot improve any other way, you have already selected for the sort of people whose life satisfaction is relatively high.  On the other hand, if you take from a set of all people a sample that are unhappy with their lives and, instead of changing jobs, moving across town or heading out in public to meet people, they instead think moving half-way around the world is the "answer to all their problems", then you are selecting for people who are probably going to have lower life satisfaction no matter where they live.

Of course moving out of a money pit can make your life better, but that doesn't entail moving to a different hemisphere.  For example, my house in the US cost $50k in 2010 when I bought it.  It had a 2500+ft2 house, a 2000+ft2 storefront, a garage and a barn on a hectare of land, on a major thoroughfare that was well paved and maintained and with good traffic.  Here I bought an almost identical property - three small one bedroom casitas on a hectare of land - but on a dirt road 15 minutes from a main road.  My property here cost ~$150k.  If someone was solely looking to minimize housing costs and get out from under a money pit, moving here wouldn't be the best action to take.

Heck, it doesn't matter to me if miserable people move here thinking it'll be some magic bullet to improve their miserable lives.  I'm retired and don't make money on expats (miserable or otherwise).  I only run into them about once a month when I head into town and they are bitching about masks, or police, or bureaucracy, or the locals, or the government, or the rain, or the sun, or not being able to buy the right type of mustard or any number of other things that are "keeping them from their perfect life"... and are obviously someone else's fault.

I love your questions Cheryl.   I haven't moved to Ecuador yet, but I have been doing some thinking about what to expect in terms of being "happy" there. 

I've been thinking about the question a lot since I'll be moving to Ecuador soon. I notice it's too easy to fantasize about what my life will be like when I get there, and I don't think that's productive so I try to resist it.

Your questions reveal that you're looking for the deeper answers to the question of "happiness" in the place where you are going.  I prefer to say "living well" or "eudaimonia".  Since I will still be living in my own body, what I do with my mind and spirit will make and break my experience of Ecuador.  I feel that I want to write a lot about this because it's what I've been thinking about, but it's not quite an answer to your questions, which are about Ecuador specifically.  I will follow the post and learn also.

Cheryl, now I notice that you are a moderator of the forum. I love the questions, and I'd love to see more of this type of post. Thanks.

Not in Ecuador yet, but I have been mentally preparing myself to go. I've not been to Ecuador, but I was a month in Guatemala -- similar, but different, of course. Here are some of my thoughts:

- I've lived most of my life in southern California. There's going to have to be a "social bubble" adjustment, and even more so because I'm strongly an introvert. I want to engage the community where I will move to (which will be among Ecuadorians, not expats). The public spaces and social interactions, I expect, will feel intense to me at first, and I should plan to give myself grace and space for that adjustment, and grow into that "engagement" at a slower pace. And a lot of down time at home to regain my energy. 

- Language barrier will make it difficult for me to communicate, for everyday business as well as making friends and building community. I plan to take Spanish lessons and practice a lot, and be mentally prepared for a fierce battle with my comfort zone in that regard.

- Until I can establish my community with locals, I'll check out some groups. I'm especially excited to see that Urban Sketchers has a presence in Cuenca. That'll be the first thing I want to check out. It will be a way to meet creative people (my "tribe") as well as enjoy the landscape of Cuenca in an immersive way (sketching and painting). I expect that drawing will make me more drawn to learning more about the buildings, public spaces and nature I see in Cuenca.

Thank you for the "Like" SLBergholt. Do you relate to any of that? What have been your personal observations and/or ponderings about living a good life in Ecuador?

There are both similarities and differences in our stories and dreams. I have been researching moving to Ecuador for several years. I retire in May of 2022 and will not be making enough money to live here in the US so I started researching and found Ecuador. In March of 2020 I took my "pre retirement" trip to be sure it was everything I was looking and hoping for and I fell in love with the beauty of the country and the wonderful people. I will be moving there permanently in June of 2022 and plan to immerse myself in the people and the culture.

