The Ecuador Insider

There were 5 key steps in my flight search that I think you will need to know so you can save too:

1. Know when to go. Try not to fly during peak times. Peak times in Ecuador are when the Ecuadorians living abroad come home to visit their families. These times are from mid-December to the first week of April (Semana Santa (Easter week)). Expect prices to be higher during this time.

2. Buy round-trip air tickets. I’ve found that round-trip fares are often the same price, or at times even a little lower than one way fares.

3. Fly from Miami or New York. The cheapest direct flights leaving the US for Ecuador fly out of Miami (MIA) or Fort Lauderdale (FLL) airports, with New York a distant second. I have saved $$ buying two separate tickets, one from my home (in Montana) to Miami, and a separate one from Miami to Ecuador. For example, I recently flew roundtrip BZN (my city) to MIA $292. MIA to UIO (Quito) $357…for a Total including taxes=$649. If I would have bought roundtrip from Montana to Quito the cheapest flights available were costing $850-$950 USD.

4. Know where to look online. I start my flight searches at Kayak.com, which is great because it checks for flights across many different sites like Expedia, Travelocity, Priceline and Orbitz all at once. Kayak also allows you to check for flights to nearby airports and allows you to see prices for dates both 3 days before and after your desired departure. After finding the cheapest flight on Kayak, you may want to hop over to the airlines’ official site to see if you can buy it straight from them for cheaper, sometimes I have been able to.

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From the USA to a landline phone in Ecuador:

1. First dial 00 or 011 (depends on your phone provider) both have worked for me…

2. Then the country code for Ecuador “593”

3. Then the city code:
Cuenca or Loja: 7
Quito: 2
Guayaquil or Salinas: 4
Manta: 5

4. Then dial the 7 digits of the number XXX-XXXX. And talk.

Now if you want to call a cell phone in Ecuador, follow the steps as mentioned above but no need to dial the city code …and whatever their cell number is, say 092597581 …. drop the “0” in front…

So dial 00-593-92597581…and talk! hope that helps…

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As far as the on the Ecuador end, there are no fees to receive money transfers from abroad. All you will need to give your home bank is the Ecuador bank name (where you are sending the money to), the Swift code or the receptor bank, address of bank and the account number.

Your bank in the US or elsewhere will likely charge you a transfer fee of around $50, and there may or may not be a tax on the exit of capital, depending on your countries’ rules.

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Yes, Ecuador property is still considerably cheaper than other “discovered” areas in Latin America like say…Costa Rica.

But there are a few places where prices have already risen, and other areas that are just as nice as the higher priced areas but not quite as discovered and well…a lot cheaper.

Quito, Cuenca and Cotacachi are three places in the Andes where prices have risen in recent years, and for Ecuador…higher priced.

In Quito, for instance, 1 bedroom apartments/condos in decent areas start around $35-40k, 2 bedroom apartments in nicer areas start from around $45k…Houses aren’t common considering it’s a big city.

Now, in this area ( the Andes or highlands region) for me, Ibarra and and the nearby area is a hidden gem with beautiful scenery with still undiscovered low prices that should be considered.

Ibarra is a small colonial town tucked into the green Andes a few hours north of Quito, and about 45 minutes from Cotacachi.

I like the town of Ibarra but many like the nearby countryside and towns which are blessed with alpine beauty and little fertile valleys good for growing just about anything you can imagine.

The town is safe, with friendly people, a mild-temperate climate and is cheap…even for Ecuador.

As for the coast…

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Can you differentiate between a real dollar bill and a fake?

This is a huge problem in Ecuador that could cost you serious money, and as soon as you exit the airport gates!

Many Americans have no idea how to differentiate a real bill from a fake until you spend some time abroad.

But it is critical you learn this skill as soon as possible because wrong doers know that foreigners usually can’t differentiate and are easy targets to slip fakes to.

The first thing to keep in mind is that real bills feel almost like fabric or cloth, fake bills, especially the poorly made ones feel and are made of paper.

Next, there is a watermark bills have on the right side, usually in the shape of a number or a face in the open space below where it says “United States of America”.

It is unlikely the bill is a fake if it has this watermark (that you can see if you hold it up to the light), but the better made fakes have a sticker placed where the watermark should be to give it the appearance that it has it.

A better way to tell if a bill is fake or not (and how the locals do it) is to scratch your fingernail across where the print of the face on the bill is (Abe Lincoln on a five for example), and see if the bill has a course texture, the real ones do.

Another good way to tell if a bill is fake or not for 10s, 20s or higher is to hold the bill up to the light and focus on the bottom right hand corner where there is a shiny number. As you move the bill in the light, if the number changes color, it is real, if it doesn’t noticeably change, it is a fake.

I personally would not accept bills higher than a 20 from anyone in Ecuador other than the bank.

Another caution I would give is to be careful getting change back from taxis, they are notorious for slipping fake bills to people late at night.

A third thing to keep in mind when doing business in Ecuador and selling something large, don’t accept checks from people (they usually will not have sufficient funds), and don’t accept cash in hand, it is better to request a direct bank deposit, where you give them your account number, they make the deposit, and then you know for sure the money is good.

Hate to sound paranoid, but in Ecuador, like in any developing country, certain precautions need to be taken sometimes.

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