Two weeks to Ecuador

My friend, Crystal, isn't too sure about my upcoming exploration of Ecuador. "Why are you going?...Is it safe?...Tell me why are you going, again?" To be fair, Crystal lives in southeast Florida and knows one is already a gringa in Miramar or Miami, USA -one might wonder why one would actually fly abroad for more of the same!

Our Ecuadorian adventure was prompted by International Living's Ultimate Event, which is being hosted in Quito. IL provides publications, services and events for those interested in living and/or investing internationally. Ecuador was chosen #1 on IL's 2010 Index of Global Retirement Destinations. Doug and I decided to extend our stay past the conference and check out a few of the expat gems in Ecuador.

Most people know about Ecuador's natural beauty. Fewer pay attention to the Socialist antics of President Correa , such as puffing up his clash with the police protesting budget and salary cuts or his threats to nationalize the oil industry ala Chavez. Sadly, third world Ecuador is no more violent than first world Memphis, Buffalo, Detroit or Oakland. All in all, expats seem to feel that the pros far outweigh the cons in their zero latitudinal paradise.

The mountain village of Cotacachi in the north, culturally rich hilltop Cuenca and the southern coastal town of Salinas are the areas that Doug and I plan to explore for a future extended vacation, residential Spanish program or real estate investment.

Everything we read in publications, expat forums and blogs as well as international real estate newsletters points to Ecuador's exciting potential. However, as Jessica reminds us, we are tempering our excitement because one man's first world in a third world is another man's dangerous slum. This we discovered about Panama...looks great on paper but not so great in 3D.

We don't know what will come of our trip, which is over 3 weeks. A few of the highlights we are looking forward to are:

We are arriving in the country's capital, Quito. We will celebrate Valentine's Day with a visit to a US trained chocolatier and hunt for the prettiest famous roses of Ecuador that we can find. We will also attend a 4 day conference on living and investing abroad.

Cotacachi, population 9500, is popular with expats and boasts its own world class Relais & Chateaux resort. Cotacachi is nestled within natural splendor; it enjoys close proximity to Lake Cuicocha and the Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Preserve. In the markets, you will find leather goods and fruits and vegetables watered with the volcanic mineral rich water of the Northern Andes.

We'll be staying at the hotel own by South Florida expats, The Scotts. We expect we will run into more than a few IL attendees and other Americans shopping for real estate.

Next up will be Cuenca, Ecuador's colonial capital of art and architecture. Population is about 600,000 with an historic town center and suburbs with a newly built Boston Medical Center affiliate hospital, shopping malls and strip centers. The opposite of Cotacachi, here we expect to find more comforts of home such as a variety of restaurants, a cinema and good espresso.

Cuenca has a thriving expat community and we have plans to meet up with a few at the local english bookstore, the homestyle California Kitchen restaurant and the Kookabara Cafe. We elected to stay in a restored colonial mansion in the old town...hoping it reminds us just a little of Perugia or Malaga.

Salinas has been dubbed "The Gold Coast", no doubt by enterprising real estate agents fresh off their Florida or New Zealand vacations. Both Ecudorian-Americans and expats are snapping up condos and beach proximal housing in this area that is the yachting playground for wealthier Ecuadorians. It also has some of the best residential coastal prices in the world, "$100 sq ft or less".

We are here for a week...in a condo renting by the week for about the same as a 3 night stay at our marina/hotel in downtown Dunedin. Here we will truly be on our own, more vacation like, although a meet up is in the works with a couple I met through their blog of Salinas living.

Generally, the draw to Ecuador is eco-tourism. Quito is a stopover on the way to the Galapagos Islands. Travelers are more likely to fly into Guayaquil, head south to Vilcamba and through the jungle to Peru. Most miss the tranquility of Cotacachi, the rich cultural history of Cuenca and the high rise haven of Salinas. But Ecuadorian travelers are not just hikers, climbers, divers and kayakers anymore. There are also Latin American trend watchers, global real estate speculators, international developers and continental individualists all seeking to be ahead of a boom.

Likely to the dismay of readers of Lonely Planet and backpackers everywhere, retiring boomers are also finding their own reasons for making their way to Ecuador. We are all looking for our own little piece of cielo.

Ask: Can't We All Get Along? Answer: NO!

"There has been a great effort this week to come to grips with the American left's reaction to the Tucson shooting." - Daniel Henninger

You can say that again.

Doug and I were stunned to discover that an assassination attempt had been made on the life of a recently reelected Democratic Congresswoman and that constituents were wounded and killed. The first details about the shooter were that he was a white, male twenty-something that attended Pima CC and enjoyed the writings of Hitler.

With only that to go on, before the victims blood was dry on the Safeway parking lot, the media, leftist bloggers and Democrats began attributing the actions of this obviously disturbed man to supposed incitement on the part of the TEA party, Sarah Palin, Fox News and various talk radio hosts on the right.

Major newspapers (NYT, LA Times, Washington Post, etc) and network news (ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, etc) attacked the right, days on end, even as every bit of new evidence revealed the shooter as being criminally insane. Not to be outdone by the reporting, Democratic lawmakers joined the fray, including the Sheriff investigating the crime! Even a week later, newsmakers and lawmakers have yet to acknowledge they were, excuse the pun, dead wrong.

Polls showed that most Americans didn't buy the false blame gaming being orchestrated by the left. Well, 60% of them didn't. That leaves 40% of Americans who are either poorly informed or will believe anything if the narrative is that the right are monsters.

This week was pivotal for me as a citizen, a second time for me. Previous to the second Clinton administration I wasn't all that interested in politics. I voted Democrat. However, Clinton's derelictions of duty, not to mention the whole Lewinsky affair, were just to much. I switched parties and was determined to be more active in politics. I have served my Republican community, educated myself on our political process and am a insatiable consumer of political news and commentary.

"After Hofstadter, (author of the 1964 essay, The Paranoid Style of American Politics) the American right wasn't just wrong on policy. Its people were psychologically dangerous and undeserving of holding authority for any public purpose." DH

Watching the ungrounded attacks on the right and watching the general populace sit back and accept this has changed me. There was a time when I felt it was responsible to read and learn about the liberal perspective to be fair. There was a time when I have moderated my words and behavior to be more pleasant around a liberal. There was a time when I might later view my discourse with liberals as overzealous and regret it. There was a time when I overlooked that friends and family are liberal and love them anyway. There was a time when I believed Americans share different perspectives and somehow what's best for the country would prevail. Not anymore.

"The divide between this strain of the American left and its conservative opponents is about more than politics and policy. It goes back a long way, it is deep, and it will never be bridged. "
DH

This tragedy has shown me who liberals in America really are. Not just the leftist media, bloggers, elected officials and ideologues but the common liberals and Democrats they represent that I interact with in my everyday life. After such a display, the foundation of my relationships with liberals and democrats has changed. I now see that the only getting along with liberals and democrats is to go along with them. And I just can't anymore.

"Hell is a place with no reason." - Michael Savage