What Are the Negatives to Living in Cuenca Ecuador? 5 Years Later Update 2016

Here's another update folks. This article was first written and published two months after we moved to Cuenca on August 2, 2011. All new updates are in red text.

Time stamp on photo is July 28, 2011

Reader Asks: We
get from your posts that you are very positive on everything about
Cuenca Ecuador. Do you have any negatives to say about Cuenca? 



Frank and Angie's Response: Good question! No place on earth is ever going to be perfect or idyllic but when we compare Cuenca Ecuador to other countries we have visited we do find more positives in Cuenca. We have visited Mexico three times, Dominican Republic and Turks and Caicos Islands in the British West Indies. 

  

Update 2016: In 2015 we spent five weeks traveling the whole country of Panama and we must say that Cuenca Ecuador suits us as the more comfortable, better place to live out of the countries we visited above and Panama for several reasons but mostly because of what we say in this article "Differences between Ecuador and Panama". 



We like some areas of Mexico but there is way too much crime there unless you seclude yourself into a gringo enclave and that's not us or how we want to live. We prefer living within the local neighborhoods like we do here in Cuenca Ecuador. 



What are the negatives of Cuenca? First, understand that everyone is different with different needs and circumstances that to compare what one person says about a country and then think you will like it or not like it, is not a good way to decide where to move to. It does help to get an idea. but people still need to come here and live and see it all for themselves.



We did a lot of reading and studying of other countries and cultures. We did not move to Ecuador on a whim, it was a much analyzed decision, which involved mostly cleanliness and abundance of reasonably priced food, family oriented culture and cost of living. We knew what we were walking into before we boarded the plane.



We have lived in Cuenca for five weeks now, and yes, there are a few negatives, (actually some were culture shocks) but our negatives will certainly not be your negatives. Every person and or family has different things that they value and assess as important for them, and so it would be fruitless to take our negatives negatively. 



For an example, a positive aspect for many expats that move to Cuenca is the low cost of health care services and cheaper medications. But this was not even on our list of deciding factors for choosing Ecuador. We have never taken medications and do not see this as an issue for us even as we get older. In that respect the cleanliness of the food supply here in Cuenca (diet) was a big deciding factor for us moving here and is more important to us than the healthcare system.



UPDATE January 2014: We still live in Cuenca 2-1/2 years later. We still like Cuenca. 



Update 2016 - The reasonably priced clean (no GMO) fruits and vegetables is a great reason to (still) live in Cuenca, for us. We're still renting for $250 and we're still enjoying many aspects of Cuenca life, almost five years later.



We are a frugal family, always looking for a bargain. If you have watched any of our family videos you will see just how self sufficient we can be. When we lived in North America we used to buy old furniture and fix it up, we restored old things, and we did a lot of gardening. We love to create something out of what others think is garbage. Example: We tiled a whole fireplace hearth with almost all free tiles. We built a really cool kitchen island from free tiles...etc...etc.



1. No Goodwill’s or Thrift Shops in Cuenca



The number one thing that is a BIG negative for me, more than Frank or my sons is there are no thrift shops here. In Cuenca and in other cities of Ecuador everything you buy is brand new and a lot of it is imported and this makes prices higher. Frank bought some tools and he and the boys are making furniture. So far they have made a dining room table with two benches, bed frames, and a kitchen island on wheels. I will be making a video of our furniture making soon!   



Update 2016 - I don't miss thrift stores as much as I miss buying inexpensive things and restoring them and making them useful; it was one of my hobbies. You can't find things like that here. 



UPDATE: One year later...We have built every piece of furniture in our house. We have saved thousands of dollars. We have Ecuadorians asking us if we'll sell them our furniture if we ever move. See photos here. We're not going to move.



They do have a few used appliance stores here but they still ask twice as much for a used refrigerator and or stove/oven here than they do in the U.S. Do you know why this is? It is because the people here use their stuff until it can’t be fixed anymore and the supply for used things is very slim. Ecuadorians are VERY resourceful people. If something breaks they fix it, instead of giving it to thrift shops or throwing it out, they keep things in the family. I’ve always thought a few thrift shops here in Cuenca would go off really well. The difficult thing would be trying to find the used items to supply your thrift store with! 



