The Ecuador Insider

I love Colombia. Just like I love Ecuador. Don’t make me choose mama…

I’ve lived in Colombia about a year, and now Ecuador on and off since 2005.

It’s true what the Colombian tourism promoters say, “If you go to Colombia, you may never leave, but because you want to stay”…

The big cities and even the small towns of Colombia are safe, and have been since their recent president Alvaro Uribe really cleaned up shop in the years since 2000.

Wondering around in the deep jungle of Colombia is the main place I I’d say don’t go, due to known security problems.

Great people, good food, reasonable prices… all with a colorful, unique culture all it’s own, Colombia makes a great side-trip for folks living in Ecuador.

Getting from Ecuador to Colombia has gotten cheaper and easier in recent years…

Train is not an option. Buses are easy, cheap and plentiful (if you can stomach the hours on the road)…

From Quito to the southern border of Colombia is 5 hours by bus. From the border to the next largest city (Cali) is another 16-22 hours. To Bogota, or Medellin from Cali add another full day of bus riding.

But the buses in both Ecuador and Colombia are extremely cheap, at about $1 per hour traveled. Buses leave every few hours, I recommend buying your ticket at least one day in advance at the PanAmericana station in the Mariscal district of Quito.

Getting between the two by air is getting cheaper with each passing year as more airlines open flights…

You can fly from Quito to Cali direct in one hour for around $100-150 (one way) with LAN, and Avianca (depending on the season). Same goes for Bogota, but to Bogota you have a few more options like the local Ecuadorian carrier, Aerogal.

Sometimes carriers have specials for $50 one way, $100 round trip that they advertise locally in Ecuador in the papers, usually only a few weeks in advance of the sale dates…

Get your salsa shoes ready and be sure you know what an “Arepa” is before you go!

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Sure! Now that depends on what you mean by “scenery”, if a friend were to ask me that I would immediately assume he meant “how are the local gals in the area?”…but anyways…I think I get what you’re saying, “scenery” in the traditional sense…

I’d recommend the areas in the Andes (if you like the mountain scene) of Cotacachi-Otavalo-Ibarra area or in the south of Ecuador Vilcabamba or the beautiful areas just north and south of Cuenca.

As for the coast, most of the coast is still undeveloped so you can pretty much take your pick… for peace and quiet I like Ballenita near Salinas, the Olon area and maybe up north in Pedernales (but you feel real secluded here).

The noisiest parts of the coast are the Ecuadorian party towns… Salinas (Jan-Apr), Crucita, Montanita and Atacames. I’d avoid these areas if “quiet” is your ideal.

Hope that helps, send me your questions about Ecuador via the contact form…thanks, Domenick

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Good question. In and of itself, no, but if you invest $25k or more in the business yes you can get an investor’s resident visa, or you can apply for a business visa which you can get if you start a corporation in Ecuador and pay an accountant monthly to crunch your numbers.

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