Category: Expat Lifestyle

Come on.

Just admit it.

One of the main reasons you are even interested in Ecuador is because you want to improve your lifestyle while at the same time lower your cost of living.

At least the possibility of such intrigues you.

Well, here are my hand-picked top 7 best-value hotels in Ecuador.  Bargain, nice places that should charge a lot more than they are.

Places where you can feel pampered and pay a small fraction of the cost you would back home.

But most of these aren´t easy to find nor easy to book beforehand (many of them don´t even have websites!)

Maybe these aren´t the cheapest choices out there, but they are the best bang for your buck in their given area.  Here goes…

7. Hotel Prado Internacional (Loja, Ecuador).  This hotel conveniently located right on the other side of the river from the old town in Loja is a four star quality hotel at two star prices.  There is an elevator, an elegant, open full time yet often empty rooftop restaurant with amazing food (try the bacon-rapped Filet Mignon in mushroom sauce for $6), a very friendly staff headed by the owner, Lucia, who speaks English.  The hot water is good, WIFI in room and the rooms are elaborately decorated.  Can´t beat the value for price, singles start for $26/night and doubles start around $39/night.

6.  Hotel Canoa Mar (Canoa, Ecuador).  This hotel is right on the beach in Canoa within walking distance of the town center yet just far enough away not to hear the discos blaring music.  The style of the hotel (laced with bamboo) is just what you´d expect from a hotel in the area.  There is hot water, WIFI in room and each room has its own carefully thought-out design… all for $10 per person.  I stay here when I´m in town.

5. Hotel Hugo´s Place (Montanita, Ecuador).  One block from the beach and a girl´s throw from the center of town, this 2013 newly inaugurated hotel in the center of Montanita is hard to beat for the price.  The rooms have a beautiful oceanview and are nicely finished with cement (to prevent noise and critters from entering), WIFI and hot water are available and rooms start at $10 per person ($12-15 on weekends).

4. Copalinga Nature Lodge (Zamora, Ecuador).  No trip is complete to Ecuador without venturing into the Amazon, yet most eco-lodges (like Kapawi) charge upwards of a hundred dollars a night.  Copalinga has beautiful cabins available right in the thick of the rainforest and within a short walk from the National Park Podocarpus.  Amazing for bird watchers, as dozens of Hummigbirds often buzz around you as you dine for breakfast in the morning.  Prices start around $23.50 per person for one of the older cabins available, newer more luxury ones are also available for about double the price.  Worth every penny.

3. Posada del Rio (Cuenca, Ecuador).  For me, the most stunning area of Cuenca is where the old town meets the Tomebamba river.  Thats where I want to be whenever I go to Cuenca, plus you are right in the middle of everywhere you want to go.  Built into a refurbished old colonial, just as you´d expect from Cuenca, the Posada del Rio is right along the river and several rooms have stunning views of the trickling brook.  This is another lodging option with rooms much nicer than what you would expect they rent for, hot water, WIFI and room service is available.  Rooms start around $15 per person.

2. Izhcayluma (Vilcabamba, Ecuador).  As a hotel owner myself in Quito I have the chance to chat with travelers almost everyday, and almost everyone I talk to who has stayed in Izhcayluma has nothing but great things to say about it.  Pamper yourself getting a treatment in the Spa, soak in the pool, horseback ride, bird watch, hike the trails through the green hills or even visit a sugar farm and watch the process of sugar making.  The service is top notch, the grounds well maintained… single rooms with private bath start around $28, doubles $38, shared dorm beds are also available for $12 each.  Hard to beat the value for your buck in Vilcabamba.

1. Hotel Gala (Baños, Ecuador).  This hotel, mainly frequented by local Ecuadorian tourists, has gorgeous mountain views and is right on the edge of the quiant town of Baños.  Its my pick whenever I´m in the area.  The rooms are borderline luxury, some may even hint at four star quality, and are very spacious.  The hot water is good and plentiful and the decoration is elaborate.  You are also within walking distance of the town center and the spas in Baños.  The only drawback is as of writing there is no WIFI, but sometimes its good to disconnect.  All for bargain prices starting around $12 per person.
 

