5 Things Cuenca (Ecuador) Gringos Love and Hate

This is not a survey, we are simply telling our observations of our experiences on a weekly basis for the last four-plus years of living in Cuenca Ecuador. Your miles may vary...but maybe not by much...

gringos in Cuenca Ecuador - Park Calderon

5 Things Cuenca Gringos Love


1. River/City views from their home/apt
2. Walking to grocery store from their house/apt
3. Tutto Matto Pizza
4. Rentals with big green spaces (yards)
5. Bringing their dogs to Ecuador with them

5 Things Cuenca Gringos Hate

1. Negotiating for less
2. Barking dogs in their neighborhood
3. Loud music/fireworks in their neighborhood
4. Overpaying because they are a gringo (this goes with #1)
5. Waiting for paperwork and on people they've made appointments with, and for good reason.

5 Things Cuenca Gringos Are Good At

1. Standing out in a crowd, wearing panama hats, flowery Hawaiian shirts, shiny jewelry, etc (We must admit, however most longtime expats do blend in pretty well.)
2. Comparing the U.S to Ecuador
3. Volunteering their time
4. Hanging out with each other
5. "Saying" they will learn Spanish



5 Things Cuenca Gringos Are Not Good At

1. Negotiating for less – probably because they hate to do it
2. Walking away from price gouging
3. Speaking (conversational) Spanish
4. Keeping special and hard-to-find items in Cuenca to themselves (some things are better not made public) one reason why stores run out and prices run up!
5. Comparing South America to North America - If we feel the need to compare rents, crime, food, etc of cities in Ecuador, it's best to compare them to other cities in South/Central America of the same size; only then will we get a balanced and fair perspective. 



NOTE:
Please do not take this offensively; it’s not set in stone, we’re
merely talking about our experiences and observations since living here
for four-plus years. It certainly does not mean that ALL gringos in Cuenca
exhibit these character traits...that would be silly, uh?



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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!

Do You Ever Get Homesick Living Abroad? Why Not Skype to Skype?

Did you leave a piece of your heart in the U.S? It’s easy to do when you have special attachments to family and even close friends in your home country.  We’re pretty sure that most parents and grandparents when they move abroad leave a piece of their heart where they were planted; this is especially true if you have children and or grandchildren that live in the same city or town you left behind.
 

If you’re fortunate enough to have the financial ability to go visit your family two or three times a year that would be great! However, most folks aren’t that fortunate; and now after the 20% tax hike on all flights entering and leaving Ecuador, it’s become even more expensive.  The flights were already sky-high (no pun intended) and now with the taxation it makes it almost impossible for some folks to visit family in the U.S.

...leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again...

SKYPE to SKYPE with Your Loved Ones
 

So what is the solution to home-sickness when living abroad? SKYPE is a nice resource that many separated families use when they want to reach out and say “I love you” but it is not the same as being there in person of course. Skype to Skype is video chat through your computer and it’s free!  For Skype to Skype you will need to have a decent Internet speed. In Cuenca the speed is usually fine for Skyping, but not always.
 

When I call my mom in the U.S I call her on the phone using “magic jack” because she has never figured out how to use SKYPE yet.  Some mature people have a difficult time learning computer mumbo-jumbo but it is not that they can’t learn. Lots of older folks learn how to use computers but a small percentage don’t seem that interested, especially when they get up there in age, like my mom.
 

For family members who do not know that much about using SKYPE, we recommend practicing with the program BEFORE you move abroad to make sure they actually know how to use it. For older folks it helps to make notes on index cards about certain steps they might need to take to open the program up, answer the phone or dial a number.  Don’t laugh, for some folks learning computers seems like a breeze and for others it takes a bit of effort, such as a few steps/notes on index cards.
 

But if you practice with the program a little bit with your loved ones before moving, you can be sure you will be able to talk with them whenever you feel like it by simply making SKYPE talk-dates with one another. It helps with some of the home-sickness.  Another fun thing you can do is make private YouTube videos for family members only.
 

Create Personal YouTube (YT) Videos
 

We’ve used YT a couple of times to create personal videos to friends. It’s neat because you can set your YT video to private and the only people that see it are those you allow to view it.
 

