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Ecuador Welcome Forum: Jack Ambercrombie:
Thanks 'CCC' I appreciate your responding to Tommy- / 'CCC' I have not seen you since the AUG 2015 Cotopaxi Volcano Initial Eruption Days at the US Embassy Town Hall meeting, and have not heard from Cartoon Tommy in a long while as well, Hope & Trust All the Expat Exchange Crew are doing Well~ / ~All the Very Best on Your Endeavors in Ecuador~ / Jack Abercrombie, / Cumbaya, Quito- ECUADOR S.A. / journeymanjack.com@gmail.com
/ Relocation Ecuador: http://JourneymanJack.com/ toll free from U.S. & Canada:
770-828-7913, Ecuador Off: 02-380-4088, Claro: 098-806-6508, Movistar: 098-743-3009,
Whatsapp: 593-98-828-8953, Talk free on "skype" user name: "Jack.Abercrombie"
Ecuador Welcome Forum: Secure Storage in QUITO?:
Dom's Quito Airport Suites has Short & Long-term Luggage Storage- 7km's from UIO Terminal door to door: Quito Airport Suites Hotel: http://airporthotelquito.com/
971 Alfonso Tobar y Tulio Garzon--
Tababela, Ecuador--
Tel Ecuador: 593-2-3599110--
24 hour help line (English): 593-988-899774--
WhatsApp: 593-988-899774--
VIBER(FREE FROM USA/CAN): 593-988899774--
Ecuador Welcome Forum: Driving from Quito to Cuenca:
I do Quito to Cuenca 1 to 2 times a month, I try to do lunch mid way of the trip and stop for fuel & snacks, stretch breaks, potty, etc.. along the way 2 - 3 - 4 stops, so I take up to 10 - 11 hrs often times.
--Not a bad idea to break the trip up into 2 days. I know there are some young folks that can turn that trip 500km's / 30010 miles in 7 - 7.5 hrs. but it is dangerous (IMHO) to try it & drive it that fast.
--I like staying at the Hosteria La Quinta just a half block or so from The Train Station, this is where the Devil's Nose ride begins: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.381184241948737.87086.112919505441880&type=1&l=4fad9790b0
~~All the Very Best on Your Endeavors in Ecuador~~
journeymanjack.com@gmail.com --
Cumbaya, Quito- ECUADOR
Ecuador Welcome Forum: Quito airport VIP lounge:
~As close as it gets to the Quito airport, just 7 minutes away!~
--Just minutes from the doors of the new (UIO) Quito airport with 24 hour airport transfers and reception. --Rest between flights while assisted by our English-speaking night staff, surf the high-speed WIFI or your English-cable TV. --Savour the hot shower, or indulge in our authentic dinner and breakfast menus. Or simply print your tickets free and grab your coffee and breakfast to go. Just a block from the main town square in Tababela with the police and places to eat. (2 ppl Matrimonial $49.) http://airporthotelquito.com/
Ecuador: leaving ecuador?:
Best Blog Cuenca Ecuador 2016 by "Ecuador George" 29 FEB 2016
--"So, I have taken a very unscientific poll and below are some of the reasons people gave as to why they go back… Enjoy.
The language barrier is to difficult to overcome
Wandering spirit
Never intended to stay forever
Unable to adapt.
Lack of convenience
Failed marriage
I miss Costco
Unable to change the culture to suit them
Can’t flush the toilet paper
Locals lie about everything
Can’t adjust to the local culture
Poor expectation management
Health problems/altitude sickness
Miss closeness of family members
Fear of the local culture
Miss my golf buddies and playing
Good booze is too expensive
Miss family holidays
Originally misled by national retirement publications
Spouse threatened divorce
Cost to much to visit family in country of origin
Birth of a grandchild
Employment opportunity
The non achiever culture bothered me every day
To much gossip
Retail shopping is not good here
Everything moves so slow I became uncomfortable....read more:
http://www.ecuadorgeorge.com/best-blog-cuenca-ecuador-2016/#.VtUPIPDXLv8.facebook
Ecuador Welcome Forum: Driving between Colombia and Ecuador:
..yes as mentioned, as you cross the Ipiales, COL / Tulcan, EC. border you will be permitted 90 days in EC for the vehicle purchased in COL., It can not be legally sold & registered in EC, it will need to be returned to COL for resale.
By Domenick Buonamici 03 MAR 2016-
--"Driving in Ecuador vs the USA: 21 major differences"--
"This week I had the chance to sit down with one guy who knows the roads of Ecuador better than anyone I know, Jack Abercrombie, a guy from Atlanta who has been living in Ecuador a few years now.
