Animals

It was inevitable. As we have mentioned before, there are almost no cats in Ecuador. The pet shops have to special order them and can only get two breeds Siamese and Persians. The vets rarely have them. You can advertise in the newspaper and see if someone with a new liter will read your ad.  Or, you can do what Loretta did and go to the huge indigenous market where they sell almost every kind of live animal to see what might be there. While I sat in our parked car to guard it from any problem, Loretta and Jonny went into the huge live animal market. They wandered down rows of cages packed with live chickens, roosters, rabbits, dogs, guine pigs, and finally found one with kittens. Though there were only a few available – a mixed breed female for $5, a semi-Siamese for a little more and, Alex (instantly named by Jonny) a Siamese for $20. The next thing I knew was Loretta carrying, back to the car, a tiny bundle in her arms. She had bought the Siamese.

We raced off to the vet who gave him a shot for parasites, an anti flea lotion on his back, and cut his nails and then pronounced him a healthy cat.  A quick visit to Supermaxi for cat food and litter which we found is very expensive in Ecuador.

Though terrified b y the car ride and Jonny’s need to hold it, Alex survived and is now sleeping under the bed.  It seems Ecuador is just one adventure after another. Now, we have a cat.

Cost of Living

There are three of us living in a high end apartment building in Cuenca. Except for unusual expenditures, we are living on Social Security and a pension which amounts to $3000 a month. We have those amounts automatically deposited to our bank in the US. When we need cash we withdraw fairly large amounts from any one of the many ATM machines in town. There is a $5 international transaction fee for each withdrawal. But, this is by far the most efficient way to pay for daily items in Ecuador’s cash society. Again, we are living very well and two people and a child, like us, could live far less expensively.  Here is a rough breakdown of our monthly expenses.

$740 – Rent – We pay $600 rent and $140 building maintenance fee. You would not have this expense if you owned and most apartments are less expensive especially if they are unfurnished.

$45 – Electric bill – we pay no water or gas bill as it is included in rent. It would run about $30 max.

$60 – Gasoline and maintenance – Taxis and busses are cheap but we opt to own a car so we could travel easily.

$108 – Internet – this is expensive. We have two computers therefore we need two Porta USB modems at $54 each that connect to our computer’s USB ports.

$70 – Direct TV – Cable is less expensive but Direct Satellite TV is the most English friendly and is very reliable.  We have contracted for almost every channel they offer. Fewer premium channels would cost less.

$120 – Maid – For two days a week cleaning and two evenings a week as a sitter.

$222 – School – The primary schools we have investigated run from $126 to $350 per month.

$100 – Expatriate meetings – About $25 per Friday evening covers wine and appetizers for two.

$240 – Eating out – We eat out about 8 times a month. Each evening runs approximately $30 for two.

$15 – Haircuts - $4 for men x 2, $6-11 for women x 1

$60 – Gym – 3 times a week at $5 for two for each visit

$200 – Cash – Miscellaneous pocket money

$800 – Food – purchased at the Supermaxi and the co-op, we spend about $36 a day for 3 people. Buying produce at one of the mercados would save a great deal of money.

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$2780 – Total per month for three of us. This leaves about $200 for all those unexpected items like a $25 visit to a doctor, or some new clothes, or a new cell phone, etc.  Again, I want to repeat that we are living very well on about 30% of what we spent each month in the US. We know many expatriates who are living on less than half of what we spend per month.

Here is a more detailed list of a recent visit to Supermaxi.  We have not included much produce as it is so inexpensive at the coop  and the mercados as to appear almost ridiculous.

The following list is for items that we think might be more expensive than in the US.

$6.31 – Box of Aunt Jemima’s pancakes

$1.20 – 2 liter bottle of Coke Light

$4.74 – 2 kilograms uncooked whole chicken

$6.35 – Quart of Florida Natural orange juice – This is almost out of sight costwise.

$1.34 – Box of Ritz crackers

$6.21 – 40 Huggies diapers

$2.17 – 350 gram bag of Ruffles potato chips

Some of the following items are familiar and some are Ecuadorian rake-offs of more expensive imported products.

