Pros and Cons of Living in Ecuador

"Ecuador is a better place to learn Spanish. In Spain they want to practice their English. In Ecuador they mostly don't speak English. Read up on the Inca empire and its encounter with the Spanish in the 16th century. Some of the roads you'll travel in Ecuador were Inca trails 700 years ago," explained one expat living in Vilcabamba.

"Lots of wonderful historical stuff, tons of holidays here, religious and historical, all celebrated to the max in different ways. Indigenous activities and celebrations. We have not even started on expat stuff because my hubby is Ecuadorian and has youngish cousins here in 30s. They always have plans to go and do things," said one expat in Ecuador.

"I like that the children seem very happy and smile a lot and play with their parents in the parks, so it seems that the locals like having children more than in North America, where you rarely see adults with children," said a person living in Ecuador.

"Still working on that one as I do not care for this town I am living in and is much more primitive than cities," explained one expat living in Bahia de Caraquez.

"On the whole I have experienced the Ecuadorians to be honest. As a people they are culturally extremely polite. In my estimation they rivel the French with their protocols of politeness. "Buenos días, "Buenas tardes," "buenas noches, " "Saludos." If you don't greet someone, they feel slighted. And they address you by title, "don Ernesto". "doña Maria". o "mi señora linda". which is something we would never dare say in the north "my pretty lady."," said one in Cotacachi.

"Although scrupulously polite, I have not found the Ecuadorian people to be particularly friendly or outgoing. And they are extremely protective of their privacy. Which is why they often live behind eight-foot-high walls with wire or broken bottles on top. Whether the fear is justified or not I can't say, but it seems to infect most everyone. It is very unusual to invite someone into your home, or to be invited. Mostly, in my experience (only one opinion mind you) socializing is done within the family, not by getting together with friends to tell stories and share meals. That is one difference I find really hard to take. And they love noise. They honk, they put a big speaker outside each store and blast music assuming that everyone wants to hear. To me it is a form of polution, pure and simple. Give me quiet any day," said one expat in Cotacachi.