He has a truck he uses to help new arrival expats in Ecuador move large loads of goods and pets within Ecuador. We started chatting about the differences between driving in the USA vs Ecuador.
1. No right on red in Ecuador. Hard one to get used to.
1A. Lane-challenged drivers who just kind of mesh, its even worse on the coast in Guayaquil where the lanes aren't even painted on the larger roads sometimes.
2. Pedestrian laws. Way different in Ecuador too. As they should be in my opinion. Like in nature the bigger object has the right of way, hence the car over the walking person. Pedestrians must yield to cars in Ecuador, not the other way around like in the USA where cars must stop in the middle of no where so a pedestrian can cross the road.
3. Honking. Also, Ecuadorians use their horn and flash their headlights A LOT. I think its because there are a lot of dumb drivers who change lanes or pull out onto highways without looking properly. Also on curves or at stop signs in country towns. A flash of the lights is good to let other cars know you are there as they may be planning to zoom past their stop sign.
4. The Roundabouts. Heard they are starting to get more common in the USA but in Ecuador they are everywhere and they're great in the countryside. No one has to stop, its just a continual moving wheel with one simple rule, the people already in the traffic circle have the right of way.
5. Lots of one way streets. In Ecuador there are MANY one way streets, and they are often not marked.
So you have to kind of guess like by how the cars are parked and other small factors you learn as you go.
6. Parking in VERY tight spaces. Literally, in Quito Ive seen cars parked on the road with one inch between them and the other car on either side. You get used to it. Often you have to park your car in parking lots that force you to fold back your side mirrors.
7. More likely to get car stolen. Take extra little precautions like don't park on the street at night in Ecuador. Trust me you'll be glad you did. A friend of mine in my little town showed me how he can disarm an electronically locked car and the alarm within about 3 minutes. Its practically common knowledge in Ecuador.
8. All stick shift, no automatic cars. I had to go back to driving class to learn the stick. Very few automatic cars in Ecuador. Its just a preference.
9. Traffic cops out for “lunch money”. When pulled over in Ecuador, you'll often see the drivers standing out of their cars pleading with the traffic cops. Often the louder you plea the better in Ecuador. Some cops when they see you are a foreigner will try to scare you into giving them a bribe, the best way I've seen to handle this is to pretend like you really dont speak one word of Spanish, even if you do, then they will often get frustrated and just let you go.
10. Different protocol with accident. When accidents happen in Ecuador it is generally a shouting match, whoever screams louder wins I guess. The police come, try to let you sort it out among yourselves, if you can't,
then they will impound both cars until guilt is determined. In the cases of a death or serious injury they will arrest the parties involved until guilt is determined.
11. "The laying down Cops". As Ecuadorians call them "chapas acostadas" the laying down policemen or speed bumps
are quite common in Ecuador especially in the small towns on the coast. Be careful for the teeth rattling home-made
ones that aren't marked and blend in with the road at night!
12. Police stops. The police stops where they may ask you to open your trunk, they are generally looking for drugs or weapons, not something to be worried about if you don't dabble in that.
13. All the d@mn buses! As the bigger object rules in nature, so do the bigger objects (the buses) rule on the roads of Ecuador. They do pretty much anything they want often cutting you off from the far left lane as they drop off a passenger.
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Enter Jack...
14....Toddlers playing on side of road unattended along highway in small towns. I get it that this is a cultural difference, and have no beef w/ the children helping their families, what bothers me is I slow up when I see this off in the distance, and my fellow Ecuadorians speed up and come around and never let up on the gas as they pass by the children & cattle,
as well as the school buses & myriads of children just getting off of the school buses, is what gets to me.
15... Buses with little regard for human life. There is little to know regard for human life, city busses in town, running & gunning with elderly on board, Inter provincial busses speeding & passing / racing each other in dangerous blind curves sometimes 3 deep in a 2 lane hwy with oncoming traffic.
16...Hwy's with mud slides, torrential Rain down pours w/ very extremely thick fog, flooding, freak hail storms up to 30" - 36" deep, seismic activity in dry desert mtn. areas causing land slides w/ boulders & debris, Volcanic Activity Ash fall out, incredible Commercial Truck & Bus Crashes,
17...Speed trap radar cameras spitting out tix that are applied to you license plate, months later, if you slow up or
are maintaining the correct speed limit, and as you pass the camera and another driver is passing your vehicle at the same time,
you get a tix also. For rental cars, these are applied to your rental car license plate and put on your debit / charge card.
