Category: ExPat Life

As Kathy and I plan our eventual retirement to Ecuador, one lingering question we always have is how is the healthcare. We talk to Expats everywhere we go about their experiences with hospitals, doctors, even the dentist. We want to make sure we have access to basic services once we live here and that those services are good enough for us and our own standards.

What better way than to see first hand for ourselves. Today, we decided to stop in a dentist office just around the corner from our apartment. I didn’t have an appointment, so I just walked in. Read more →

Open construction hole on the sidewalk

I came upon an interesting difference between the USA and Ecuador (and other countries for that matter). Taking a nice stroll through town this morning, we came across some construction areas. The first was on the corner of the street we live on and Main Street. A very busy intersection, just across the street from an outdoor market. There is a lot of foot traffic and pedestrians here. Right on the corner, in the middle of the sidewalk is a hole. It’s about 18” square and 2 feet deep. Around it there are no signs, no barriers, no orange cones, nothing to indicate the hole is there. And you know what? Nobody falls in it. Really, nobody is dumb enough to fall in that hole. Read more →

In May, 2004, my husband, Curtis, and I took a trip to Belize.  We’d been married 2 years at that point, and had already traveled to Greece for our honeymoon and to Cozumel for a SCUBA trip with his three kids.  The first week in Belize was spent in Placencia, a peninsula in the southern part of the country.  We then spent 5 days on Caye Caulker.  Both locations were relaxing and beautiful, and we were able to get several amazing dives in at both.  But the last few days of the trip we set aside to study the real estate market and to make plans for our future. Read more →