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Ecuador Welcome Forum: Need help finding camera battery.:
They carry these batteries at RadioShack in Ecuador. There are stores in Quito, Guayaquil, and Cuenca. The same battery for your Olympus is:
Li-ion Battery compatible with Olympus Li-40B / Li-42B / Nikon EN-EL10 / Fuji NP-45. The price listed at RadioShack is around $50.
The price in the states is about $35. All things considered, not too bad of a price.
http://www.radioshackecuador.com.ec/index.php/baterias-energia/bateria-de-camaras-video-camaras/baterias-camaras-digitales
Ecuador Welcome Forum: Daibetic supplies:
go to fybeca.com; there are diabetics in Cuenca, you're wife won't be the first one. Pharmacies (fybeca is one of the largest if not the largest in Ecuador) have the syringes, swabs, etc. Your wife uses the pump, I see, so I guess I would head to an internist or endocrinologist in one of Cuenca's fine hospitals.
Ecuador Welcome Forum: cash and metals:
There is reporting, and then there is reporting.
There are the import restrictions that you have noted. Because of Narco-tourism (as well as Narco-terrorism) both the US and Ecuador are interested in why you want to travel with so many assets.
Other posters have given you good advice--if you move to Ecuador and decide to leave, you will pay an exit tax on those assets--better to leave them where they are.
If your goal is to remove them from the US because you feel some sort of collapse is coming, then Ecuador is not the shelter you seek. Ecuador is/will be having its own financial brinksmanship ahead as "loans" from China come due. China overextended itself in Nigeria in order to dump materials that could have been made and used to be made in Nigeria. Ecuador is in a not much different situation.
And in anycase Ecuador is covered under FATWA--oops, my mistake--FATCA, Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act reportiing. Normally, this applies to foreign accounts, holdings, income over $50K, except real estate and other finer points too numerous to mention.
If your credit or debit card has a chip in it, you'll be able to access your money at ATMs almost as easily and often cheaper than in the US (I get charged $3.00 per transaction in the US if I am using a bank ATM that isn't mine, and $1.00 by my bank no matter whose bank. In Ecuador, the fee has been $1 at Banco del Austro and $1 from my home bank).
If you decide to stay and become a resident with cedula, then a local bank account makes a lot of sense, but remember, currently funds are only guaranteed up to 25-30K (I don't remember the specific limit, I'm not at the point where I am a resident).
In any case, although I have never been robbed in Ecuador, I use the same rules as I do in Las Vegas: I never carry more than I can afford to lose.
Ecuador Welcome Forum: Ecuador Economy after Correa:
I'll put my disclaimers up front. My political leaning is primarily economic leftist, with a strong libertarian streak as far as government intrusion into the personal.
That said, I found the linked article to be fairly reasonable. While I found areas of disagreement--I think that the current socialist government has made great strides in reducing the equity gap between rich and poor, education has improved and the recent expansion of the post-secondary education system has drawn praise from educators in the US and Europe, the government ownership of land has helped preserve large tracts that draw tourists, who are an important resource as Ecuador goes forward--but again, the points the author raises are there for fair debate, which will happen between now and 2017.
Ecuador's history, like Colombia's, has been fraught with tensions between "strong man" regimes and the will of the people. The relatively stable political environment for the past 15-20 years was helped, not hurt, by dollarization (as the author rightly points out). It will be a huge step forward if the elections and post-2017 political climate remain stable regardless of which party takes control.
Ecuador: State of Emergency Declared in Ecuador:
From wire services: "The emergency is in effect in 17 of the country's 24 provinces.
Correa caused controversy last August by declaring a state of emergency after a volcanic eruption that included "preventive censorship" of news reports not approved by the authorities.
The latest state of emergency does not include censorship measures."
I've looked for official bulletins that indicate whether censorship is or is not included. My impression from what I've read & seen on TV the last 3 years, if censorship is not included in the order, it only means that they will wait until something negative is printed & then they'll start a Twitter war.
Since it was so effective before.
Ecuador: Importing guns:
The authoritative source is gunpolicy dot org /firearms /region /ecuador
Long story short: You can't import them, but you can buy guns that are .38 caliber or smaller. The registration and licensing are restrictive, and registration is yearly, licensing is every two years.
You can have one sidearm and one rifle.
That said, it doesn't appear that everyone gets cleared.
The site I listed quotes section and paragraph of Ecuadorian law.
Ecuador: HGTV House Hunters International - Cuenca:
I'd like to offer another take on HHI--not to defend them, because the specific complaints I have seen about them here on ExpatExchange all ring true--but from the perspective of someone who watches to compare the furnishings, finishes, and neighborhoods whether they are in Singapore or Salinas. After watching a few of them in a row, it is easy to pick up the tropes they use: it will be hard to get everything the client wants at their budget; one will be over budget, one on budget, and one below. Obviously, it's scripted, they have to have the sets & shots ready before hand. My wife & I have a chuckle when the couple is in an Italian villa built in 1615, and they're getting it for 60K below their budget and then they say that looks like it needs to be updated. NO KIDDING!!! For a half an hour of fluff, a little bit of seeing the countryside, HHI is a once in a while thing. We just don't take it seriously. Oh, and the episode around Salinas? What a hoot! "How many families will be sharing this pool? Four? OMG, I don't think I could live like that!" We would not be able to live near any of the people we've seen on HHI.
Ecuador Welcome Forum: 6-month Visa and/or 9-V Professional Visa:
Susan, your information on having the state apostille the diploma/certification is right in general, but not all states follow that procedure. The state of Michigan, for instance, decided that since the applicant eventually needs the US Dept of State to apostille the document, that they would simply notarize, not apostille, and at the same price that they used to charge for an apostille. Of course, I have no idea how the other 49 states do it, but I do know this one. The process changed from the first time my son got a contract in Korea to the last time his visa needed to be renewed. He finally got out of the whole system by falling in love and marrying a Korean woman, so that he doesn't have to do that again. His next challenge will be whether he goes for a Korean passport or renew his US passport.
Ecuador: Crime - Particularly in Cuenca:
The last report I saw on the stabbing/murder is that it was the roommate who stabbed the victim. The room mate then went to the hospital for treatment of his wounds, after which he was apprehended and arrested. Not too different than any other place in the world: most murders are committed by people known by the victim.
As far as the Nikon D3100? I'll give you the advice that wAs given me by a pulitzer prize winning photographer, who has photographed in South Africa during the end days of apartheid, in Iraq during Desert Storm, etc. etc.
To the best that you can, remove or blacken out any "badges" or "brands." Don't travel with a lot of unnecessary equipment (extra lenses, fancy tripods, etc.).
If you are going on a professional shoot, of course, bring all the equipment you want, but also make sure to take your professional crew: there is always safety in numbers. But tor the candid, street scene photography, don't be ostentatious, and ask people permission to take their photo and then honor it if they say no.
We've been to Ecuador twice, my wife is a professional photographer who has had no difficulty when we were in Guayaquil, Cuenca, and the coast from Valdivia through Olon and smaller towns off the coast from there. She shoots a Canon 5D MK I. She says that the dips and swipes leave her alone because, she says "even they know that the MK II is the one to have." She also said "Nikon3100 refurbished? Yeah, nobody wants that." (just kidding)
Ecuador: Living on $1100 a month:
Where is Cotacachi? Try this website:
http://lmgtfy.com/
Then type: cotachi
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