Ecuador Mailbag

News Digest item -- Volcanic eruptions.

Ashfall from the Cotopaxi volcano 25 miles to the

southeast of Quito has officials warning residents

and visitors to the metro area.

Cotopaxi has been sending ash more than a mile

into the air and an ash cloud has formed.

The volcano has been in an 'active' phase

since last month .. and it's feared the phase will

continue, possibly for months.

Source... News Digest item, www.cuencahighlife.com

News Digest item -- hospital attack foiled.

At a hospital in the town of Chone, 46 miles

from the coastal city of Manta, seven armed

gang members took five hospital staff

hostage when the gunmen couldn't

locate their target -- a man who was

recovering from gunshot wounds.

There was a brief exchange of gunfire

at the facility, the Napoleon Davila Hospital,

then police secured the building and

arrested the seven gunmen.

Source... Ecuadorian National Police

as reported at News Digest,

www.cuencahighlife.com

Ecuador exits World Cup tournament

in tears.

The Ecuadorian national soccer team

¨collapsed in tears¨ today (per Reuters)

in a heart-breaking loss to Senegal in Qatar,

the final score Senegal 2, Ecuador 1.

Team captain Enner 'Superman' Valencia

failed to score for the first time in the

FIFA tournament .. after suffering a knee

injury and being carted from the turf in

the previous match, a 1-0 victory in which

Enner scored the deciding goal.

The loss ends Ecuador's quest to advance

in the World Cup tournament.

Like my suegra, cuñada, y el hermano de mi suegra, I wore the Ecuadorian Marathon, camisa y gorra amarillas, y grité.  At the same time, however, I liked watching the Senegal fans and their cheer leaders dance in their colorful red, yellow, and green.  I came to very much more than in the past to appreciate Western African cultures.

Professional visa.

For many years, Ecuador has offered a professional visa.

On an obscure Colombia thread about marital visas in

Colombia, the Ecuador professional visa came up in a

discussion with an Expat.com member known as

Adaptive Migrant.

The professional visa is based on the applicant showing

that he or she graduated from a college or university

level institution.  Ecuador keeps a list of such colleges,

although qualifying for the professional visa is not

limited to graduates of the listed schools.

Income may also have to be demonstrated, although the

monthly income may be under $500 US per month for

the primary applicant.

cccmedia

Does the OP remember Edd? He was a semi-regular participant on the site that preceded this one? He once told me to not to obsess about the lack of dried split peas in Ecuador. As a result of an article in CHL that references an article on El Mercurio about Cuenca's desirability ranking for retirees, I noted that Edd had authored two recent articles on a not to be mentioned website (hint: IL). I was surprised to see his name, since he had quit his gig on the aforementioned site years ago, and became a best-selling author on Amazon, and had his own domain name  which he used to promote his books about Cuenca and to blog.

Read Edd a few years ago, was useless to me.  Miss him about as much as I miss IL.

Another major medical procedure for El Presidente.

For the third time in the two years he has served as

Ecuador's leader, Presidente Lasso is facing a serious

medical procedure.

Sr. Lasso suffered a fall this past week and broke a

fibula, Reuters reports.

Previously, El Presidente received medical attention

in the USA for (1) removal of a cyst from his back and

spinal surgery to improve mobility , and (2) removal

of a melanoma from an eyelid.

The Reuters article does not mention whether

Sr. Lasso is again leaving the country for his

latest procedure.

Source...  Reuters

(2)

Bananas!

Ecuador's key banana industry has suffered serious setbacks due to the war in Ukraine.

Due to sanctions imposed against Russia, more than 6,000 banana workers in Ecuador have lost their full-time jobs, according to the Ecuadorian banana producers federation.

Unsold green bananas have been piling up.

Ecuador is the world's largest producer of bananas.  Twenty percent of Ecuador's banana production had been purchased by Russia before the sanctions.

News source... AFP News Agency (Agence France Presse).

Cyber-gasoline rumor hits Cuenca.

Long gasoline lines were noted around Cuenca

last weekend, due to an artificially-created

phenomenon, according to Azuay police.

The police say the lines were created by a

fake-news shortage that started with a rumor

that produced a chain reaction on the Internet.

