5 Things We Missed the Most about Cuenca Ecuador When We Traveled to Panama

This is the five things we missed about Cuenca when we traveled to Panama recently. 


1. Abundance of fresh, clean food, namely fruits and vegetables! This aspect of life in Cuenca Ecuador is important to us because eating healthy keeps us healthy and feeling good.  It seems there is no other place we’ve ever been that has so much abundance of fresh (free of GMO) food at affordable prices!
 

2. Locally Grown and Prepared (ECUADOR) Food Brands. After spending five weeks in Panama we were ready to come back home to Cuenca and start eating again.  Of course, I am exaggerating just a bit, but healthy type foods were so high priced in Panama and other food so scarce or not found at all, that our whole diet changed for the five weeks we traveled in Panama. 


And it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that since the USA is Panama’s main food supplier then much of Panama’s food source/supply is also fake-food, or better known as “genetically modified organism’s (GMO) that wreck havoc on health.  



In Panama they call GMO "transgenic foods", which basically means gene transformation of the foods. For anyone who cares anything about their health and how they eat, it is a BIG disappointment, especially if one is thinking about moving there.



To find out more about GMO in Panama’s food chain, click here.
 

GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organism. These are plant or meat products that have had their DNA artificially altered by genes from other plants, animals, viruses, or bacteria, in order to produce foreign compounds in that food. These genetic alterations occur in a laboratory and are not found in nature. 



It is important to understand what is happening in the world, so we can make better / smarter food choices in our lives, I think our health depends on it.



3. Health Food Stores – In Cuenca health food stores (naturistas) abound everywhere. You can walk into a shop and buy herbs, tinctures, healthy natural foods, health products, vitamins, and other health type foodstuffs. In Panama we did not see one health food store and we traveled the entire country!  



And we do not call GNC vitamin store a health food store for many obvious reasons but that is what is in Panama.  We don’t live in Panama so this is not a complaint but a reliable source of pertinent information that some people thinking of retiring there will want to know.
 

We think there are some great aspects to love about Panama, but reasonably priced, abundant produce and natural type foods is not one of them.
 

4. Healthy Food products such as FRESH HERBS - In Ecuadorian Mercados you are able to find and buy numerous different types of fresh herbs grown locally.  When you see fresh basil, dill, oregano, sage, etc in the grocery stores, it is freshly picked locally in Ecuador.
 

Frank loves pesto, but only a few stores sold fresh basil in Panama City; the store we first bought it from was out of fresh basil for three weeks. We kept going back but they did not replenish the shelves. Finally the last week we were in Panama City, Panama they had fresh basil, which by the way, costs three times as much as in Ecuador…oddly basil loves the weather in Panama so why the cost so high if it grows there? It’s difficult to understand, when something is produced locally, why so much?
 

5. Not Needing to Have a Car – Once you go outside of Panama City, it is spread out just like the USA and you will need a car. That is if you do not live right inside the city center area.  The other thing about that is, Panama is sizzling hot and you do not want to be out walking in the midday sun. 



Yes, you can live in Panama City and take public transportation everywhere and that’s fine, but the cost of living is very high in PC. In other towns of Panama such as David, Chitre, or Padasi, the buses are just oversized vans and if you are tall and have to stand up, which happens often, we don't fit in them, we're too tall! More about this later.
 

In Cuenca we find that we walk more than ride the buses or take taxis because everything you need is within walking (1 to 4 miles) distance. We have truly enjoyed so much about not owning a car that we’d never willingly go back to owning one again.
 

Although these are our five things we really missed when we traveled away from Cuenca, there is a lot more to appreciate about living in Cuenca Ecuador. Maybe someone else would like to add their thoughts in the comments below. Until we write again...



We're an Expat Family of Five, Living Frugal, Healthy and
Happy Abroad. We live in Cuenca, Ecuador and travel the Ecuador coast
whenever we get a chance. We just adventured throughout the country
of Panama for five weeks! Come along and enjoy some of our experiences
with us!  

Rewarding Encounter with Local Panamanian in Casco Antigua - Panama City, Panama

We had an interesting encounter with a local Panamanian while walking around in Casco Viejo neighborhood of Panama City, Panama. Meet Conrad.

                         


We're an Expat Family of Five, Living Frugal, Healthy and Happy Abroad. We live in Cuenca and we travel the Ecuador coast whenever we get a chance and we just adventured throughout the country of Panama for five weeks! Come along and enjoy some of our experiences with us! 

Are Mainstream Retirees Adopting a Foreign Persona When Moving Abroad?

Some people move to Cuenca Ecuador or any other foreign retirement destination and they become different people; for the first 6-months to a year, they seem to behave in ways that is not normally understood "back home".   Behaving “out of one’s normal character” when moving to a foreign land could only mean one thing; they have adopted a "new persona".
 

Being a "new persona" could be alright when we’re a visitor or guest because everything is wonderful; the people, the food, the culture, the laid-back slowness of everything, even the traffic, noise, or smog seems almost unnoticeable, who cares, right?  Everyone becomes enchanted with their new paradise; no one is immune to it.
 