18. Lax DUI / DWI Laws of 3 days in jail / $360. fine / 10 points off of your license. Many Commercial & Private drivers will have a few beers early in the day hauling heavy loads & passengers, and it does not have to be around the holidays.
19...Branches and logs placed in the road in a curve b4 an accident or broke down vehicle is the ecuadorian way of emergency flares / triangles.....
20...Precarious left turns. Some will put on left turn signal, and pull over to the right hand side and wait until oncoming traffic clears before making the left turn.
21... Random stopping. Some stop right in the middle of the panam hwy and piss on side of rd. right at a Petro EC 500 meters ahead sign. ..or just stop for any reason at all, oblivious to who or what is behind them?
There you have it, a few of the major differences, other than that, its pretty much the same.
You can reach Jack at journeymanjack.com@gmail.com or 770-828-7913(USA) or 098-806-6508(ECUADOR)...."
.......~All the Very Best on Your Endeavors in Ecuador~
Ecuador Welcome Forum: Citizenship?:
I know of 25 - 30 NA Expats that have completed the Naturalization process & gained EC Citizenship over the years.
It is totally fine with the US State Dept. to have dual citizenship, you lose no rights & privileges with the US Embassy & Citizen Services.
I just felt like if I were going to try to assimilate and be all the Ecuadorian I could be, it was the best thing for me to do. It is a personal decision, and may not be for everyone.
I was sworn in APR 2014, and shortly after had my Andean Community EC Passport.
My US Passport Expired SEP 2015, So I went down to the US Embassy and renewed it, and did not have to deal with getting my Visa re-approved and placed into the new US Passport.
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Here is an article from Dom Buonamici's Newsletter from 30 JUN 2015-
--"Ecuador dual citizenship myths debunked- How to get around the 90 day rule"--
"There's really only one simple requirement that qualifies you for an Ecuadorian second passport (aka Ecuador dual citizenship)... you need 3 years of permanent residency after getting any of the resident visas and obtaining your "cedula" ID card.
In fact, I was told by my source in immigration you can actually apply after about 2 and a half years.
That's it! By far the easiest South American passport to obtain!
But there is a lot of mis-information out there on this subject, mainly us gringos regurgitating random stuff we read on online forums.
1. Will getting dual Ecuadorian citizenship cause me to lose my original citizenship and passport? No! Not if you are from a country that allows and recognizes dual citizens like the USA, Canada, Ecuador and Great Britain to name a few.
2. Will getting Ecuador dual citizenship create an EXTRA tax burden for me? No. Ecuador like most countries not named THE US...tax only income made in Ecuador, doesn't even matter what nationality the person that makes it is, if you are given an official Ecuadorian purchase receipt (factura) you have to pay tax to Ecuador on it. If not, no. Ecuador does not tax foreign made income.
3. Isn't Ecuador one of those mandatory military service states? Actually yes, it is, but T.I.E. my friend (this is Ecuador)... to get out of it all an Ecuadorian male has to do is pay a tiny fine (last I heard it was well under $200). And truth be told, they would only be interested in you and possibly enforce it if you were 18-21 anyway. In fact, its not at all like the US, or like you think, there is actually a surplus of demand from locals to join the forces, and many who want to join are left out! Really! There just aren't that many spots.
Now the biggest, baddest two myths that prevent most us gringos from even trying...
4. Isn't there a new law that states you must be out of the country for a maximum of 90 days TOTAL for the three years prior to applying for residency? Actually, this is CORRECT, BUT T.I.E. my friend (this is Ecuador), I know you probably think like a gringo and everything is black or white, right or wrong, I get it, I do too. But this is Ecuador, the land where who you know and what you know often prevails. For instance, to get around this one in a totally legit, legal way you can right a letter and submit with your application explaining the extenuating circumstances that caused you to be out of country more than the time allotment. For example, a death, a health issue, etc... of course substantiated by apostilled proof from a doctor or whatnot helps. Its not a given they would pass it, but its possible, one ecuadorian immigration official working in the Quito citizenship office informed me THIS MONTH, June 2015 in Quito. I would personally apply in Quito too, not Cuenca, they just seem nicer.
