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I still love it. Many parts of the country aren't as 3rd world as most think. Cost of living is a fraction of what you would pay in basically all 50 states.
For a whopping $80.00 a month, I rent a room from a little old lady, and in this room we have a nice modern kitchen, as well as hot water. I have my own room with a private bath.
You can basically live on about $750.00 a month, though I only pay about $600.00 and this includes 3 meals a day eating out. This is in an expat populated town with inflated prices. You can probably live on $400-500.00 in a village setting.
Ecuador is a great place to learn Spanish due to the language being fairly pure, with little accent compared to many other Spanish speaking countries.
I am a gold prospector and with the remoteness and unexplored nature of the country, I love it. Many people work online and get paid from the states.
Crime can be a problem and I did have a really bad assault, but it was due to my guard being down. Keep your guard up, use common sense and crime should be minimal. This could have happened anywhere in the world and I am just thankful for being alive.
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.
good to know. I lived in Ecuador for Two and a half months and loved it as well, perhaps one of the best countries in South America and most underrated as many tourists just bypass it which is a real shame.
AA, you have some interesting stories to tell if you've been gold prospecting in or around Vilcabamba. For those who don't know about it, it is the "longevity place". There might not be any mystery to it, just good healthy living, but it seems to have drawn the gringo crowd because of its cheaper living and temperate and beautiful surroundings. Anyway, I'm hoping you share all your stories here. We're all ears.
Find anything?
Hey there. Vilcabamba is just an area I live in part of the time, while where I prospect is a few hundred kms away. This just increases the security. Vilcabamba is definitely a gringo haven, and is growing like crazy due to all the turmoil in the world. If you are spiritual, it is probably the place for you. For those wondering, Vilcabamba is far southern Ecuador, not far from the Peruvian border. It is quite the adventure just getting to this tiny town.
Agreed on how Ecuador seems to be passed up. If you have a short time in South America, it should be your starting point. You have the beaches, the mountains, the amazon as well as the Galapagos islands all within a relatively small area of the world. As Tiger mentioned, definitely a microcism of South America. As far as prospecting is concerned, the gold is here. The laws can be tricky due to them changing frequently. Easier to stay small scale and remote over a larger concession. Very interesting though.
When I review the countries in the world I've traveled to, for some uncanny reason, the smaller countries I've visited have had the better memories for me, like Nepal and El Salvador (another skip country for tourists).
I've been to this small country twice, all the way north to Tulcan (to that fabulous cemetery there with the sculptured bushes), to Loja and to that small ex-pat town which is spoken of in this thread. Since I'm incapable of dealing with heat/humidity I've avoided the coastal areas. Guayaquil, it ain't gonna happen!
I'm not big on ex-pat communities and this certainly wouldn't be the city of my choice if I moved there, and since I can speak spanish well enough, that would give me other options. And no tourist towns either. Ambato, Ibarra might be for me.
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