$5.93 – 12 bottles of Pilsner beer.  This is a good local beer that most people drink

$3.32 – 6 pack of yogurt – There are about 10 different brands. Yogurt is popular.

$2.89 – 500 grams of La Chonta cheese – an excellent local stringy cheese

$4.54 – 0.5 kilogram of flank steak

$0.93 – Bag of microwave pop corn

$0.80 – Stick of butter

$0.59 – liter of fresh milk in a plastic bag – milk comes in plastic bags or boxes

$3.43 – 550 grams of Gonzalez Cheddar cheese – So far the best cheddar we have found

$2.08 – 6 La Europa hot dogs – many brands available in all sizes beef and chicken

$1.73 – 200 gram package of sliced ham – many brands available in different hams

$0.91 – can of tuna

$0.74 – 400 grams of spaghetti

$2.25 – Bottle of Rubino Spaghetti sauce

$1.36 – 400 grams of Maggi ketchup

$2.43 – 400 grams of Maggi mayonnaise

$3.77 – 600 gram jar of Meil honey – This is a lot of honey

$1.84 – 550 gram jar of fruit jam

$1.34 – 2 kilograms of sugar

$2.05 – 2 kilograms of rice

$2.65 – 2.5 kilograms of small potatoes

$0.81 – bag of bread crumbs

$1.43 – large cantelope

$1.54 – 500 grams of fresh strawberries

$2.14 – Box of McDougal’s corn flakes

$1.16 – Box of Schullo’s granola – not up to par with some in the US

$1.93 – 350 gram bag of locally made potato chips

$1.18 – box of Ricas (Ritz rake-off) crackers

$2.37 – Liter of Garasol sunflower cooking oil

$1.61 – box of 12 fresh eggs – strangely they don’t refrigerate eggs when on sale

$2.37 – 3 kilograms of juice oranges – five different kinds of juice oranges available

$1.51 – liter box of Nestle orange juice

$4.85 – Liter box of Clos white wine- a very decent Chilean wine in a box

$9.12 – 750 cc Bacardi Cuban rum – yes Cuban rum. It is fantastic

$2.67 – 750 cc bottle of Zhumir Tacao chocolate liquor – actually rivals Bailey’s

$2.36 – 12 fresh red roses – this is expensive. Can get 18 for same price at flower market

$7.00 – 4 kilograms of Procan dog food – Procan is the preferred dog food here

$1.47 – Spray bottle of Virginia cleaner (Windex)

$2.21 – Roll of Diamond plastic wrap

$3.42 – package of 12 rolls of Supermaxi toilet paper

$2.20 – package of 3 rolls of Elite paper towels

This is possibly a lot to absorb but hopefully, this list will give you some comparisons when thinking about the cost of food.

Holidays

Christmas Day

The buildup to Christmas was over and the big day upon us. Jonny was, of course, beside himself with anxiety over whether Santa would find our apartment without a chimney and how was he ever going to get to every child in the world before dawn. We did our best to ward off his fears. At 6:10 AM our bedroom door flew open and the announcement was made that Santa had come. All was saved. A half hour later every package had been torn open, each toy played with and we had gulped down a saving cup of coffee. All morning was spent in a child’s world, a place almost all of us have forgotten. Then off in the car into the mountains on one of the sunniest, bright days we have ever seen. Up and out of Cuenca through the street lined with tall brick apartment buildings where so many of our friends live, through little villages with whole families sitting by the road watching the cars go by, up and up into the Cajas National Park. At about 12,000 feet, we turned off the highway onto a dirt road that winds along a stream and ponds filled with trout.

We were headed toward our favorite fish restaurant, Dos Chorreras or Two Falls, for Christmas dinner. It was unusual for us to put on sweaters but it is quite cool at that altitude even though we are almost on the equator. Jonny played in the woods, slipping and sliding down grassy hills, jumping a tumbling brook, and pretending to fish with a stick in a little lake. Then came a huge dinner of delicious potato soup, steak and trout, a carafe of sweet Ecuadorian liquor for Loretta and me, plus an enormous selection of deserts, that ran $25 for the three of us. It was almost impossible to get Jonny to leave after two women workers from the fish ponds dumped two large buckets of trout into an indoor pond. All the children in the restaurant spent the next hour helping the fish “come to” after the shock of being netted and carried up the hill in buckets. A photo I missed was Jonny holding a foot long rainbow trout in both of his little hands with an expression on his face of sheer joy and success.

