I've had a relative and friend retire to "mecca" to use my previous terminology. I say it that way because if you read all of the proliferation of content on the web you would think that everything is perfect in Ecuador. It is very "innocent" I will admit and there are some truly wonderful places to visit and stay, it just has to suit what you want out of a destination.
I feel like waxing philosophically about a "final destination" and channeling George Carlin and his rants about airlines and their ridiculous phrases. I'll probably misquote, but I believe he said, "all destinations are final you idiots". My other favorite while we are on this tangent was about the "boarding process". "Get on the plane?!, Screw you I'm getting in the plane!" He had a great way of drawing attention to the funny things that we say/hear in daily life.
What was I talking about? Ah yes, back to Ecuador. I love the tranquility and the opportunities that exist. There are a great deal of amazing sights to see, experiences to have and places to go. There is also quite a bit of things that I can do without. While I by no means expect US, 1st world, experiences I also don't really want to watch as a child takes a dump on the street either. While it was sad and humorous all at the same time, it's not my idea of a good time in a destination.
I mentioned opportunities and by that I meant business opportunities. Good grief are they everywhere. Places that are growing fast have endless need for businesses. Be them, real estate, bars, restaurants, electronic goods, stores, services(catering to expats) and just a multitude of other things. If you are reputable and build up a reputation of delivering to your customer/market the world is your oyster. The amazing thing is that you can take things that are hardly bleeding edge market trends and be the leader of the pack and in a world of your own down there. There's a few exceptions where the expat community is dense and you would have more competition in those locations. From a business perspective, it is amazing. There are downsides, sure, but so are there with everything and if the bottom line says it's a good idea from a business perspective then there is no arguing. The upside is that most business there is a "relatively" quick ROI. Generally speaking you can pick a business and get 100%+ back in 1yr. Some are FAR better than that, you just have to be flexible.
Bahia de Caraquez, Manabi, Ecuador
Now you are really asking yourself, is this guy crazy. Well yes, but that's besides the point. What is it that he isn't willing to accept to move to Ecuador and take advantage of these good, nay great, opportunities? Just some shat on the street??
I think that isn't a straight answer, but more of a series of things. I've stated that I really want the Island and beach vibe/lifestyle. I think that Montanita EC had some of that vibe, but that some of that feel had disappeared over the last decade. It's not the town that it was 10yrs ago. I would like it, just not daily. Bahia had some of that vibe, but it is a very sleepy town. So what was missing for me when evaluating for retirement?
- Internet connectivity is really piss poor
- Access back to the states (multiple flights with likely a night layover in Quito)
- Horrible water, especially on the coast.
- safety, although it's really not that bad
- Quality of life (I do think overall this is not as high as I wish because of all factors)
It is high on a lot of things however. Cost of living(minus housing) is dirt cheep. Business opportunity is abundant, visa process is fairly easy and they have no way to enforce income taxes so that's a bonus. Like many countries though they extort from you if you want to move money out of the country. That becomes problems in only a couple scenarios however. One is if you make a shit-ton of money and the other is if you sell real-estate to someone who pays you in Ecuador. Many prefer to do transactions with people of their native country to keep the money out of the country.
So I've said some of the reasons I don't like it and some of the reasons I do like it in Ecuador. As this is my main comparison, when visiting Roatan and Belize I will always compare. I do like EC and just because I'm choosing not to go their on this initial destination of retirement doesn't mean that I won't end up there on a different destination down the road.
How does Belize (specifically Ambergris and Caye Caulker) and Roatan compare when put under a similar magnifying glass? I think that will be my next topic. In the mean time here's a few pics of EC from previous trips.
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| On the Road back from Cotacachi |
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| Bahia |
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