How it’s done is you make your video as usual, in this case if you are living abroad, you might want to make a video to your children/grandchildren back home about some of your travel adventures. Perhaps you want to say things that are private and personal, well go ahead because when the video is done and you are ready to upload, simply set the video to “private” in the YT console settings. No one but you will be able to see the video after you upload it to YT.  (Except for the YouTube staff, the email provider staff, and any other agency that violates your privacy ;-\ )
 
Next, add your families email back home that you want to view the video.  After you have done that, they only need to log into YT and they too, will be able to view the personal travel video you created just for them. This is a great tool for families and friends to interact as privately as they wish and whenever they want. I think interacting on Skype to Skype while they are viewing the video you created for them would be a nice/fun family get-together.
 

In the unfortunate event  that phone/video calls and viewing family videos is not enough to get the homesickness out of your system and then in those cases you might have to bite the bullet, spend a couple grand and go visit your family in the U.S…I’m leaving on a jet plane, don’t know when I’ll be back again…but Cuenca is where I live now…



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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!

Buying Property on the Ecuador Coast Like the Locals

A recent post on an expat forum talks about how one can go about buying cheap property on the Ecuador coast through a popular online portal, saying it is just how the locals do it. Pardon me, but I doubt the locals, at least the ones that have not been North Americanized, go to these classifieds to buy coastal property. They might advertise their property on there but the locals of the locals KNOW that “word of mouth” is how to get a real bargain, not using the Internet.

Coastal Property

In fact, the Internet is the worst place to find bargains. Not to say, you can’t call an advertisement up and negotiate a fair price after you go look at the property. But let us just tell you this, all the gringos now go to the online classifieds to seek bargains, knowing this, do you really think there is going to be very many good deals? Probably not. Sure, you can find a casa under $35,000 but what kind of work does it need, and would you really want to live in that part of town?


We think the prices on the Ecuador coast are shamefully over priced when you compare Ecuador coast to Ecuador coast. But if one compares the Ecuador coast real estate market to the west or east coast real estate market in the u.s then it seems like you can find some real bargains…but for Ecuador are they truly a bargain?
 

Just a few years ago, prices on the coast were 20% to 30% less than they are now; so what has changed for the price hike? Some of the Ecuadorians did a half attempt at remodeling the kitchens by adding cupboards and painting the rooms, and the once $25,000 to $35,000 dollar 4 bedroom, 2 bath casa’s, 2 rows back from the Malecon in Salinbas are now going for $65,000 to $75,000 and all they did was update the kitchen to almost gringo standards. I know, those prices seem cheap don’t they, but you didn’t see the 2012 prices like we did!
 

But where we are seeing the biggest price hike on the Ecuador coast is in Chipipe, …Unbelievable 50% higher!  Lots of flipping going on in this area right now and that raises prices exponentially. Amazingly, many paradise dwellers in this area are willing to sell out prematurely, at a profit of course.   People have this mistaken idea that all they have to do is update the place a bit and put a price tag double what they paid. And then just resell to the next gringo.  But they overpaid to begin with! We have a lot more to say about this in the DIY Ecuador Coast Guide.
 

Be careful about what you read on the Internet because it is not always what it seems. We encourage you to study the market before buying anything, even if it’s only $10,000.  Other folks will encourage you to buy because they have an agenda. No agenda from us. If you haven’t read how to avoid gringo gouging, then it would be to your advantage to read the rule of 3 and 4 before buying property.
 

Just a few final tips for purchasing real estate on the Ecuador coast: 

• Go directly to the owner of the property you are interested in, if at all possible and negotiate big time…don’t be afraid to walk away…there’s more bargains to be had. If you see a property you like, ask the neighbors if they know who owns it; put your card on the door with your information...or leave your contact number with a neighbor, maybe the owner will call you, maybe they won't but it's worth the effort.

• Be really diligent about any property you are interested in and don’t believe anything anyone says about a property, until you see it in writing for yourself.

• The best deals will not be online and to get the bargains
  that are out there, you will probably need to know some
  Spanish! If you don't know enough Spanish to negotiate price with the owner, hire a local young person to help you out and pay them a fee.

• And finally, don’t buy property thinking you can later just flip it away to another gringo. Buy a property because you actually want to live in that house or on the Ecuador coast. There is way too much flipping on the Ecuador coast already and way too many over-priced properties as well as hustlers dealing in real estate on the Ecuador coast. 

• The Fallacy of Real Estate Purchasing Power and the Fickleness of Cheap Edens

• Don't Be a Naive Gringo and Fall Victim to the Way Over-priced Real Estate in Ecuador

•  Real Ecuador Coast Life with Discover Cuenca Ecuador (video)

                      


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!