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hello and an assortment of questions

N
#1
Hello, everyone! I have a few questions about Quito which are random but I didn't want to post a different topic for each one. TIA for anyone who can help me.

1. I have a Great Dane dog and would be bringing him with us. He's big, black, and altogether a wonderful deterrent for anyone who would want to mess with us. I'm not terrified of crime, I used to live in Chicago, but with my young girls with me I feel better having him with us wherever we go. (Plus he's family :)  ) would he be accepted into stores/restaurants/taxis? He's generally well behaved and on the small side for a Dane. He's always trying to convince me that he's a tiny lap dog and surprisingly fits himself into small spaces pretty easily.

2. Are there sufficient options for kids activities? Specifically gymnastics (one child hoping to be a serious gymnast), dance, martial arts, and horseback riding. Any estimate for costs on these?

3. Bugs... How often do you see them in the city or country surrounding Quito? I know there are tarantulas there.... *shudder* I can deal if they are a rare occurrence. I can "damsel in distress" my way through a few encounters. If I wake up to one crawling on me... There's not enough therapy in the world. What are my chances of insanity due to monstrous multilegged crawling things which should all be thrown into a pit of fire? (Sorry for the dramatics)

4. What are the chances of finding reasonably priced, flat to somewhat hilly land of at least 10 hectares within 20 min of Quito?

5. Anyone have experience getting prescriptions for adult ADHD? It can be hard even in the States to find a doctor who doesn't believe that it's just a kid thing and everyone outgrows it. Are medications (adderall) for it available there? What about for anxiety? (Propranolol)

6. I've recently been reading about Loja as well and it seems interesting. Any direct experience with it? Are there activities for kids/interesting things to do?

Thanks again to anyone who can answer any of my questions.
See also
cccmedia
#2
I can address the Quito questions.  Don't have experience with ADHD, haven't lived in Loja.

Great Dane:  I don't think this can be predicted.  Too many variables:  size of the dog...taxi-drivers' perception of the dog...whether you'd be trying to enter a taxi with your children AND the dog...the type of restaurant...how convincingly you could persuade a store manager (in españoI) that the dog is smaller than he appears...I could go on...

Bugs and tarantulas:  Quito is above 9,300 feet, and that's not where bugs go.  The only thing I've seen approximating a bug lately was some miniscule fruit flies when I left some over-ripe fruit out.  So just keep your fruit covered. 

Now if you go outside Quito to a suburb in the lower-altitude valleys and live near a river, your experience could be different from mine.

If Quito has any tarantulas, I've never seen or heard of it.  Whatever your source of information was for this, steer clear, it could be fear mongering.  Now if you go out to Tena near the jungle, or a zoo, or the Galapagos Islands, you could encounter anything ;) 

cccmedia in Quito

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Quito
N
#3
Thanks for your reply! Regarding the tarantula, I found this discovercuencaecuador.com/2011/10/tarantula-spider-in-our-house-in-cuenca.html I know cuenca is lower than Quito but I thought they were fairly similar. Fruit flies don't bother me ;)

Mi espanol es no bueno but I'll work on it. I used to speak it pretty well as a kid thanks to an awesome school, but I moved to a crappy school and have since forgotten most of it.
cccmedia
#4

nocturne wrote:

Are there sufficient options for kids activities? Specifically gymnastics (one child hoping to be a serious gymnast), dance, martial arts, and horseback riding. Any estimate for costs on these?


This mostly-Catholic country is loaded with kids, and therefore with lots of companies catering to them.

The luckier "vaqueritos" get to ride horses at the Green Horse Ranch.  The owners can pick y'all up in Quito and drive you to the ranch, and then you could go on horse-back around a dormant volcano or crater.  The ranch gets rave reviews at tripadvisor.com ... Figure on a half-day tour.  If you were thinking about a 45-minute ride inside the city limits, that's "poco probable."

Dance and martial arts, no problem.  Kids swimming indoors, no problem.  There are a lot of gyms, so I think you'll be able to find a place for your future Olympian to work on her gymnastics.

Aside from the horsey thing, the activities you mentioned are mostly labor-intensive from the businesses' point of view -- meaning they're less expensive than in the States.

cccmedia in Quito

cccmedia
#5

nocturne wrote:

What are the chances of finding reasonably priced, flat to somewhat hilly land of at least 10 hectares within 20 min of Quito?


Even though I've forgotten how large a "hectar" is, your real-estate target is so common and the 20-minute radius so large, that I'm going to say: 
     100 to 1, in your favor. :)

But here's the thing:  rent, don't buy.

The #1 Rule for newly-arrived Expats here in La República is this:

Don't buy or build anything in your first year in Ecuador.

There are too many scenarios that could make you regret it. :(

cccmedia in Quito

N
#6
Thanks! A hectare is about 2.5 acres so that'd be about 25 acres of land. I live in the mountains now so I know how valuable reasonably flat land is. I used to be a horse trainer before bills made me quit for something i could actually live on so eventually I'd like to build a farm. We will definitely rent first though.
cccmedia
#7
Four more thoughts:

1.  Whatever your timetable is, you'll be glad later if you accelerate your  language skills starting now.   Have you visited the Expat.com thread titled "español for Gringos"?   Since you once had some skills, maybe this could help re-awaken them.  The link is for the most recent page of that thread:
https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.p … 30&p=4

2.  To acquaint yourself with some of the realities (yes, $$) of educating your girls in Ecuador, visit dayinquito.blogspot.com ... where they just posted on this topic on the welcome page.

3.  Although I don't have experience with ADHD, I do have experience dating back to 2013 with a specialist doctor in Quito who can prescribe psychotropic medicines.  If that's what you're looking for, let me know, and I can post or PM more information.  To pick up such medicines in Ecuador, a "receta especial" is required at the pharmacy, and it takes a specialist who is authorized, to issue such a "receta."

4.  If you become serious about Ecuador, you'll need also to familiarize yourself with how to obtain a residency visa, which would allow you to remain in Ecuador for more than about six months per year.

cccmedia in Quito
N
#8
Thanks for that link. Crazy how expensive schools are there! We've been homeschooling so far and are undecided as to if we would continue there or not.

I will check out that thread. Thanks!

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