Monday, December 30, 2013
Will Manta Be Ecuador's Third International Airport?
Reports
pop up periodically, mostly on websites and blogs aimed at potential
expats, that Ecuador is about to designate Manta as its third
international airport, after Quito and Guayaquil. A few years ago, a
popular move-overseas site tipped off its readers to a screaming real
estate deal; buy property around the Manta airport quickly, it advised,
before flights from Miami and Houston start arriving. Recently, another
site pushing a Manta real estate development noted that new
international flights were sure to make property prices soar.
What's the real story? We talked to an official at Ecuador's Dirección General de Aviación Civil to find out.
Ecuador
actually has 11 airports with international designations, the official
pointed out. Beside Quito and Guayaquil, airports in Cuenca, Manta,
Santa Rosa (Machala), Salinas and Baltra (Galapagos) and five others,
are classified as international. The international tag, he said, simply
amounts to planning for the future and does not mean flights from the
U.S. and Argentina are imminent. In fact, he says, it will probably be
years before Ecuador needs another international passenger airport and,
when it does, Cuenca would probably be the top choice based on demand.
He
added: "Manta is already an international cargo airport and we expect
it to grow in this capacity. As far as passenger service goes, Manta is
the seventh or eighth largest city in Ecuador so there is minimal demand
for international service."
For
the record, the official said that the top five airports in Ecuador
based on passenger traffic are (in order): Quito, Guayaquil, Cuenca,
Baltra and Manta.
Ecuador struggles to keep drug trade out of the country while activity increases in the jungle and northern coast
Posted By Admin | Published: December 22, 2013 22:04The dreaded Mexican drug cartels have allied with former paramilitaries and guerrillas in Colombia and frequently encroach across the border into Ecuador. Although the Revolutionary Arm
ed
Forces of Colombia (FARC) officially claims that it is not involved in
the drug trade, overwhelming evidence suggests it is, mostly for the
purpose of financing its military activity. In many cases, it appears
that drug cartels have joined forces with FARC and use remote northern
Ecuadorian jungle areas as drug collection and distribution sites....read more:The expat life as seen through the eyes of an Ecuadorian; battling stereotypes and adapting to new environments
Posted By Admin | Published: June 28, 2013 06:32By Yolanda Reinoso Barzallo
I have been an expat for the last 10 years of my life.
This may not seem remarkable to many people in Cuenca, a city with thousands of North American and European expats. My story, however, has a different twist.
I am a Cuencana. I was born and raised here and my family continues to live here. I married a gringo from Florida who came to Cuenca to teach English and then moved with him, 10 years ago, when his work took him to the Middle East. Later, we lived in the U.S., in New York and Colorado, before moving back to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
I would like to share with you my perspective on the expat life and how I have changed by being exposed to new cultures....read more:
....read more: 