Whereas you are an artist, I am an avid bird watcher and both of these interests will be served well with all that Ecuador has to offer...mountain ranges, rain forests, cloud forests, quaint villages, colonial cities, the ocean and the Galapagos Islands....I could go on and on. I have over 300 birds on my life list and hope to double that in my first year! Besides the people and the diverse geographical attractions, I loved the architecture, the shops and the delicious food of Cuenca and I don't think I was ever so relaxed in my life as when I was at a resort called Inti Kamari in the Yunguilla Valley. I cannot wait to return...

I have been studying Spanish for a couple years. I realize that the dialect I am learning will not be the same as what is spoken there but it should give me an excellent foundation. Actually, when I visited last year I was somewhat confident in my language skills only to have residents look at me like I was speaking Japanese. 

I plan to live in Cuenca the first year and then start moving around and exploring other parts of the country by living in different areas each year. At least that's my plan now but you never know where life takes you, right?

That's our plan too-- start in Cuenca, explore other places and then move to another city. Meanwhile, get more mastery of the language, and thus other cities become a feasible option.   Oh yes, I'm sure there will be an abundance of joy for you as a birdwatcher in Ecuador, and your list will continue to grow.

Given the number of views on the post, I think this topic is of keen interest for many people.  If you are looking at this discussion you probably have thought about it before, and I'll bet you have some observations to share. Please do! I keep watching this post because it's a great topic.

Hi Everyone 

I'd be happy if I didn't have to pay taxes when I set up my life in Ecuador. I have no intention of buying property in Ecuador - I'll be renting my home, so I shouln't have to pay texes, should I?

Thanks everyone 

terri lorrain wrote:

I'd be happy if I didn't have to pay taxes when I set up my life in Ecuador. I have no intention of buying property in Ecuador - I'll be renting my home, so I shouln't have to pay texes, should I?

Dear Terri,

As a renter you will not be paying property taxes -- at least not directly.

However, there is probably nothing to stop your landlord from passing on his expenses, including impuestos, when deciding on the amount of your rent.

Property taxes are not like in many "advanced" countries here.  Even here in Quito, on a modest property the property tax can be negligible.

cccmedia in Quito

Fantastic, thank you for replying!
Every little bit of information I can get is a big help! 

Weather and food.  Food and weather.

Wherever you relocate as an Expat, these are primary.

Once you have relocated, you have essentially chosen the weather -- for good or for bad or for mixed.

Food, however, is an area that is often evolving, especially if you live in a large city, where there are so many choices, changes occurring in available restaurants and new discoveries to be made.

Here in Quito, I have been making regular Sunday trips to MegaMaxi 6 de Diciembre.  It's not as close as the markets here in El Centro .. and there are SuperMaxi supermarkets (same chain, but not as big a store) that are closer as well.

But for me it's worth the extra ten minutes of driving for the wider selection of foods.

When I went to MegaMaxi yesterday, I discovered some foods and products that I had not previously seen there and which also have not been available, to my knowledge, at other supermarkets in Quito...

  -- Golden raisins.  Plump and juicy, especially if you submerge them in water for 20 seconds and then drain.

  -- A small organic-veggies section, stocking zucchini, carrots, scallions (under the same name as onions -- cebollas) -- and other produce.

  -- An increasingly larger group of no-sugar and low-sugar ice cream flavors.

  -- Multi-grain bagels, a treat for those of us who grew up with bagels-and-lox weekend meals Up North.

  -- Ground turkey, suitable for grilling or otherwise cooking up a tasty non-beef meal.

  -- Large-size boxes of facial tissues -- can't eat 'em, but it's good to find a source for them in an era where they are not a common item on grocer/pharmacy/home goods shelves in other stores.

MegaMaxi also has a fresh seafood section where a friendly attendant will apportion and wrap 'pez y mariscos' to suit your needs.

cccmedia in Quito


MegaMaxi is at 6 de Diciembre near Avenida Portugal, a stone's throw from the Benalcázar stop of the Ecovía transportation line.

I do not receive any financial compensation -- or victuals -- for mentioning Maxi stores or any food products I refer to in expat.com posts.

But!  Stay away from transgenics, like tomatoes.  And glyphosated foods (mostly all).  Otherwise, public markets may prove to be an experience worth the time.  Some of the sellers are direct producers; especially fruits and vegetables.
Saludos, Rod

I've never drawn but thanks for the mention of Urban Sketchers. I too am moving to Cuenca.