Got a suggestion for this list?  Submit it here to the Q/A forum…

 

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“Hey, step into my office for a minute.”

“Don’t sit down, this will only take a second.” I continued.

“You’re fired, get the f**k out.”

OK, so this wasn’t exactly how it went down eariler this week.

But can’t blame a guy for dramatizing once in a while.

If you’ve met me, you know Im a soft-spoken guy, don’t think I could do it like that.

But due to a change in business circumstances, I unfortunately had to let someone go.

In Spanish, as in Ecuador, its very clear cut. Someone either quits (renunciar) or you fire them (despedir).

Theres no wishy washy middle ground like “laid off” or “let go”.

And when you have to let someone go, as I did this week, its a little different down here.

You have to “liquidate” them meaning pay them a final one-time “severance” payment equal to 25% of all the salary you’ve ever paid them plus any unpaid bonuses due to them.

But first, when you fire someone in Ecuador, or if someone leaves your business voluntarily, you have to go see an accountant who makes the official document (Acta de Finiquito) that needs to be filed with the Social Security Department (IESS) and Ministry of Labor (Ministerio de Trabajo).

Then, a date is scheduled when both you and your employee will have to go in front of an inspector where you will have to pay your employee their liquidation (severance) settlement and both sign off.

Theres really no way to get around this legal process nowadays in Ecuador or your employee can sue you.

Except if you hire the right way.

Which I didn’t this time around. In my case, for an employee I hired making a bit more than the minimum wage who worked for me for 3 months, Im going to have to pay her around $450 for her liquidation.

For instance, one loophole i recently discovered that will allow you to legally not pay the extremely costly 25% lump sum severance payment to your employees in Ecuador when you let them go is to hire your employees on a temporary limited time contract… say for one year.

At the end of the year you let them go for reasons of “contract ending” and then you don’t have to pay them the 25% lump sum liquidation of all the salary they’ve earned while under you. You will only have to pay a much smaller amount equal to any unpaid bonuses due to the employee for that year.

You can then do like most and maybe give them a few weeks off and then hire them back.

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Since moving to Ecuador, I´ve had quite a few things mailed to me from my original home, the USA.

Problem is… at first, the packages never got to me!

Online the tracking numbers indicated they had arrived to Ecuador. But they still never arrived at my home.

So what happened?

Finally, I figured it out.

Whenever someone mails you something from abroad using the general post, even if they mailed it to your exact street address in Ecuador, it doesn´t matter, it will most likely never make it there.

Instead.

Once you´ve verified the package is in Ecuador via a tracking number that is checkable online…

You have to go to the main office of the post in Ecuador (Correos Ecuador) in your city to pick it up. They may tell you that your package is in the head offices in Guayaquil or Quito.

Go with your passport or cedula, be prepared to pay at least a small fee, usually around $5 and you will be able to pick up your package. Having the original tracking number helps but isn´t absolutely necessary.

But careful, if you don´t go to pick it up within a sort time they will send it back to the original home country.

And they will NEVER inform you of any of this.

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I recently got this email from a subscriber…

“I enjoy your emails about Ecuador but have become concerned that it  is becoming known as the safe haven of enemies of the United States.  First it was Julian Assange from Wikileaks, and now it is Edward Snowden.”

My response: 

Well, yes, it is becoming a safe-haven, isn’t it obvious!

This is what happens when a leader plays to his own ego instead of doing what’s truly best for the country.

Maybe, being an oil-producing country with plentiful fresh water sources and extremely fertile farmland, Ecuador really doesn’t need the US, but someday it might.

What I do know is there’s quite a few folks in Ecuador whose clients are primarily North Americans (paticularily in the tourism and exporting industries), and if Ecuador starts to garner a bad rap, than yes, these businesses will be hurt.

Now I hate politics as much as anybody and don’t want to get into it but I look at it like this…

Any little guy like myself with leanings toward dorkiness… yet survived middle school in the USA knows it doesn’t pay to tick off a bully.  There’s nothing to be gained from it, you’re best to lay low, mind your own business and let the authorities sort out the injustices.