He napped after such a long day as we drove through Cuenca to see what was going on, passed some parades and came home exhausted and happy. Aided by Santa, Cuenca’s effervescent holiday spirit, and the joy of our child, Christmas in Cuenca lived up to all of our expectations and more.

Holiday

Christmas Eve

Christmas is upon us and the frenzy is palpable.Tonight, the evening before Christmas eve, there were events everywhere. We insisted Jonny take a nap this afternoon as we knew he would be up late, then a taxi into town to conserve our energy and into the huge New Cathedral on Parque Calderon. Along with a thousand other revelers, we sat in a pew right by the orchestra and listened to the Cuenca Symphony play both English and Spanish Christmas carols. The cathedral is so huge that the acustics were not the best but the enthusiasm of the audience made up for it. Jonny clapped and sang along with the chorus.

We decided to go to the other Navidad event at the parque and entered the Old cathedral just across the square. As we entered, we heard a girl’s choir singing just prior to a very elaborate Christmas manger pagent.  After listening to them sing and act out the nativity scene, we went out into the parque where the 30 man Ecuadorian army band was playing rousing military music, slightly inappropriate but nevertheless very lively.  Jonny was rubbing his eyes by this point so we didn’t stay for the huge standing fireworks display to explode in all its glory. When we got home, the children in our building were all crowded around a huge paper balloon that had somehow chosen our yard to drop into. We looked up into the night sky which was filled with at least 15 paper balloons. More and more followed. They are like miniature gas balloons made of colorful paper around a frame that supports a wad of burning cloth. The heat from the fire causes the balloon to rise into the air where the wind takes it where it will. When the flame burns out the balloon falls gently to the ground. We watched one very large one rise up from town shooting off fireworks that lasted for at least five minutes. An amazing amount of balloons rose up from at least 9:00 to 11:00PM. At the stroke of eleven, we heard loud explosions and saw the smoke rising from the huge ground fireworks display at Parque Calderon.  Our only regret after such an evening full of Christmas was that there was so much going on in town that we might have missed something.  Tomorrow is the Children’s parade, a 6 hour long parade through town that is an absolute “don’t miss” event. Christmas in Ecuador is a more grand extension of our past Christmas’s and confirms, once again, that this country absolutely venerates children. Almost every event we went to was crowded with children and many were elaborate events directed just at them.  At the very least, Christmas in Ecuador brings out the child in everyone.

Real Estate

Just 15 minutes outside of Cuenca by car or taxi, is a suburb called Challuabamba.  Not many years ago, it was a small farming community but since it has recently been incorporated into the City of Cuenca, it is exploding with new home construction and all the necessary stores to support a growing community. Much of its charm comes from the fact that Challuabamba is located at a lower altitude where it gets less rain and is about 5 degrees warmer than nearby Cuenca.  When we first saw it, we fell in love with the town and bought a big home, a mansion by anyone’s terms, that is located on a mountainside with views that go on forever.

We did a huge amount of redecorating and remodeling to suit our North American tastes that included a glass roof over the indoor swimming pool, the construction of a large terrace with BBQ and fireplace, a modern master bathroom with Jacuzzi, hand crafted closets everywhere as there were no closets in the house at all, and a wonderful, large kitchen with granite counter tops. The house has six bedrooms and seven baths and will be sold unfurnished. Why, you might ask do we have such an incredible house up for sale? It is a long story, but briefly, we were foolish and took no safety precautions. We left the doors unlocked and the gate open. Plus, our lifestyle made us stand out as potentially rich gringos and the house was robbed. We have since installed a motion sensor security system and beefed up the entry gate security. But, our grandson was very frightened by the experience. The house was also far from the school he knew and wanted to attend. Though we still love this dream house, we have decided to place our grandsons’ needs first and have moved into an apartment in Cuenca.

