Three Mature Women Wanting to Visit

Me too,i am moving to ECUADOR.. I just get retired and preparing myself to move there.I know spanish and english quite very well. I am sure it is a good decision,people are very friendly  and life there is joyful and pleasant and the country is very beautiful.You can contact me on my email ( abdelito2012@hotmail.com ),and my phone is  079 549 9245. It will nice if  we can arrange our trip together. Abdelio......../

franwhite wrote:

A few questions if you please.

We are three women in our 60's who want to visit Ecuador.  Our purpose is to see if this is somewhere we would like to live, or just visit a few moths out of the year.

1-Just how safe would we be traveling alone in Ecuador?
2-What does it cost on average to:  rent an appartment, utilities, transportation, and food.
3-What type of tempertatues can we expect winter/summer.
4-Are the people friendly and open to new comers?
5-Would it be better to rent or buy a small home?
6-How affordable is health, dental, vision insurance.
7-What is the cost of an average hotel room for the night.  It might be better to rent a place for a month or two rather than
paying for a hotel.

Everything I have read about Ecuador is positivebut as we know nothing is 100% so I need to explore all aspects of this nation.  We are trying to make an informed decision.

Please do not hesitate to post opinions, information, or just anything you want other than replies to our questiosns

Opinions on most of those questions vary widely. Here's mine. You'll be about as safe as you would be in most major US cities in most of Ecuador. There are a few places that are not safe. Esmereldas, Guayaquil, Tulcan are on my danger list. Some consider Quito dangerous. There are some high risk neighborhoods in the south, in my opinion.

Rentals prices are all over the map, from 5k per month to $100. The better your Spanish the more equipped you will be to avoid paying too much. Hotels are often quite cheap, but the best deals are found in person, not online. I've rented a room for $5 per night in a town where the cheapest online hostel was $20.

In Ecuador you can pretty much pick your climate/temperature. You want hot and sweaty year round? We got a place for that. You want cold and wind? Got that too? You want year round Spring temperatures? Got a bunch of places like that. Cloud forest? Check. High deserts? Check.

Rent before buying. Everywhere has quirks that might be deal breakers for some and you only really get to know a place by staying there for a good long while. Also, cutting through the gringo pricing takes a lot of time and experience.

You may want to consider paying out of pocked for dental and health care. Costs are low unless you have something major.

franwhite wrote:

We are three women in our 60's who want to visit Ecuador.  Our purpose is to see if this is somewhere we would like to live, or just visit a few moths out of the year.

Welcome to Expat.com, Ecuador, Frannie and Friends.

It's safer traveling in a group, which you are.  Beyond that, it depends on factors such as where you're traveling, whether you go out much at night in the cities, how alert and knowledgeable you are about security and environment, etc.

Beyond anecdotal reports that people have found apartments in some non-Gringo areas of Ecuador for $200 a month, figure at least $300 in Quito or Cuenca...and plenty more if you need to live in a 24-hour security building in the most desirable sectors, or a pool and a roof-top barbecue area (at the ocean).  Naturally, the more bedrooms you need, the higher the rent.

Utilities are super-low -- $10 or less monthly for my condo in Quito -- if you live in the highlands and don't need air conditioning.  That includes electricity and electric heat via space heater.   Potable tap water is a few dollars more.

Temps:  Here in Quito, monthly average high's are in the high 60's Fahrenheit year-round.  Nighttime lows average around 50.At the beach, the hottest months are January-May -- highs in the 80s-low 90's during these months, although there are micro-climates up and down the coast that can cause this to vary.  The other months tend to be cloudier and cooler in many beach communities.  You might encounter low 80's then.

Rent v. Buy:  It's common wisdom here not even to consider buying property until you have lived in an area for 12 months (possibly in multiple trips).  For one thing, you need to know if you are adjusting successfully to altitude -- low oxygen levels in the highlands -- or heat, at most places including the beach.

Staying in hotels will be more costly than other options, but limits you so much in terms of visiting different areas, that it (hotel stay) is probably a good idea.  If you're on a strict budget in Quito, consider Hotel Ambassador on 9 de octubre y Colon.  Check booking.com for reviews and rates in all areas of Ecuador.

cccmedia in Quito

abdelin wrote:

Me too,i am moving to ECUADOR.. I just get retired and preparing myself to move there.  I know Spanish and English quite very well. I am sure it is a good decision, people are very friendly and life there is joyful and pleasant and the country is very beautiful.  You can contact me on my email (abdelito2012@hotmail.com),and my phone is  079 549 9245. It will nice if  we can arrange our trip together.

Abdelito,

Welcome to Expat.com Ecuador.  The more positive, optimistic folks such as yourself that we can attract here, the better.

If you're planning to visit here from Amman, consider contacting a potential traveling partner via the Jordan forum of Expat.com.

You can type the name "Jordan" into the Search Expat.com box that normally appears at the top of this page, and then click on the search icon to the right of said box.  That should transport you to a Jordan page, then look for the word "forum."

cccmedia in Quito

franwhite wrote:

A few questions if you please.

We are three women in our 60's who want to visit Ecuador....

4-Are the people friendly and open to newcomers?...
7-It might be better to rent a place for a month or two rather than
paying for a hotel.

In my experience, which is mostly in Quito, the overwhelming majority of Ecuadorians are welcoming to newcomers.

Especially since you'll be here paying for services, food and lodging, that should be true for your group.

Due to a proof-reading lapse in the last paragraph of my first response (Report #4), the paragraph was confusing.

My point on Hotel vs. Apartment for three months is that each has advantages and disadvantages.

Apartment:  cheaper than hotel.  But it would have to be pre-furnished, adding to the rental cost.

Hotel stays:  enable you to move around the country, and probably are indicated for your trip.  The only ways the apartment scenario makes sense is if you're staying in the same city or place almost the entire time...or if your budget simply won't allow for paying hotel rates.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think super-cheap "hostel" accommodations -- which typically involve communal sleeping in a room with backpackers -- are appropriate to 60-something ladies.  In case you haven't picked this up over the Internet, these places are the most likely to have a "bug" problem, if you know what I mean.

cccmedia in Quito

franwhite wrote:

Our purpose is to see if this is somewhere we would like to live, or just visit a few moths out of the year.

Any particular kinds of moths you would like to visit?  I would think you may prefer butterflies.