If I were Ecuador my response would have been to simply not get involved in the “Assange, Snowden” cases.

But does this effect Ecuador as a quality, safe, inexpensive place to live with a mild climate somewhat near the US that accepts foreigners wholeheartedly?

No, not really.

Most Ecuadorians have family in the US, and feel a special bond with Americans so i don’t think rascism towards North Americans will ever be an issue and it will remain a nice place to live despite these very-political occurances.

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“Come on man, help me grab her washing machine.” My Ecuadorian friend (and roomate at the time) yelled.

“Naw man, even if she did screw me, and I don’t mean that in the positive sense, I’m not about stealing people’s shit.” I responded.

“Thats how we do it in Ecuador.” He responded.

You see, recently a good local friend of mine and myself were renting an apartment in Quito, and the landlord upon finding out we were going to unoccupy the apartment refused to give us back our security deposit.

So my Ecuadorian friend planned on cleaning her out by taking her microwave, washing machine and random other things… but I eventually talked him out of it.

But as a renter in Ecuador, excuse me, as a FOREIGN renter in Ecuador, its important you know your rights cause a lot of people will try to take advantage of you.

It is what it is.

So what exactly are your rights as a renter in Ecuador? 

Well, this week I was interviewing a friend in the Rental Court of Ecuador (Juzgado de inquilinato) in Quito asking just that.

Me: Security deposits, how much should they be, what is legal?

Response: There is no legal limit as of yet but most folks with nicer properties charge two months worth of rent as the security deposit.

My take: Use your status as a foreigner (us foreigners have a good rep of being good renters so use that as you negotiate) and often you can get the landlord down to accepting one month worth of rent.  Some don’t ask any deposit.

If a property owner doesn’t mention a security deposit, DON’T mention it yourself!  If there is no way around a hefty security deposit but you really want the place, most landlords will accept, and I suggest, that you pay half the security deposit up front and the other half after a month or two, this gives you time to evaluate the property.

Me: If I leave my contract early, does a landlord have the right to keep my security deposit?  

Response:  No, absoutely not, not in Ecuador.

Me: If I leave my contract before it expires, and unoccupy the property, can the landlord come after me for the unused time on the contract?

Response:  No, not in Ecuador, generally, if you notify you’re leaving, unoccupy and stop paying, its over.

Me: What can I do if a landlord doesn’t want to return my security deposit?  

Response: Most Ecuadorians just occupy the property for the amount of time the security deposit would buy them, and leave it at that.  You could also sue them through this office (Juzgado de Inquilinato) and you could get a judge verdict within 3-6 months.

Me:  Switching sides a bit, if you as the owner of a real property in ecuador are renting to someone who stops paying their rent, how quickly can you legally evict them and what is the process?  

Response:  Well, its more complicated than in the US where I’ve heard in many states by the 10th day of non-payment you can get the police to come and get  the tenants stuff placed on the front lawn.

Here after two complete months of non-payment you can file a complaint through this office and within another 1-3 months get a verdict to have them legally booted from your property.  In Ecuador, you can not get someone booted from your property just by going to the police, you need a court order.  If the case goes to the court the judge will order the tenant to pay you for all the time they spent in your property without paying.

Me:  Most foreign investors, like myself, are weary of places (like Costa Rica) where squatters or in this case folks that rent your property for a really long time can eventually gain some sort of legal right of ownership of your property?  True in Ecuador or not?  

Response:  No, not in Ecuador, there is not this risk when renting property in Ecuador.  You may run into this a bit when dealing with seemingly deserted, unoccupied land several people claim title too, but not when renting residences or commercial property in Ecuador.

Me: How can you legally register a rental contract in Ecuador?

Response:  By getting a few copies of the signed contract and copies of both parties’ legal ID and bringing it to your nearest JUZGADO DE INQUILINATO, once here we can give you more specific details or requirements you need to register the contract.

That’s it, now hopefully you won’t find yourself trying to lift someone elses washing machine!

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