An American Military Veteran in Ecuador: I Think it's Time

An American Military Veteran in Ecuador: I Think it's Time: 

  I think it's time to share a few of the "different" things about Ecuador that I think every potential expat needs to know befor...
Most of my articles have a happy go lucky flair to them. A lot of folks have accused me of having rose covered glasses on and not seeing the "seedy underbelly" of Ecuador. I know what is out there, but, just like in the US I try not to focus on the negative. If I am somewhere I shouldn't be, I get myself out of there most ricky tick!
  Some of you have read my piece on driving here in Ecuador, what I failed to mention is, if there is an accident, EVERYONE goes to jail until guilt can be assigned. If that is a fact you can not handle, maybe driving here is not for you. Every time I get behind the wheel (or my caretaker gets behind the wheel) there is potential for me to end up in an Ecuadorian prison. Every time. Thought provoking, no?
Bribes are alive and well down here. Again, these are not necessarily a bad thing, nor are they necessarily high. An example would be buying a police man a coke, because he stopped you and you are driving on your US license over 30 days. Maybe $5 and you are home free. Does this work every time? Probably not. Have I had to try it? Not as of yet. Do I keep $5 in my wallet just in case? You betcha!
  "Gringo pricing". Another thing that is alive and well! I was a victim of it first hand! My caretakers took us to a mercado (market) in Salinas and we did some shopping with them. Then, about a week later, my wife and I went to the same mercado and shopped at the same stalls our caretakers had taken us too. We got 5 bananas for $1. We thought we did really well, until my caretaker went and got 15 bananas for $1. Literally! 15! We also got 4, very fatty, pork chops for $4. 

 Thinking we had done well, we did not realize how badly we had been had. For $4 in my caretakers got 8 very large, very unfatty (?) pork chops. Am I mad at the folks who took advantage? Not in the least. I did not prepare myself for shopping as I should have. It is at least partially my fault for not being informed, or paying attention. We have decided that unless we need something from the actual grocery store or walmart type store, we either go with our caretakers, or send them with a list. We made the necessary changes and now, we do not worry.
  Medical care may not be readily available. For folks mine and my wife's age (38 and....... respectively) that is not such a big thing. We are currently at least 2 hours from a major medical center (in Guyaquil). We do have an emergency room here in Salinas as well as at least 1 private hospital I have seen in our outings.
The public hospitals are often ill equipped, or they do have the equipment but it is broken. Often times the technician that runs a particular machine (ie xray, ct scan, mri) has "just gone home for the day". 

The waiting rooms are more regularly than not full of people waiting to use the "Ecuador funded health care". The private hospitals are for cash paying customers. These still don't always have the necessary life saving equipment, or are hours away. Keep this in mind when you finally decide to settle.
  Personal space. I know many of my friends who have to have their "personal space" with no one "on top of" them (I myself really dislike crowds). Personal space in Ecuador is virtually non-existent. Lines are merely a place to race to the front, and just because you are in the front doesn't necessarily mean you are next. I have to tell myself quite frequently that I am retired and I have the time to wait. If someone HAS TO GET IN FRONT OF ME, I let them. It doesn't hurt and it can help to make you not seem like a Gringo ass-hat. Which brings me to my next and final point of this piece.
  You are being watched. All the time, by good and bad people. People that are truly interested in and curious about who you are as a person, an expat, or an American, Brit, Canuck, etc. Then there are other folks watching you. Waiting for you to make a "stupid gringo" mistake. 

 Setting your smart phone on the table after you take a photo or a call with it. Placing your purse on the floor by your feet. Anything that can assist them in making you a target. Is it because Ecuadorians "hate" us? Not at all. Believe it or not, in your own home countries you were being watched as well. There, you just blended in a bit better than we do here.
  It can be scary, it can be wonderful, it can be perfect, and it can be painful. The key is, what are you willing to accept, and what are you not? Only you can decide that for yourselves. As we sit on our veranda and look out at the ocean in front of us that goes on forever, I think we can handle these things just fine.
Look deep inside, can you?

Alcatel-Lucent and CNT deploy Ecuador’s first 4G LTE ultra-broadband network

   Contract follows successful trial by Alcatel-Lucent and CNT demonstrating benefits of increased capacity and download speeds of up to 100 Mbps perfect for today’s advanced, bandwidth-hungry applications
 
  Quito, Ecuador/Paris, France, September 11, 2013 - Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU), and Corporacion Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (CNT) deploy the first 4G LTE high-speed mobile broadband network in Ecuador Covering the cities of Guayaquil, Cuenca, Machala and Loja, as well as most of the major cities in Ecuador´s Pacific Coast and Southern area.

  The new network will provide the increased capacity of high-speed mobile broadband to enable a range of services and application over mobile devices at download speeds of up to 100 megabits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds of 40 Mbps. These speeds will enable CNT to offer enhanced fixed, mobile and convergent services, such as high definition video streaming to a wide range of customers in Ecuador...read more:Alcatel-Lucent and CNT deploy Ecuador’s first 4G LTE ultra-broadband network

Creating an Emergency Preparedness Folder - List Of Important Documents

   Creating an Emergency Preparedness Folder keeps all your important documents in one place in case of a disaster.

