Thursday, December 19, 2013 Six months in Ecuador

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Six months in Ecuador

Today marks six months since we moved to Ecuador. It has been a wonderful, trying, fabulous, frustrating time.  We are legal residents of the country, which means that we have our cedulas (Ecuadorian ID card) and the permanent resident stamp in our passports.



Here are some of highlights:

• Moved from Guayaquil to the Olon area after we obtained residency.  We are renting a casita from a couple of expats while we look for our own property.
• Bought a car (some people choose to rely solely on the great public transportation system - we did not want to be without our own car)  Scott detailed the process on his blog.
• Opened a savings account.  This sounds like a simple task but it was not!  It took us three months to accomplish this task. The items required included: 
• Color copy of passport picture page
• Color copy of cedula
• Letter of recommendation no more than one month old from an Ecuadorian who has an account at that bank (our Guayaquil landlady wrote this for us)
• A cell phone number (or two - we gave two but I am not sure if they were both required)
• Two land line phone numbers (we gave the number of our landlady and a lady who did translations for us)
• Proof of employment, retirement income, or bank balance from overseas bank
• Proof that we either voted in the last election or were not eligible to vote
• Copy of the most recent month's electric bill showing where we live
• Made a trip a week after opening it to pick up the ATM card, which took several hours since the system was down when we first arrived,
  

Visited a hotel in northern Manabi province that is raising a baby monkey!  Something happened to his mother so they stepped in to raise him.  The monkey walked around on my head.  It was funny - just like kittens like to sit on shoulders, behind someone's head, he climbed right up to sit on my head.  He liked my hair and played with it quite a bit....read more: http://emilbloo.blogspot.com/

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Time for phase three...:Sunday, October 13, 2013

Buying the car-

Time for phase three...: Buying the car: In my last post I mentioned that Emily and I had purchased a vehicle here in Ecuador, a Chevrolet/Suzuki Grand Vitara: It's been wo...





In my last post I mentioned that Emily and I had purchased a vehicle here in Ecuador, a Chevrolet/Suzuki Grand Vitara:

It's been working well for us and we're getting about 50 km/gal!  It doesn't have excessive power and it's not four-wheel drive, so we won't be driving it on the beach (which some people do), but it does everything we need.

Buying a car in Ecuador is a much different process than buying one back home.  In the States, the car dealership provides one-stop shopping that covers everything.  In Ecuador, we get to run all over the place to get it done.  There are multiple times where I had to suppress my inner Lewis Black and exercise patience: ....read more: http://sbphasethree.blogspot.com/2013/10/buying-car.html

EcuadorGeorgeAfterDark- Eight Steps to Making the Transition from the United States to Ecuador:

EcuadorGeorgeAfterDark

December 19, 2013
Sometimes people send me things that they want me to use on my blog.
Although the author has remained anonomous on other sites, she has given me permission to give her credit on my After Dark page.
So cheers to Kathie Sedwick who has produce a magnificent piece of writing. Please enjoy.

Eight Steps to Making the Transition from the United States to Ecuador:

Step 1: Before you leave spend a few months bashing the US on the EE forum at every opportunity. This will endear you to the expat community because ALL expats hate the US.
Step 2: Make sure everyone knows all about how terrible your life has been so you will receive all the sympathy you so richly deserve and people will admire you.....read more: http://www.ecuadorgeorge.com/ecuador-george-after-dark/

The band Metallica is reportedly coming to Quito MARCH 18, 2014

The band Metallica is reportedly coming to Quito. The former host of MTV's "Headbangers", Alfredo Lewin tweeted a picture with the tentative dates of Metallica's tour in South America. It showed a Quito concert on March 18. City councilor Freddy Heredia said the concert would be at Bicentennial Park.






Update: It's now confirmed that Metallica will indeed perform at Quito's Bicentennial Park on March 18 at 21:00. Tickets go on sale December 19.

Metallica became the only band to perform concerts on all seven continents in the same year. The band recently held a concert in Antarctica. Rock on, penguins!

Bogota, Colombia- March 16, 2014
Lima, Peru-- March 20, 2014

 The band Metallica is reportedly coming to Quito. The former host of MTV's "Headbangers", Alfredo Lewin tweeted a picture with the tentative dates of Metallica's tour in South America. It showed a Quito concert on March 18. City councilor Freddy Heredia said the concert would be at Bicentennial Park.

