Get out of Alaska in the winter months

Hello and welcome to the forum of Expat.com Beth

Your thread has been moved to the Ecuador forum

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Here is the Nicaragua forum

I invite you to browse through the site to become familiar with it and know where to get desired informations. You can find the Ecuador Expat guide under the Handy Tools section found on the overhead navigation bar.

Wish you all the best in your expatriation project. 

Regards
Kenjee
Expat.com

Eao wrote:

Hello,
My name is Beth.
I have lived in Alaska for many years and am looking to leave here in the winter months.
When I signed up I must have done something wrong.
I would like to communicate with others that live in Ecuador, or perhaps Nicaragua....actually any where warmer than here in Alaska!!!
I am looking to assist with B&B's.
Love to cook, don't mind cleaning up after guests, socializing, gardening and being involved with the locals.
If someone could point me in the right direction to be able to correspond with others in South American countries I would appreciate it.
Thank you.
All the best,
Beth

I don't know much about Nicaragua, but Ecuador is not a country for employment seekers. The official unemployment rate increased from 5.65% in 2015 to 7.4% this year and continues to rise.  Those who do have jobs are underemployed, and for B&B or similar low skill job, I don't think you can compete with locals, Cubans and Venezuelans who speak Spanish, work long hours, don't complain and are paid peanuts.

Welcome to the Ecuador forum, Beth.

V Simple is right -- forget Ecuador, for the reasons he mentioned.

With no indication you have Spanish-language skills, do the smart thing and go where English is spoken .. where millions of ‘snowbirds' flock for the winter .. and where the hospitality industry including B and B's gears up for high season year after year:  the beach towns of the Southeastern United States.

Besides the usual suspects -- Fort Lauderdale, Key West and metro Galveston -- consider some up-and-coming beach resort places:

-- Boca Grande, Florida

-- Neptune Beach, Florida

-- the casino city of Biloxi, Mississippi

-- Port Aransas, Texas

I suspect you'll do better in Southern tier beach towns like these than at the  earthquake-devastated oceanfront of Ecuador .. or Trasero del Cerdo, Sucumbíos.

cccmedia

Have to agree with ccmedia and vsimple that Ecuador is not the place to try to find employment.  Costs are low and can be very low if you are only here for a short time but the winter months in Alaska correspond to high season in Ecuador.  And during that period, rents tend to rise and costs in restaurants also go up.  Living very frugally, you can still expect to spend $600-$800 a month or even more.  If and I mean IF you are able to connect with a B'n'B or hotel and work there, you could make it but with tourism in the country declining because of the earthquake, I don't know if it is possible to make such a connection.  Best to have a job BEFORE you come down.  Good luck.

Thank you everyone for your great suggestions and  enlightenment. Okay so I don't speak very much Spanish, may not want to work for pennies...though not to sure about that one... If I could find affordable housing, I am after all a VERY hard worker,etc.  I find it sort of strange though that an owner of a B&B would not want an English speaking person to interact with their guest and so forth. That being said could someone give me a price range of places to stay, recommendations to a safe friendly home in Ecuador or ? If I can not be a snowbird....I do need to get out of Alaska twice in the winter time. and am looking to find others who could possibly give me some information on where to go and who to correspond before I set out on this adventure. 
Have a great day everyone and again thank you for all your suggestions and help,
Beth

Beth,
I sent you a private message (PM) about the family I stayed with my first month in Cuenca. They are willing to provide private, temporary accommodations at a reasonable cost. Hope it helps.

Dorothy

Hello Dorothy,

Yes, indeed that sounds right up my alley one might say.
So I would appreciate it if you sent would send me their fb page.
I have looked up Cuenca and it is rather a large city.
Not to sure if I am up to being in a city...but again one can not ever know what adventures that are to be found there.
What do you do there Dorothy and if you don't mind me asking are you still in Cuenca and how much is the cost of living there, housing, food, etc?

Thank you,
Beth

Beth,
Their contact info will be in a PM arriving shortly. I am retired and living on SS plus a small pension. I found a 3-bedroom apartment at a reasonable price while walking around the neighborhood . I pay $290/mo + utilities (under $20/mo for lights and water plus $2.50 for gas). I buy most of my food at Gran Aki, a supermercado (only a couple blocks away) or Coral Monay, kind of like Target in the US (about 10 blocks away), and try to buy made-in-Ecuador products to keep costs down. The mercados are interesting, but the prices at Gran Aki are pretty close, or less expensive, and I don't get "Gringo gouged". My one splurge is extra virgin olive oil...no local equivalent so I have to buy the imported stuff. Anything "imported" is extra expensive. And baking soda is $.25 per Tablespoon!! (when and where you can find it). I'm living in a Gringo-free part of town...not that Gringos live here for "free", but there aren't any other "expats" around. It's a completely Ecuadorian part of the city. Lovely! And I'm just a couple blocks from the river so there are beautiful areas to take walks very nearby.

I pretty much live on my computer, so I pay $46/month for reliable ethernet and cable TV service. The apartment is "unfurnished" which means no appliances. I brought an induction cookplate, a marvelous blender, a convection toaster oven and an electric pressure cooker in my suitcases, so I haven't yet needed to get a stove. I've been picking up a few used appliances (small refrigerator, washing machine, TV, DVD player) as they have become available used at reasonable prices. Electronics and kitchen appliances are very expensive and there is no "Goodwill" or consignment stores to pick up what you need on the cheap. I still need to find a comfortable chair and a desk, but that will come eventually. Right now I'm typing this on a computer atop a stack of suitcases while sitting on a folding chair ;-) Whatever works!

It is possible to live here on realitively little money, but it takes some getting used to and some ablility to bargain where and when it is appropriate. The best news is all my minor aches and petty health issues have vanished now that I am no longer eating GMO foods. I am pigging out on fruits and vegetables without having to wonder what they really contain! I've adjusted fairly well to the altitude after being here for 3 months...it takes that long to fully adjust. The only issue remaining is "altitude insomnia", but I've been using acupressure and reflexology which seem to be helping.

Watch for the PM with contact info for the guest house. Melania uses a different name on Facebook, so don't let that throw you. You can send her a message. I'll let her know you will be requesting to "friend" her. PM me with your full name or Facebook handle, please.

Hasta luego,
Dorothy

Hello, Beth I am Robert, I lived in Alaska Kenan Homer, many years, couldn't stand the cold no more, Now I live full time in Cuenca Ecuador, The weather here is perfect my email address  ***