  As heartbreaking as a spouse or yourself dying, what a gift of love to leave behind for your loved ones… an organized estate...read more:http://thehomesteadsurvival.com/list-important-documents/

Faire Collection Blog: Spice up your holiday with Aji

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Spice up your holiday with Aji

Aji (Ecuadorian hot sauce)

Holiday Greetings from the Andean Collection team! We wanted to share one of our favorite Ecuadorian recipes to spice up your upcoming holiday meals; Aji an Ecuadorian hot sauce.

Whenever we're in Ecuador we put this sauce on anything savory. It is the best!

Aji Peppers

Also, if you need a list minute gift idea for your friends or as a hostess gift for a holiday party you can bottle this sauce in a mason jar (super cute) tie a bow around the jar and voilá!

Just add a festive bow around the mason jar for the perfect holiday gift

Recipe:

4 hot red peppers (aji peppers or similar small hot pepper)

2 garlic cloves

1 medium white onion chopped

1/2 cup of water

2 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped

3 tablespoons of scallions, chopped

1 tablespoon of cilantro, chopped

1 tablespoon fresh coriander, chopped

1 tablespoon fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped

1 lemon juice the juice

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon salt

Directions:

Combine the water, lemon juice, olive oil, aji peppers, garlic, 3 tablespoons of chopped tomatoes, onion, and cilantro in a blender. Puree until smooth.

Add the remaining ingredients to the puree and mix well.

Add salt to taste.

Faire Collection Blog: Spice up your holiday with Aji: Aji (Ecuadorian hot sauce) Holiday Greetings from the Andean Collection team! We wanted to share one of our favorite Ecuadorian recipes ...
...Comment note from jour-ja-in ec: Not just holidays - any days! 

Retired abroad? Get ready for FATCA - Oct. 18, 2013

  With huge deficits, governments the world over are looking at ways to generate more revenue. No doubt that they are leaving no stone unturned. For Americans living or retired abroad (which is a growing trend), this means preparing for FATCA.

 What is FATCA you may ask? According to Americansabroad.org, "The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, better known as FATCA, was passed in 2010 as part of the HIRE act. Starting in 2014 foreign financial institutions (FFI) will be required by the U.S. government, under FATCA, to report information regarding accounts of U.S. citizens, U.S. persons, Green Card holders and individuals holding certain U.S. investments to the IRS. ...If these non-U.S. accounts had a cumulative balance on any given one day of the year of more than $10,000, filing is mandatory." ...read more: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/retired-abroad-get-ready-for-fatca-2013-10-18

The REAL Fukushima Danger ~Move south of the Equator - ECUADOR~

The REAL Fukushima Danger

Posted on September 14, 2013 by WashingtonsBlog

 

{Nuclear expert Arnie Gundersen and physician Helen Caldicott have both said that people should evacuate the Northern Hemisphere if one of the Fukushima fuel pools collapses. Gundersen said: Move south of the equator if that ever happened, I think that’s probably the lesson there.} 

The Real Problem …

The fact that the Fukushima reactors have been leaking huge amounts of radioactive water ever since the 2011 earthquake is certainly newsworthy.  As are the facts that:

• Tepco doesn’t know how to stop the leaks

• Scientists have no idea where the cores of the nuclear reactors are

• Radiation could hit Korea, China and the West Coast of North America fairly hard

But the real problem is that the idiots who caused this mess are probably about to cause a much bigger problem.
Specifically, the greatest short-term threat to humanity is from the fuel pools at Fukushima.
If one of the pools collapsed or caught fire, it could have severe adverse impacts not only on Japan … but the rest of the world, including the United States.   Indeed, a Senator called it a national security concern for the U.S.:

The radiation caused by the failure of the spent fuel pools in the event of another earthquake could reach the West Coast within days. That absolutely makes the safe containment and protection of this spent fuel a security issue for the United States.

Nuclear expert Arnie Gundersen and physician Helen Caldicott have both said that people should evacuate the Northern Hemisphere if one of the Fukushima fuel pools collapses. Gundersen said:

Move south of the equator if that ever happened, I think that’s probably the lesson there....read more: http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/09/the-real-fukushima-danger.html

Life at Latitude Zero: Ridiculously Beautiful

Life at Latitude Zero: Ridiculously Beautiful: Some days in Ecuador are ridiculously beautiful--way over the top.   Not every day.  And thankfully so. Otherwise I would never get any writing done--or cooking or cleaning or cat grooming.  In fact, if every day were like the one in these photos, I would simply be swallowed up by the beauty, never to be heard from again.
But my writing life is safe.  Truth is, Ecuador is famous for clouds--friendly clouds I might add, not...