Update: It's now confirmed that Metallica will indeed perform at Quito's Bicentennial Park on March 18 at 21:00. Tickets go on sale December 19.

 Metallica became the only band to perform concerts on all seven continents in the same year. The band recently held a concert in Antarctica. Rock on, penguins!

https://www.metallica.com/.../history-made-in-antarctica.asp

 Must be a lot of heavy metal fans in Ecuador. Rumor of the band coming to Quito is the most read story this morning on El Comercio's website.
http://www.elcomercio.com/.../Metallica-musica-concierto...

Ticket prices range from $60 to $225. The South America tour schedule is now on Metallica's website.
Bogota, Colombia - March 16, 2014
Quito, Ecuador - March 18, 2014
Lima, Peru - March 20, 2014
http://www.metallica.com/tour_date_list.asp?show=current 

9 Ways to Spot a Fake Guru or Spiritual Teacher - June 15, 2013

These are several ways in which you can spot a false guru, spiritual teacher, or other peddler of faux spirituality. In this day and age where there are thousands of so-called gurus, we have to be careful who we choose to listen to because if we make the mistake of following someone who is ego-centered in their true intentions, then we will lose time, money, and opportunity costs (among other things).


It is my hope that this article can help in discerning between the genuine teacher that wishes nothing more than to help others become self-realized and experience spiritual bliss and those who proclaim they will do these things for you, but in reality are just emptying your bank account. Be mindful of who you decide to listen to and follow, and you will be thankful you spent some time to discern between those who are looking out for others and those who are looking out for themselves.

  Identifying False Gurus and Spiritual Teachers:  
Charging Large Amounts of Money - Giving Themselves Fancy Titles - 
Inability to Take Criticism - Overly Focused on the End Goal -

 Behaving Hypocritically - Focus on Fulfilling Egocentric Desires -

 Displaying Spiritual Materialism - Behaving Selfishly - 

Promising a Fast Path to Self-Realization- .......read more: http://shift.is/2013/06/9-ways-to-spot-a-fake-guru-or-spiritual-teacher/?fb_action_ids=474202272689078&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=[393981224055066]&action_type_map=[%22og.likes%22]&action_ref_map=[]

Embracing the Weirdness…Ecuador’s Surprises! -DEC 12th, 2013

Embracing the Weirdness…Ecuador’s Surprises!

Posted by Donald Murray 

· Thursday, December 12th, 2013 

· No Comments

 Our first exposure to the weirdness occurred the day after we landed in Ecuador as we began the long drive from Quito to the coast. We encountered a variety of biological and mechanized conveyances sharing the roadways with each other. Yep! Things with hooves share the same streets and roads with things with wheels. You can round the bend on a mountain road and encounter a herd of cattle blocking both lanes requiring quick, evasive action.

  It’s not uncommon to see a man riding a donkey alongside a motorcycle carrying 4 passengers. Drivers passing slow moving traffic on blind curves is the norm as are the too-often, horrific collisions! I cannot explain this. It is if some of these drivers just don’t understand or believe there could be opposing traffic. Driving a vehicle in this country will expose you to weirdness and moments of terror that you cannot see or fully experience riding as a passenger...read more: http://donaldmurrayecuador.com/embracing-the-weirdnessecuadors-surprises

Learn Spanish Before Living in Ecuador Part 3

Learn Spanish Before Living in Ecuador Part 3

Learn Spanish before living in Ecuador

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that one of my goals is to learn Spanish before living in Ecuador.  But what does it mean to learn Spanish?  It might be better to say “become familiar with the Spanish language”.
After studying on and off for six months I am convinced that formal Spanish lessons will eventually be needed. Immersion in a Spanish speaking culture will also be a huge help. But for now, these little windows on the language will have to do… I’ll try to make it as un-boring as possible.

Are you a puzzle person? Learning something completely new like a language is a lot like putting a puzzle together.
What do you do first? I go for the easy pieces.
Outside pieces first, then I look for objects, faces, and similar colors.

An American Military Veteran in Ecuador: Expat to Illegal Alien

An American Military Veteran in Ecuador: Expat to Illegal Alien: As you may have surmised from the title, we went from Expats legally residing in Ecuador, to Illegal Aliens living in Ecuador. How? We went ...