2. Chillier than Expected

This just goes to show you can’t believe everything you read on the Internet, or at least agree with someone else’s opinion. All the blogs I read of people who already live here said the weather was perfect, spring like weather. I must say that their spring like weather is more like winter to me.



Well, if you are coming from the south in the northern country (where we came from) spring is really nice, like in the 80’s during the day and upper 50’s at night. The temps here have been like 60’s during the day and upper 30’s at night. To me that is not spring like temperatures but more like fall and winter.



Update 2016 - Not as cold anymore, we're used to the weather. We have a gas heater. 



UPDATE Jan 2014: We visit the beaches of Ecuador all the time. We're writing a new book on traveling the whole Ecuador coast frugally. Look for it soon!



Update 2016 - The DIY Ecuador Coast Guide is published and we have decided to not move to the coast but stay in Cuenca Ecuador where the abundance of produce is much better. We will continue to visit the beaches of Ecuador though, whenever we can. 



Culture Shocks: Some of our negatives we said in this video back in 2011 were actually culture shocks for me such as men peeing in public and the high prices on everything but the produce. Most of the public peeing is seen near and in the Mercados and I just quit going.  We send the boys to do the Mercado shopping now, which is not very often anymore. 



Nothing shocks us anymore in Cuenca; it is what it is. We updated our 12 annoyances video in 2015.Here it is below.

                         


2 New Negatives of Living in Cuenca



1. Postal Service: But we still have the negative of NOT receiving our packages and some mail. Postal service not that great here. Your stuff gets taken...not just in Ecuador either...there's lots of petty thievery in the Latin American postal system.



2. Diesel Fumes from buses keeps us from walking on the busier streets and we end up having to take a bus or taxi. We'd rather walk, but the fumes spewing out of the buses is so unhealthy. River walks are still nice though. The light rail will eradicate a lot of the bus travel and fumes on Las Americas. 



And that is just about it for now. There are a few other things that are a slightly negative, such as the higher price of power tools and electronics, but we’ll talk about that in another article or video. Here's the video of our 12 annoyances.



As you can see, our negatives will not be your negatives; our positives about Cuenca will not be your positives, and your positives and negatives about Cuenca will not be ours. You just need to come here and see it for yourself like we did and like many expats have done. We will continue to give you our experiences and informative articles and videos of what we think about life in Cuenca. 



We hope you enjoyed this update. We think that any Latin American country is going to share in the same negative complaints that people have such as noise, traffic, smog, bad postal system, expensive tools and electronics, petty theft, etc, etc. It really just goes with the territory.



Until the next update!



You might like these articles too.

• Moving to Cuenca Ecuador? - Adjusting to the Culture and Environment 

• Best Ways to Get Things You Need to Cuenca and What You Should Bring with You

• 7 Ways to Prepare for Your Trip to Cuenca Ecuador

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!

Hermoso Cuenca Ecuador Jan/Feb 2016

 A hodge-podge video of life in beautiful Cuenca Ecuador. 

                    


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!

Not All Americans Are Rich, So what’s With the Gringo Inflation and CRIME? UPDATED 2016

It's time for another update. Nothing has changed with the premise of this article, which was first published on November 22, 2011. Everything we said in this article still stands true and is "spot on" as if we just wrote the article yesterday.   



There have been new (negative) events that have transpired in Ecuador according to the premise that we talk about in this article. Please take note, all new updates are in red text.



Not all Americans are rich. In fact this statement should read, “Most Americans are not rich”.  Sure, there are some very wealthy people who live in North America but the wealthy are not generally the ones moving to Ecuador or any Latin American country for that matter, unless they are moving here thinking they can become wealthy by taking advantage of all the media buzz surrounding Ecuador, particularly Cuenca.  

Many of the people wanting to move to Ecuador are folks who have a pension or social security income that they feel won’t give them what they need to live comfortable middle class lives where they are now.  If their money would allow them to retire on the standard of living and expectations of what they are used to, they would just stay in the city or state they were planted in North America. 