Source... El Comercio (Cuenca), reprinted in

     a weekly English-translation column at

www.cuencahighlife.com

Revelation0928 wrote in to find out about

blackjack conditions in Ecuador.

I responded with the fact that Ecuador

does not offer casino blackjack, the casinos

having been shuttered a decade ago.

Blackjack players can find excellent playing

rules in Colombia, although the cards are

usually mixed in CSM auto-shuffling machines.

Lima, Peru, also has mostly CSM games.

cccmedia in Medellín

New member Francis Momo Jr. of Liberia

posted on the Ecuador new-members

thread that he wants guidance regarding a

possible move to Ecuador.

1) Use the search-box on the forum welcome page

to research matters of interest.

2)  Develop specific questions to pose to the

Expat.com membership about areas of particular

interest, then post them on relevant threads.

3) Scour the site for information about Ecuador.

4)  Visit an online bookseller such as Amazon

so you can read more about Ecuador and what

goes on here.  Via the free Kindle Books app, you can

gain immediate access to many titles relating

to a move to South America.

5) Visit youtube.com and start viewing

videos related to Ecuador.

cccmedia in Quito, Ecuador

Cuenca tourism sector hit.

Road closures are being blamed for a below-par

Easter season in Cuenca's tourism sector.

The head of the Chamber of Tourism says

hotel occupancy was only 50 percent

during Easter Week, Semana Santa,

compared to the typical 80-plus percent,

Roads leading to Cuenca have been frequently

closed in recent months due to flooding,

landslides and general deterioration of the roads.

Source... www,cuencahighlife.com

Anthony wants to know about Ecuador.

He is 58, tired of working in Los Angeles, California ..

and is spending time currently in Indonesia.

He also has an interest in South America --

Medellin, Colombia, where he has visited ..

and Ecuador. He posted on the

How Is This Possible? section of the

Expat Cafe to learn more about Ecuador,

and I have directed him to this thread.

----

(1) Some things to know about Ecuador...

The country has been going through some

hard times, although it has come through

the pandemic and largely returned to life

as it was before.

There was a national strike with many

roadblocks last June, led by indigenous

protesters whose issues have mostly

not been resolved. Once the ongoing

impeachment process against El Presidente

is completed in the legislature, the indigenous

and other groups will be prepared to take

to the streets again. Roadblocks may be

fewer as the financial damage to the

indigenous from last June was significant.

(2) Crime and violence related to

drug trafficking has spiked in the coastal

provinces of Ecuador. The president of

Ecuador is calling on the military to

have thousands of troops patrol streets

around the country to get the violence

under control and keep it from spreading.

(3) Ecuador has specific and different

areas, many with amazing life forms

and scenic vistas. There is the Andean

mountain region, the lowland coastal

region, and the jungles.

The mountainous areas, which include

the cities of Quito, the capital .. and

Cuenca, a world-class destination for

relocating Expats .. have generally

mild weather compared to steamy

lowlands.

Expats generally avoid Guayaquil

due to heat and dangers.

(4) For the best experience of living

in Ecuador, speaking Spanish is all but

required. Cuenca and Vilcabamba

have the highest percentages of

English speakers per-capita. Vilca

is a village in southern Ecuador

famous for its fertile soil and

businesses that cater to Expats.

(5) Taxes... Wages earned in Ecuador

are subject to local taxes. Income

earned outside Ecuador -- for instance,

U.S. Social Security and profits from

NYSE trading -- are not currently

taxed by Ecuador.

----

Learn more about Ecuador by

reading other threads available

at the Ecuador Forum welcome page,

using the search function there for

topics of interest and by

then asking specific questions on

relevant forum threads.

cccmedia in Quito

The non-interventionism of South America.

European diplomats are not getting far in their

effort to get South American nations to do more

for the Ukraine War effort against Russia .. beyond

formally denouncing the Russian aggression.

Even centrist and right-center governments in

South America such as Ecuador and Peru

appear reluctant to join in the anti-Russia campaign,

partly due to trade deals with China, Politico reports.

UK foreign secretary James Cleverly is part of a

charm offensive seeking to win over nations

that are reluctant to get involved in the

Ukraine effort.

This week Cleverly wrapped up a week-long

tour of South American countries with a visit

to Brazil. Earlier during the trip he participated

in high-level talks in Colombia and Chile.

Source... Politico