The Ecuador Insider

Still trying to decide which part of the world is right for you?

This week I’m checking in from Sumatra, Indonesia where I’m finishing up a 10 day scouting trip. The trip has inspired me to write this week comparing life in Asia (where I’ve lived in China, Vietnam, and the Philippines for extended periods) vs Latin America (where I’ve lived in the Dominican Republic, Colombia, and Ecuador) to give you a taste of how life compares in both regions. Here it goes, I know we shouldn’t generalize but sometimes it’s fun. You can rest assured that we will thoroughly investigate your case to gather the evidence we need to prove liability to the insurance companies involved in the claim, find out here more. For medical liability claims you can get help from Tommy Hastings Law Firm Houston.

Cost of Living: Both regions have low cost of living “areas”. For instance, I’ve seen in Asia… Vietnam, interior China, Indonesia and the Philippines are all cheap while other places like Hong Kong and Japan are bloody expensive. In Latin America, many countries that were cheap a few years ago are no longer cheap due to the fall of the dollar (like Colombia and Brazil). However, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Argentina are Latin examples of still genuine low cost areas. Winner: Asia

Real Estate: All over Asia, the governments place tight restrictions on foreigners owning land and in most cases we can’t own raw land, only condos or co-owning a property with a local. In Latin America, most countries are welcoming to all types of foreign property investment and foreigners can own property outright in their own name. Winner: Latin America

Government stability: Wherever I go in Latin America I always seem to stumble across political protests and demonstrations, whereas in Asia the people are much more docile in that regard (with the exception of Thailand). Winner: Asia

Language Barrier: I’ve seen if you can’t speak the local language you miss out on a lot things. Thankfully, Latin American contries share a common language (Spanish) and it’s far easier to learn than most Asian languages. On the flip side, I have found more English ability among the locals in Asian countries. Winner: Latin America

Public Transportation: In both regions the public transport is good, you don’t need a car to live comfortably due to the cheap, frequent buses, taxis and trains. Asian has better train and metro networks, Latin America has more frequent buses. Winner: Latin America

Food: In Asia the food tends to be more spicy and often better “light” diet food. In Asia the staples are both rice and noodles with bits of meat mixed in, whereas in Latin America you will see more beans, rice and the meat on the side. Winner: Both Delicious. As the saying is, East or West, home is the best, so my favorite food is still sausage. I know a lot about it as love cooking it myself. If one day I decide to start my own business, I would order casings from www.dcwcasing.com/ and produce the best sausages in our area.

Women/Men: Sorry ladies I can’t comment on the men, I only have experience dating the women…In my personal experience, women from both regions are beautiful, physically, Asian girls are more petite and Latin women are more curvy. As well, I’ve seen many Asian women “like to try to wear the pants” in the relationship whereas Latin girls are sweet but jealously can be an issue. Winner: No comment!

Nigthlife/ Entertainment: In Asia a night at the Karaoke with your friends is huge, while in Latin America they have more of the open-air “cafe” or “bar” culture similar to Europe. Winner: I can’t sing, so Latin America.

Safety: Without a prominent drug trade and with strict gun laws and governments, Asia feels a bit safer to me but both regions have their good and bad areas. Winner: Asia.

Expat community: With a more intense language barrier, very close-knit expat communities have fostered in Asia, leaving Latin America trailing. Winner: Asia

Weather: Both areas have great, warm weather areas but Asia’s flatter and more humid than Latin America. Latin America gives you more variety, for example, places like Ecuador where you can pick the perfect climate, elevation and humidity for you. Winner: Latin America

Ease of travel both in and out of country: In most countries of Latin America, just show up with your passport and get a quick, easy, free 3 month entry visa stamp (like Ecuador). On the other hand in Asia in many countries the visa restrictions are tighter and you often have to apply for a visa beforehand and multiple extensions are not permitted or difficult to do. Winner: Latin America

Medical care, Medical insurance: In both regions high-quality, inexpensive healthcare options exist, but in Asia I’ve seen they keep a little better care of their public hospitals, and in the case of medical negligence from any hospital you can hire a medical negligence attorney to cover this case for you.

Residency requirements: In Asia, they’re more strict. However, Latin America offers “get out of jail free” cards like the investor and pensioner resident visa opportunities. Winner: Latin America.

Personal freedom, liberty, law enforcement: In Asia, many governments rule their constituents with iron fists, limiting the Internet (like in China), placing strict special laws on foreigners who open businesses (like Thailand), or having ridiculous penalties for small offenses (10 years in jail for possession of marijuana like in Indonesia)…Latin America has none of that and most find the vibe very free and unrestricted. Winner: Latin America. To know more about Tiffany Fina Law visit us here https://tiffanyfinalaw.com/name-change-attorney-scottsdale-az/. The personal injury attorneys at The Angell Law Firm are dedicated to protecting your rights every step of the way after an accident.