Have you ever wondered “why” a middle class North American would move to a country where their dollar is supposed to go further but yet still pay “the” over-inflated prices on rent, buying a home, food, and other purchases? It wouldn’t make much sense, uh? But this is exactly what’s happening when North Americans come here and rent a home, go shopping for food and clothing, and eventually when they buy a home.  Many of them are not wealthy people, some are, but most are not, but to the Ecuadorians they are wealthy.

The buzz around Cuenca is Ecuadorians think ALL Americans are rich that move to their country.  Is there any wonder why? So then when middle class Americans move here and they go about renting a house or condo, or when they want to purchase, say a vehicle, or a souvenir, or 12 bananas they are automatically beleaguered as rich gringo’s, and that’s before they let-on that they cannot speak a lick of Spanish. 

But why all the gringo inflation when not all Americans who come here are rich? It’s because even though they are not rich to North American standards, they are monetarily rich to Ecuadorian standards and if your money buys more, the gringo pays more just because they can. But this is nonsense; even the Ecuadorians think so as you will find out below.

They see the gringo walking towards them from afar and they have already made it up in their mind how much to inflate the price. Why? Because he/she knows you will pay it! It’s called gringo targeting and gouging.. 

The point is, if you think you’re going to come here and make your dollar go further, and then you’d better be prepared to walk away or do some wheeling and dealing.



The truth is about half of all Ecuadorians speak some English, enough to understand basic words and we’re saying this to say “you can bargain with most Ecuadorians by brushing up on your own Spanish before you come here and also knowing basic words, plus sign language works great too. You can bargain with them and let them know you are on a tight budget and tell them how much you are willing to spend. 

We’ve experienced gringo inflation several times ourselves, but we don’t buy into it. When we walk away or bargain, essentially we are telling them we aren’t going to allow you to inflate prices with us just because we look like a gringo. We are not rude, we just don’t buy into the inflated prices like so many of the newcomers have done and are doing and for good reason; it is not in our budget to do so!

If we all gave in to the inflated prices it will be just a matter of time that Cuenca will not be cheap anymore for retirees and those of us who are frugal; then what is International Living going to brag about? 

We just read on another blog that there are about a dozen or so new gringos every month moving to Cuenca and there are some Ecuadorians who are distressed over this rapid influx of gringos inflating real estate prices. 

Dr. Lee Dubs recently wrote an article titled “Cuenca’s Gringo Invasion”, which talks about the  increasing real estate prices being seen all over Ecuador.  What happens is when real estate escalates the Ecuadorians cannot afford to buy real estate in their own country and hostility emerges between the Gringos and the Ecuadorians. Dr. Dubs expressed in his article that these hostilities have been observed already beyond the Azuay province. 



Update 2016 - This sentiment from Lee Dubs is now being seen in certain gringo enclaves with "out of control" crimes against expats in Boquete Panama and now Vilcabamba, Ecuador!  



(Click to enlarge the text image I got off of the Ecuador expat group on Facebook.)

First understand that these gringo communities are not like the gringolandia as we know in Cuenca, where the gringos live in 24 hour, high rise security buildings; NO, these communities are a bunch of gringos living in houses in a subdivision.  



We've read from two different gringos (one from Panama and now another one from Ecuador) how they used all the security, such as dogs, electric fences and alarms and they still got broken into and robbed.  



What is now happening in the expat community in Vilcabamba Ecuador has been happening in Boquete for the past five years and other Panama expat enclaves; many call the crime "out of control" because the police don't really do anything or happen to be part of the crime ring. Residents are panicking and looking for solutions there too.   



We had to do a lot of searching to find out about the crime in Panama because they keep it hush, hush, but you can't stop people from talking about it on personal blogs and forums and more people need to do bring it out in the open, otherwise it keeps people in the dark and everyone deserves to know so they can make a more informed decision when moving abroad!!



It's uncanny how similar the two mountain towns are (Boquete and Vilcabamba), they both have sizable expat enclaves and they are both encountering many home invasions, some with violence.



