About ecuaart

Status:

Expatriate  

Gender:

Female

Currently Lives:

La Merced, Pichincha, Ecuador

Citizen Of:

United States

Favorite Sports Team:

Real Madrid

Some Forum Posts:

Ecuador: Question about Homeowner's Insurance:

Everyone I know has homeowners's - hazard and theft. Same for car insurance, although the limit seems to be 20K liability.

Ecuador: Quinta looking for new Owner!:

We're gearing up for our return to the States to rejoin the rest of our children as they graduate from high school and college. Our 6,000 sq mtr quinta in La Merced, outside of Quito (near San Rafael) is for sale. Pass the word, and please contact me for more information! Thanks -- mcpazymino@gmail.com

Ecuador: Stuff that Butterball . . .2:

right on, cmearl

Ecuador: Looking to Practice my English around Quito!:

I've hit the wall in the development of my Spanish skills and miss speaking my native one....I live in La Merced (Valle de los Chillos) and would love to make some buddies. Anyone live nearby??

Ecuador: NARIZ DEL DIABLO:

We did this ride a couple years ago. You can take an early morning train out of Riobamba (easy to find), or pick it up a couple of hours later in Alausi. If going from Riobamba, Stay overnight the night, as the train leaves very very early in the morning. Advisable to get tickets the day before, if you can. We didn't, and had to drive to Alausi to catch the train there (about an hour or so drive, but easy to find) You can also book in Quito if you want a sure thing, but it costs quite a bit more. There's a decent hotel directly across the street from the train station in Riobamba; bring your own sheets, though! Scratchy! I think we paid about 15 a room. If you drive to Alausi instead to catch the train, be sure to see a tiny but spectacular church on the way, I think it's the oldest in Ecuador. Can't remember the name of the village, but it's right off the road on the right. Once in Alausi, the train will arrive and the scramble for seats starts. There's one slightly "deluxe" train, owned by Metropolitan Touring, that has seats on the roof that are slightly comfy and slightly safer than the other train, which looks like a converted school bus on train wheels. The ride is beautiful and really interesting, and they'll stop it for you to get out and take pictures. It was a lot shorter than I thought it would be, somehow. You do have to go to alot of effort to take the ride, but if you like train rides, it's been called one of the 10 great train rides in the world. If I were you, I'd look into doing it through a tour company, as it was a pain for us (with 6 family members) to finally end up taking the ride, what with no tickets available from Riobamba, and having to go to Alausi. Have fun!

Ecuador: God Bless (Norte) America!:

Amen!! I'm back for my first visit to the States since my move to Ecuador. Having CHOICES is the best thing about the USA. As time goes by, Ecuador offers fewer and fewer choices -- imports seem to get more restricted by the week. Choices of groceries that don't have msg, choices of types of restaurants, choices of comfortable shoes to buy. Then again, Ecuador beats the US hands-down in terms of choices of beautiful scenery to look at, warmth, helpfulness and general friendliness of people (at least OFF the road!) and the endless choices of day trips and interesting places to see and things to do.

Ecuador: Sending dogs to Ecuador:

TJ is correct, you must have your vet's international health certificate stamped by the Dept. of Agriculture, which then must be brought to the consulate for their stamp. Ecuador does like its stamps... All this must be done within ten days of arrival in Ecuador, although the Embassy told me they will give you 15 days...Our dog was held for almost 3 days in a dirty, awful warehouse. We found out later that our instructions, in Spanish, for feeding and watering, were IGNORED. She had no water, food or pee outside the crate for almost 3 days. It was HORRIBLE. But it was the only way we could get her down to us, as weather conditions prohibited her from flying on our flight as baggage. (Over 86, they won't accept them). Good luck, it was a nerve-wracking experience for us.

Ecuador: Does anyone live anywhere other than an expat area?:

We're in La Merced, near Sangolqui. Quite a few expats here! Many in Pululahua, too.

Ecuador: Transporting Pets to Quito:

I have the definitive solution for those moving pets to Ecuador. Continental Airlines has the only pet cargo service which will transport your pet regardless of the heat en route. They use air conditioned vans to bring animals from the terminal to the flight, all pets are in climate-controlled cargo area. Some pets may have to be delayed due to too much cargo (they are secondary after US mail, and only flight goes to Quito a day) but there is a state of the art boarding kennel with exercise runs at Houston airport, run by Continental. They will even groom him/her! Phone staff is extremely knowledgablle.

Ecuador: Moving to Ecuador:

Check out Omega Shipping. They have connections with customs in Guayaquil and have no hidden costs. More expensive, initially, but better because with other companies you'll find there are alwayy costs they didn't sa before!

Date Joined:

1/27/2010

Total Posts:

51

Posts/Day:

0.02