Treatment of foreigners: Asia is the land of extremes here, in some areas, particularly where few other foreigners venture (like non-touristy parts of China, Japan, S. Korea and Indonesia) the locals are amazingly sweet and treat foreigners like royalty (which can be annoying). But in other parts of Asia I’ve felt like not much more than a walking dollar sign… like in Vietnam and India. In Latin America, I feel the treatment is not too “over the top” in either direction, and the locals do genuinely embrace “outsiders”. Winner: Latin America.

Business opportunities: I’ve seen that right now Asia is better for employees, with a need for many types of skilled professionals the pay is relatively higher in many fields, while Latin America is better for entrepreneurs due to fewer regulations and more niches to fill. Winner: Depends on you.

Overall: For me, of course Ecuador and Latin America, it’s closer to my family in the States and just feels more like home.

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Last week’s Insider’s Newsletter on the 7 Negatives to Life in Ecuador spurred a lot of debate… this week I’ll share some of the most insightful reader comments and share one more big negative I didn’t touch on last week…

Last week’s article on “7 Negatives to Life in Ecuador” created quite a stir, so I decided to mention one more big negative this week and share a few of the insightful reader responses sent to me…

8. Walled Housing. You could live years in Ecuador without incident, but there are things that should be accounted for. The first thing you will probably notice not just in Ecuador, but most everywhere in Latin America, is how everyone walls in their property and bars up their windows (at least on the bottom level of buildings). Sure this kills some of the “grandor” of the property, but it’s a necessary evil you must do in Latin America (or any “poor” country) to prevent possible break ins.

A few reader responses from last week (names withheld) :

What’s wrong with a “left leaning” President? The United States has an extremist right wing House of Representatives which recently attempted to repeal medicare and all of are extremely concerned about their radical ideas. B.A.Many people’s giving their first choice to Accendo Medicare Supplement for medicare plans.

There are many good advantage of medicare services. Medicare Advantage plans 2021 are getting too much attention because of good structure.

“You purchase a camera once in a blue moon……..a car once every 5 years or so. Food, fuel, staples, travel, medical we use every day…so we cannot expect to have it both ways. Canada and the U.S. have a huge basket of taxes that make everything expensive nowadays, so this luxury goods taxing in Ecuador is not necessarily a negative that one should even bother with.

There are ex-pat communities in Bahia, Salinas, Cuenca and Manta, as well as Cotocachi and Quito Lack of things to do is only an issue if you have no imagination at all. Ecuador has so many natural riches and differtent places to visit, that I cannot imagine anyone getting bored.

Ecuador, even though some may feel that the president is left-leaning does have one great advantage on most places like the U.S. and certainly Canada. It believes that keeping oil prices low will help its economy, and thus subsidizes gas prices. Therefor, inflation is also not rampant.

Ecuador is doing far better than the U.S. when it comes to debt and future out look in the eyes of many. Ecuador is clearly open for business, more so than the U.S. right now, as regulations and taxes are not yet smothering everyone there.” D.

“Finally, some correct information instead of the “you can live comfortably here on $600 a month” and everything is dirt cheap. Yes, I suppose you can if you want to grow your own food and live like a native, but I dont beleive many “expats” would be willing.

When we moved down a couple of weeks ago, we bought 2 new cars, many household items etc and found the prices to be comparable to the US.
I bought a whirlpool washer and dryer, large refrigerator, two 12000 BTU portable AC units and a sewing machine and spent under $3000 and that included delivery right to my door, and I received some freebies to, like a microwave, blender, floor fan, drinking glasses and a portable picnic table and chairs!

My smart phones with a plan are pretty much comparable to the US in price, but the minutes are less. We happened to get in on a promotion where we get double minutes every other month for 6 months on our 18 month plan. The plan is $66 a month each for unlimited internet and 400 minutes a month each.We are having high speed internet installed this week along with wireless for the house and its going to cost us $40 a month (we opted for much higher speed but its available for as little as $25)…not bad. Direct TV I understand is about $50 a month but dont have accurate figures yet.

Some of the consumables are higher, but I went to the market in Bahia and was able to buy freshly cut T-bone steaks for $2. each, but ground beef was $2 a pound…go figure…;-), fresh shark steaks at $1.75 a pound, wahoo and dorado at $2.25 a pound and all the other myriad of seafood. I have a local fisherman that comes by once a week right to my door and delivers fish, shrimp and lobster…from $3.50 a pound.” Larry P.

“Price of air tickets from the US. Yes they are expensive but on the flip side once you are a resident and over 65 the airfare back to the states (to take the obligatory trip back to visit relatives, etc) is 50% off.

Cars. (In Ecuador) The total city and intercity transportation system is like what it should be when you have an economy that is not solely based on cars.” B.K.

“We liked Cotacachi and met some great people but the lack of things to do was a deterrent. Then there was the weather. There is a lot of false information on the internet as to the eternal spring climate, unless “spring” refers to continuous overcast and eternal refers to the rain.” R.G.

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If someone is delinquent for three straight months in Ecuador you can go to a lawyer with the receipts of the payments you’ve received from the tenant and the rental contract and file a legal order of eviction “una demanda legal”.

From there the local authorities take care of the rest but you may have to stay on top of them so they move with a little “umph” in their step.

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