The Republic of Ecuador is located between Peru and Columbia and is about the same size as the state of Oregon or the country of England. It is a modern country with nice roads, high-speed Internet, Malls, Dance halls, theatres, sports stadiums, modern medical facilities, a variety of nice restaurants, as well as just about anything else you might need or want.

Some things, such as electronics, are more costly here, and other things such as medical and dental services are a whole lot less expensive. Overall the cost of living is about 1/3 to ½ of what it costs to live in the United States for any given level of lifestyle. Ecuador is using the US dollar as its only currency since it switched over in the year 2000 but the larger banks have recently started allowing account holders to open savings accounts denominated in Euros.

No visa is required for people staying less than 90 days who are traveling on an American, UK, Canadian, or Australian passports. You just need a passport that is valid for at least six more months from your arrival date.

Ecuador has a wide range of geographic regions ranging from sea level tropical rain forests which house many endangered species to high mountain areas with elevations of over 12,000 feet above sea level.

The favorite Ecuadorian city of most ex-pats is the City of Cuenca which sits in the Andes mountains at an elevation of about 8,300 feet and has a population of about 460,000 people. Cuenca is considered highly desirable due to:

     • Its rich cultural heritage which is reflected in a plethora of churches, museums, and historical buildings.

     • Its year round moderate climate which is free of extreme hot and cold temperatures.

     • The natural beauty of its parks, rivers, trees, grasslands, and surrounding mountains.

     • Its tight-nit, English-speaking ex-pat community consisting of several hundred people mostly from the US, UK, and Canada.

      • Its having modern conveniences such as drinkable potable water, high-speed Internet, and quality medical & dental services which make Cuenca a popular place for medical tourism.

      • An easy travel destination with an airport, good roads, plenty of low-cost English speaking taxi drivers and a large selection of quality 4 and 5 star hotels.

     • In Cuenca there is no shortage of things to do. There are malls with theatres, video game arcades, and bowling alleys. As well as an almost endless variety of outdoor activities.

     • The wide variety of quality food available in Cuenca’s restaurants and the many markets selling farm fresh organic produce.

• Its being just a 1.5 hour drive from the beautiful semi-tropical Yunguilla valley where fruit trees and swimming pools abound.

      By just grabbing your passport and hoping on a plane you can arrive in Ecuador for an interesting and enjoyable vacation. We’d be happy to help you arrange your flights and hotel reservations and even meet you at the Cuenca airport to welcome you and help you get settled in. If you like it here and might be interested in having a vacation home or even living here year round then we can introduce you to English-speaking lawyers, shippers, and other professionals to help make your transition as smooth as possible. You can get permanent Ecuadorian residency by investing in any property which is at least $25,000. After you get your residency visa you will be able to import one container of household goods as large as 10×40 feet duty free. We also help our customers get their pets and family members into Ecuador safely and legally.

      Feel fee to peruse our properties and call us when you have a plane ticket so that we can answer any last minutes questions that you might have and make sure that we reserve a spot for you in our calendar. If you are looking for more information on Cuenca you might want to check out Larry Marler’s blog here