However, once we are permanently living in a place AS A RESIDENT that means we are no longer a guest or a visitor; it means we are not on vacation anymore; it means we’ll need to interact on a daily basis with the local community and businesses, and go out into the environment to buy groceries, take a taxi, go to the bank, or enjoy a local event, dine out for a meal; you know, the usual mundane parts of life...it is only after around the 6-month mark most people begin to notice the world around them once again and let go of the new persona they adopted when they first got here.


In Cuenca Ecuador we are personal and up close to this; we see how enchanted newcomers can get and some of them have been here longer than one year.
 

1.  Socializing with our Next Door Neighbors - Because we’re new to an area, we think we want to go spend our days socializing with our next door neighbors. 



For instance, when we first moved here, our Ecuadorian next door neighbors would often invite us over for events they were hosting; they were very friendly and kind and really curious about us. At the same time we were also curious about the local culture and customs. For the first three months of living here, we got to know them and they got to know us. Early on we realized that these particular Ecuadorian neighbors liked to drink too much and they pushed the drinks, and so we had to stop going there. 



We’re still friendly with each other in passing-by but with our different values and lifestyles, we could never be very good friends with them and we certainly would not want to go “plant ourselves on their front porch” as they probably think we’re boring people for not enjoying a drink with them.
 

If we do not know someone very well we believe, or perhaps we “hope” we can be really good friends, especially when we’re the foreigner in a new city.  Newcomers want to feel as if they “belong” to the community. But many times, once we get to know someone on a more personal level we realize that we have absolutely nothing in common.  No matter where in the world we choose to live, we still must choose our friends wisely.
 

As foreigners, our only responsibility to the local population is to be respectful, and not “overly friendly” or “overly anything else”.
 

2. We Behave TOO Trusting.  For some reason our "new persona" tells us that we can trust all the people in the new land we retired in because we're the foreigner.  Here’s several ways we might behave too trusting.



A. We allow anyone into our home.  Of course we understand things need repaired and Internet installed, however when service techs and repairmen come into your home, it is a good idea to move out of eye view anything of value, if possible. Out of sight out of mind does work; its amazing.
 

As far as allowing strangers into our home, we have to be discerning.  What would you do if you were back home and a stranger rang your doorbell? The rule for us is: if we don’t know you, we aren’t going to let you into our home, or open the gate!
 

B. We hire anyone off the street, without references or credentials? In N. America this trusting behavior is unheard of. But abroad it happens all the time?
 

C. We sign contracts and agreements we do not understand and in languages we cannot read. This is a common occurrence in foreign lands.
 

D. We believe everything we are told.  When we first moved here, we believed what many of the people said, only to find out that some of them we’re lying to us! For instance, we believed a real estate agent about a rental house with only a built-in stove top when she said, “Yes the owner will add a built-in oven to the rental home”.  We even asked her again to make sure this was going to get done. Well, wouldn’t you know it; the landlord didn’t want to add the oven, so we decided not to take the rental. When we asked for the deposit money back, she wouldn’t give it.  We asked her three times for the deposit money, but she would not budge.  She is one of the few real estate agents we quit bringing business to because of the unethical practices.



E. We get pick-pocketed - Part of our new persona is the fact that we are not aware of our surroundings like we should be because after all, we're enjoying the beauty of the new place we are in, or we are concentrating on something else that takes our attention from the thieves who are eying us out....and oops, there goes our cell, iphone, purse, etc, you name it. 



F. Some of us enter into business relationships without truly knowing the person.  Sometimes we can’t always know a person too well before entering into a business agreement, such as signing rental leases; in those cases you absolutely NEED to hire someone you can trust to help you, especially if you do not speak the language well.



These are all aspects of being too trusting and allowing naivety to
control us because we’re outside of our "usual persona".



3.  We give overblown praise and flattery. One thing that is readily apparent is how some of us over-flatter or exaggerate our feelings with the locals.  It is way over-done. We see a lot of this on public forums, blogs and websites because the poster wants to be noted for being the perfect foreigner to the local population; and that’s fine as long as it is genuine.
 

I don’t know about you but in the states people do not act like that to anyone, unless of course they want something.  So it seems to us, when we see it going on here, it seems a bit contrary, inconsistent and usually way overdone.
 

All of the above scenarios happen daily in countries where unsuspecting foreigners reside.  Truly, most of us wouldn’t act like this if we were still living in N. America but the enchantment that believing we're in the "paradise"  of “name your city” makes us behave off our normal guard most of the time.
 

Back home we’re on guard; we check every single credential and reference before we hire someone or allow them into our home. But here in Cuenca the "paradise enchantment" has overtaken us for about 6-months to a year. Only when the spell wears off do we begin to tell others about some of the negative encounters we have had while living abroad. “Name your country”.
 

Disclaimer:  Most Ecuadorians can be trusted; but it does seem some of the ones that are dishonest, unethical, or not to be trusted are the ones that work with foreigners in some capacity.  We’re just saying to take heed and get to know someone well before allowing them into your private life. When you find one you can trust COMPLETELY, treat them well because you have found a gem that is worth keeping.





We're an Expat Family of Five, Living Frugal, Healthy and Happy in Cuenca Ecuador! We travel the Ecuador coast often and we recently spent five weeks adventuring off the beaten path Panama. Enjoy the Discover Cuenca Ecuador blog!