5. Isn't there a nasty verbal exam of my Spanish level? No! The exam is actually WRITTEN, which makes it MUCH easier, yes, it is in Spanish, but with some test prep like the guide I'm offering today you should be fine. You will have to sing the Ecuadorian hym, but that is when you have ALREADY been accepted and you won't be by yourself,. But with everyone else sworn in that day so I'm sure you could find a way to 'fake it til you make it' like you did back in high school choir class. As for the written exam, the official told me you really have to B#MB it to fail it and yes, they'd let you take it again. They just want to see some effort. He also said the older you are the less they expect you to speak decent Spanish. So NO, there is no verbal exam but yes, some basic Spanish chit-chat would be nice to know going in, you know, stuff you can learn in a few weeks of Spanish lessons.
To share this post on Facebook copy and paste the link... http://ecuadorrealestate.org/ecuador-dual-citizenship-how-to-get-around-the-90-day-rule/
And due to popular demand, I've decided to extend FOR ONE MORE DAY UNTIL MIDNIGHT TONIGHT my almost half-priced PRE-RELEASE SPECIAL UNTIL MIDNIGHT TONIGHT JUN 30 of my newest Ecuador Insiders Guide... The 2015 Ecuador Citizenship&Second Passport Test lil' Cheat Sheet
Did you know after 3 years of residency in Ecuador you can apply for an Ecuador passport and dual citizenship?
But like in most countries, you will have to pass a simple test based off Ecuador's history, culture and geography...
But don't worry it's now made easier than ever!
Everything dumbed-down and simplified! Just what you need to know.
Learn from the direct notes of one person that has actually passed the test and from another who is a true expert on the subject who has helped foreigners pass the exam for over 20 years!
Also, one section of the guide is about EXACTLY what to expect during the exam, no more surprises!
Study up, pass the test, get second passport. Just like when you were back in college.
This is an instantly downloadable ebook that you will be emailed when released later today on JUNE 30. 2015 Imagine the "let down and disappointment" this could save from living in Ecuador three years in part to get the second passport and then not pass the test! by Dom Buonamici, dombuon@gmail.com,
Quito Airport Suites- A hotel just minutes from the new Quito UIO airport, your ideal jump-off point in Ecuador.
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....of course interpretation of the visa requirements & the naturalization process is apt to change from time to time, as the administrators of the various ministries tend to play musical chairs each year.
I was 45 yrs old when I arrived in 2008, and am now 53, I haven't married here, but have a long time Ecuadorian sweety pie. I did not want to persue Naturalization through the Matrimonio avenue.
...as my 91 yr old GrandMother says: "To each his (or her) own" I just went with the wait my time & patience route, ....of course everyone's circumstances are a little different.
~All the Very Best on Your Endeavors in Ecuador~
http://JourneymanJack.com/
Ecuador: Who Lives in Ecuador 2016 Edition:
I -Journeyman Jack Abercrombie, have been living & working based out of Quito / UIO for the past 7+ years, since SEP 2008. ...but I go all over the country providing Introductory Tours & General Transport for expats moving down, arriving at UIO with large amounts of gear & pets. On occasion 1-2-3 years later I help move them back out. To roughly paraphrase Ocean:
~Ebb & Flow, ebb & flow, I watch them come, I watch them go~
All the Very Best in 2016,
http://journeymanjack.com/
Ecuador Welcome Forum: Relocation tour:
This may be of some help: Frank & Angie's Christmas Gift to Expats: Published on Dec 24, 2015-
-- "Cuenca Bloggers moving back to the states and Canada is distressing"- Moving abroad for wrong reasons. We vlog/blog about what it's like to live abroad but mostly in Ecuador. Moving abroad for wrong reasons.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4-th9N5oMM&list=TLDgvqP6HbZ5EyNTEyMjAxNQ
http://www.DiscoverCuencaEcuador.com
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~Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2016~
Ecuador: Cotopaxi:
Mostly domestic Flight Cancellations at this time for UIO:
Lan EcuadorXL 15:03 Guayaquil 07:05 -Cancelado
Tame EQ149 Loja 15:40 Cancelado
Tame EQ215 Coca 15:50 Cancelado
Tame EQ209 Lago Agrio 16:00 Cancelado - http://aeropuertoquito.com/informacion-de-vuelos/
Not all delays today into UIO & GYE are Cotopaxi Ash Plume related: --“There is an issue with air traffic control impacting all airlines’ east coast flights. Please plan accordingly,” American Airlines said on Twitter.: http://wtvr.com/2015/08/15/leesburg-faa … s-flights/
Actions to take for ash fall? -- http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/ash/todo.html
Stay alert & prepared,
JourneymanJack.com
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