Four years ago we had an Ecuadorian real estate agent tell us when gringos come in splashing their wealth around and living large under the locals noses, while they are barely scraping by, there's going to be "resentment".  (her words not ours). Then long-time expat in Cuenca Lee Dubs pronounced the same sentiment but called it "hostility".



We've been trying to tell people all along, since the beginning of our blog, live like the locals, blend in, be humble, don't act rich, and you will be LESS OF A TARGET! So you can imagine when a huge group of gringos seclude themselves what's going to happen.



Solution? The solution rests with us and our attitude. We don't see a problem with foreigners moving here if we humble ourselves and not move into gringo enclaves away from the local people....because we've seen it over and over and over again...that's when the real resentment and consistent home invasions begin.



We think the seclusion thing is worse than upping prices because that's about coming to their country, living large and pretending like the locals don't exist.  You may as well put a sign on your back that says, "I'm better than you", "I'm rich", "come rob me". 



We know you are probably just saying, "I want to live better than this", I want to have my middle to upper class standards", and "I hope I don't get robbed".  



But try and tell the punks, who have hostility and resentment within their being that's what you really mean when you move to their country and live in a enclave where they are not allowed into.  



If North Americans move to a country to "live away from the locals" then that country is NOT a good fit for them and maybe they should stay where they are planted, where it is a better fit for them.  

The article then goes on to talk about the gringo do-gooders who come here that overpay, over- tip and over-help, which disrupts the natural economic and cultural flow of Ecuador.  This also leads the Ecuadorians to think all gringos are filthy rich and really naive. This is because when you do these things you are not blending in but rather standing out as, well, a do-gooder” and a big gringo target for thieves. Remember what we say: when in Rome do as the Romans, well, when in Ecuador do/live as the Ecuadorians. We do!

The truth is Ecuadorians are (mostly) friendly people who really don’t mind that North Americans and Europeans move to their country and do their best at living like them and want to call Cuenca home. That means living in a house like their house or in a subdivision with Ecuadorians.  But what they do mind is how gringos come here and isolate themselves in their own gringo hangouts and communities and up the real estate prices. 



Update 2016 - We don't think the resentment is just about upping the real estate prices either. It's the gringo isolation which says, "I'm better than you".   We hate to say it, but that is the reality of it. The crimes happen in gringo gulches all over in Latin American countries where large numbers of expats live and seclude themselves off from the locals.



Did you know that Vilcabamba, Ecuador is about 75% gringo now? My son spent the weekend there and he said the whole town square was full of mostly gringos and some Ecuadorians. 

A quote from Dr. Lee Dub’s article says, “If the example of gringo colonies in Mexico, Panama and Costa Rica are followed in Ecuador, there is trouble brewing. In fact, conflicts between gringos and locals already are occurring in some regions of this country.”

We don’t want this to happen to beautiful Cuenca and we don’t think you do either. The question that many Cuencanos may want to know is “why” are so many North Americans coming to Cuenca for? Is it to be a part of Cuenca and call Cuenca home and to integrate into the Cuenca community? Or will they come here and isolate themselves in their own little gringo communities like in Costa Rica and Panama? We already see this happening in Cuenca.  

Oh, and, let’s not forget all those gringos who have already moved here and have grabbed themselves a place in the real estate and tourist biz for their own financial gain. Believe me, they are here! 



Update 2016: the solution is to come here and live like them and do not seclude yourself from the local people. Your chances of NOT being robbed are higher when you live in an Ecuadorian neighborhood and you are friends with your neighbors and everyone watches out for each other. 



I know that high up on our priority list as expats abroad is to have peace of mind when we go to bed at night, without that our retirement is pretty much shot. 



Go local comfortably. No one says you have to live in squalor for goodness sakes. There are middle class Ecuadorians. You want to move to Ecuador than move to Ecuador, not little North America.



Until we write again. You might like these articles about how to stay personally safe when living abroad.

• Why Crime Is Minimized in So Called Paradises Abroad?

• Low Crime Is Why Retirees Might Choose Cuenca Ecuador over Boquete Panama

• How Not To Become a Target of Crime When Living Abroad- Our Do's And Dont's

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!