Why we decided not to move to Ecuador after two trips there

pol_can wrote:

Wow!, I was thinking about Ecuador, but seems when you move to another country you never feel like home. You always gone be stranger

This is absolutely not true for everyone. I know a couple of expats who’ve lived here for a long time (15+ years), and Ecuador is very much home. Both are business owners and have nice lives here. I think that’s my destiny too because I love it here, and everything I’m doing now is from a permanent perspective.

I won't get into the intricacies because people are so varied in perspectives but some people simply won't or can't make Ecuador or any other expat destination - home.

dumluk wrote:

I would lke to know what happened to my post? It says last post by dumluk, but its not there..... yet.....Dont tell me that postings here are subject to more scrutiny than suspicious emails by the NSA? Why not just post a msg on the forum right away like zerohedge or so many others.....? Is it an open free discussion or not?

If you are referring to this one below, I see it fine.

dumluk wrote:

What can you tell me about the quality of water in Vilcabamba and/or Loja? I would think considering its location that the village would be supplied by a number of excellent natural springs......granted, its always a good idea to have at least a rudimentary water filter (I have two here in Panama, 1 inline, and another in the kitchen). I know that the water on the coast is sketchy, (Colombia too) and I always drank bottled water, but I would think up in the mountains there would be first class water available as there is here in upcountry Panama.........And I dont consider heavily chlorinated and floridated water, as is found all over the U.S. to be desirable or healthy............

Susan_in_Ecuador wrote:

I am a regular contributor to Expat.com.

And one from whom all may benefit if they have the wisdom to consider your advice.

Quien no oye consejo, no llega a viejo.

dumluk wrote:

If you only knew the half of it.........but on topic, so nobody on this forum from Vilcabamba? Nobody qualified to speak about the quality of water there?

Did you not read the following comment posted on this very thread?.  I guess it doesn't specifically mention Vilcabamba but that is where she is.

This appears strange to me.  I live on the Rio Yambala in southern Ecuador and have built a legal water system coming direct from the river.  This is good clean water that runs constantly.   Years ago, I think it was Japanese scientists who came here and said that the water contained selenium, which is apparently good.  Also, I chose Ecuador instead of Nicaragua because of the frightful state of infrastructure in Nicaragua.  Things are much better here.

I guess that one person's paradise is another's hell.  guess it all depends on what makes you happy.  This makes me extremely happy.
HelenP.

Vilcabamba is very clean. The tap water is potable, and I saw little litter anywhere. My house is situated in a small community about 10 minutes from the village in an area called Santorun.

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At first I was reluctant to even drink the municipal tap water, but found out that it did not kill me.

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The fact is, Vilcabamba is only green 5 months of the year. The rest it’s brown. The water comes out of my tap a brownish color despite the fact that it smells like chlorine.

(Link)

Missed one. Same link as above.

Water is the first thing expats need to deal with and take very seriously when arriving anywhere in the world and even in their own country. If it’s not chlorine it’s bad mircroorganisms. Vilcabamba’s municipal water is not safe but the commercialized bottled water in Vilcabamba is safe. Just buy bottled water or move with a cheap and very effective kitchen filter to hook onto your

ddagencylv wrote:

Wow. Sorry to hear that. My father lives in Pedro Balda. No problems with water .

That is delusional thinking.  I have a friend who lives there as well.  He used to own a water testing/supply company.  The water in Manta is disgusting.   I moved here I had a filter put justnon my washing machine.  It was dospgusting how black the filter was in less than 6 months.  I have a culligan water filtration system that covers my entire house and replace the filters annually.  Sad thing is I was afraid to drink Florida tap water.

ddagencylv wrote:

Not at all. Hasnt had problems yet. Still for Ecuador standards livable. Im in the states and Culligan is overrated. Its a give and take. Or come back to the states as Burger King states "Have it your Way".

Yes culligan is over rated and I still drank filtered water in Florida.  However, I have 3 huge filter tanks that we had to build a separate building to house as they can't get direct sunlight.  I also have a UV filter on those, but they filter my entire house.  I wouldn't waste the money in Florida but here the water is horrible.  I have no idea where it comes from and at times, they cut the water off in the drier season and if your cistern runs out of water, you have to get the water trucks to deliver water trucks.  When I filled my pool, we used water trucks (supposedly the best and that filtered their water.  My entire pool was green just from the water.  Today, the Water company knocked on my gate to put granules in my cistern for mosquito control.  Of course, now that it's cool weather and the mosquitos are less than half of what they were.  If i didn't have a filtration system I would have said no cause who knows what it was they were putting in there.  At least the culligan is a US product and all my yearly filters come from the US and not China.  I've heard bad stories about other water filtration system companies here.  Even things floating in the 5 gallon supposedly reverse osmosis drinking water they sell here.  I have to be careful cause my husband has a kidney transplant and has to drink a lot of water every day, so my caution level is a bit extreme.