As far as buying real estate in Ecuador, you will find that realtors do not operate like in the US. We believe there is no such thing as an official real estate license. All it seems to take is to print a card, open up a website and post houses for sale or rent. You seldom see a for sale sign in front of a home as people do not want to advertise that the house is empty. Commissions run from 3% if you are an Ecuadorian to 5% if you are a foreigner. The commission the realtor charges will be higher if the realtor does all the paper work for you. But, most often the realtor recommends a lawyer who does the title search, the notary requirements and the bill of sale. It is a much less formal system than in the US, with the clear title search probably being the most important aspect as you need to know if there are any hidden liens or title problems.

 So, in essence, often the realtor merely does the job of locating homes or condos for sale and then shows them to you. There is no such thing as MLS listings in Ecuador. Homes for sale are located by chance or from heresay.

The next step with a realtor, if you come to an agreement with a seller, is to go to a lawyer who will then do all the paper work.

But back to our house for sale in Challuabamba. Take a look at some of the photos. The tennis court in front of the house is still owned by the previous owner but can also be purchased. If you are interested, please be in touch with us and we will pass on whatever information you might need plus more photos than can be posted here. The purchase price for the house is $375,000 which for 7000 square feet under roof is quite a bargain even by Ecuadorian standards. If you come to visit, we would be pleased to show it to you. And, by purchasing directly from us, you would save a 5% commission.  If you like the house, we would put you in touch with a great lawyer who speaks English and is probably the best in town.

Friendship

The Ecuadorian is an enormously friendly person. There are many rumors that it is impossible to get close to an Ecuadorian if you are a gringo. We have not found this to be the case and thankfully have made a number of close friends with the locals. There is a much stronger cast system here than we have ever seen before, a real division between the have and have-nots, the educated and the working class, or those with Spanish heredity and the indigenous Indian population. We shocked our Ecuadorian friends when we greeted our Indian maid with the ubiquitous Ecuadorian greeting hug. Speaking of hugs, it is very common when you first meet someone to give them a hug and a bus on the cheek. Friends, male and female, almost always greet each other this way. When you thank someone for something with ”Gracias,’ the common reply is “De nada,” or literally “It is nothing.” When you ask directions to a store or a street you are unfamiliar with, the person you have asked will always tell you something whether they know the answer or not. It is embarrassing to them to not be able to give you the answer to your question. It would make them feel foolish, so they tell you something, anything to seem knowledgeable. However in contrast, downtown, if you stop in a store and ask where something is, more often than not if it is close by, the clerk or proprietor will walk you there to show you. Such gracious and unsolicited friendliness is the rule not the exception.

Children at Christmas

As we mentioned, Christmas is the big holiday here in Ecuador and there would be no more proof than the many, many Christmas school pagents performed all over town. Last week there were booths set up in the parks and holiday inventory was brought out in most stores, all catering to the need for Christmas pagent costumes. Our Jonny was not left out. He was assigned the role of Melchior, one of the wisemen. So, off we went looking for a crown, purple robe, sash and beard for a four year old. In San Francisco Park, almost all of the booths that usually sell only native Indian crafts had, on this special week, women busily sewing Christmas pagent paraphanalia. For a few dollars, we got the necessary costume parts and spent the next evening trying to make it fit and stay on a restless little boy. There was huge excitement the day of the pagent. The entire school spent the day at the San Sebastian Church yard rehearsing.  At the appointed hour we sat in front row seats of the church yard among a crowd of about three hundred parents. Angels, wisemen, Marys and Josephs paraded onto the scene. Spanish Christmas music played over loudspeakers and, class by class, songs were sung and the nativity scene was acted out. A huge success for all, especially the children who, though usually quite shy, sang out loud and clear. There is a seven year old blind boy who stood at one of the microphones and sang his heart out with a huge smile on his face. Christmas is a season where we too easily forget the real reason for the holiday but it came through for everyone, old and young last Friday evening. To see the children’s faces filled with joy at the applause and genuine attention who have never performed in front of an audience, was a pleasure to behold. And, a similar scene went on at each of the hundreds of schools in Cuenca. The costume is now packed away until next year. And the long wait for Christmas begins.