Biking Cotopaxi, Ecuador in Family
I see it all the time working in a hotel in Guayaquil.
They arrived, a young expat family with two parents in their 30’s and 2 little kids.
They had never been to Ecuador.
But they were planning on making a life here.
They had read all the fluffy speak of Ecuador online. Visited the blogs.
But when they got here it was a different story, almost right from the start.
The landlord they were going to rent from over the net kind of stiffed them, then someone else overcharged them.
Then the mother, up-tight already, got uneasy seeing all the nudy magazines in the streets and the people kissing in public (common in many countries in the world, not just in Ecuador).
Then the father, who didn’t quite grasp yet that pedestrians DON’T have the right of way in Ecuador, got hit by a car… luckily it wasn’t serious and he was OK.
All the while feeling a bit isolated by the language barrier, and disappointed that prices weren’t as low as they were led to believe online before arriving.
They came.
They left.
They made it less than a month.
My advice so this doesn’t happen to you?
Commit to 6 months here no matter what!
In that time you should get over the learning curve, learn how to spend less to live here and make some local friends and learn at least a bit of the language.
If you do that, you’ll find Ecuador an amazing place to live, and I bet, no matter where else in the world you go, you’ll keep coming back. (Like me!)
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