Why NOT retire IN Quito Ecuador??

Ok so maybe living in the center of a city full of 2.5 million people doesn´t appeal to the average retiree or semiretirees looking at Ecuador as an option but WHY NOT?

Skyline of Beautiful Quito Ecuador.

As I stand here on the outside I see so many people passing through Quito within 3 days HELLBOUND for Cuenca or Cotocachi, and I am thinking... Why??

1.  Quito has the best hospital in the country in Hospital Metropolitano.  You are going to eventually get sick right?  Or maybe you would like to jump on the opportunity to save some money on that ¨Lifestyle Lift¨you wanted?

2.  Quito also has all of the amenities of any major world city which, believe it or not, you have become accustomed to having in your native developed country.  Right?

3.  Looking for culture?  Quito has the largest and most well preserved historical center in all of the Americans.  It is literally half the size of all of Cuenca population wise.  Quito also has many exciting day trip destinations for the active retiree within a few hours drive on well paved roads.  You can´t always hide in your new home, fenced in with electric wire can you? 

Ok, so maybe those three points alone will not persuade you to change your mind from buying or renting your quiet piece of the Ecuadorian pie smack dab in the middle of the city, but maybe you should be looking for your piece of the pie somewhere near Quito?  Oh my how sweet the pie is here in the Pinchincha Province.

To the EAST* (Thanks for the correction Journeyman Jack!):  Cumbaya, Tumbaco, Yariqui, Puembo, Quinche, and many other smaller suburbs and towns surround Quito and offer a quieter lifestyle within an hour of the city.  They also offer temperatures in the mid 70s to the mid 80s, Everyday.   

There is also Pomasqui and San Antonio to the north of the city, also featuring warm and dry weather, along with Valle de Los Chillos to the South.

in fact, Sprinkled in and within an hour to an hour and a half of Quito are many small towns that are all charming in their own way, and close enough to the city where it won´t be a hassle just to live daily life.  Not all of them are called Cotocachi either which is realistically more than 2 and half hours away from Quito.

So again I ask, Why not Quito?  It is the perfect base camp to find your dream retirement destination, and I can not put my finger on why their are not entire retirement enclaves scattered throughout the cities suburbs and city limits.  Maybe all the major publications (no names mentioned) have bypassed giving Quito its true praise due?  Even my Ecuadorian father in law of 81 years calls Cuenca a ¨Baby Quito¨.   

Well, Quito and all its secret gems are doing just fine without all the marketing dollars being pumped into it from the retirement publications.  How?  Well, because it is already a self sustaining city without the retirement community investing in it.  Whether or not you settle here, Quito will continue to grow with its rising working middle class and many American establishments that make you feel at home when you are away.  Its developing Yachay Technology Center will most definitely attract more international jobs, (including consulting) and wealth.  No one is slicing Quito´s suburbs up into ¨dream retirement homes¨(yet).  No one really needs too, their are already plenty of middle and upper class Ecuadorians laying their nest eggs there.

I am not knocking Cuenca, Salinas, or any of the smaller retirement destinations that Ecuador has to offer, but they are all knocking Quito all the time.  Its too dangerous, too dirty, too congested, too this and too that.  Not entirely true.  There are sections of the city and its suburbs that are safe, clean, and quiet also.  Ever heard of Tenis? Gonzales Suarez?  Amaguana? Guayllabamba? Probably not.  All you can google up of Quito without due diligence is Mariscal and the Centro Historico (which is which nice in areas also).

So what I am saying to all the retirees who are considering Ecuador is give Quito a shot.  Take it from someone who is 32 years old, not a Real Estate agent or investor, and has NO SKIN in the game whether or not you even retire here.  Check out QUITO before you make your decision.

Mike
www.themiddleoftheworld.com

Squashing the Controversy.

Hello all,

First of all, before I rant.  I want to thank all my readers for helping me reach over 6,000 page views.  I invite you all to subscribe to the mailing list so you can be up to date whenever I post.

Now, to squash the controversy.  I allowed a guest blogger to post their opinion of life in Quito on my blog.  When this blog was posted I got a few comments privately in regards to his slightly negative stance on life in Quito. 

I promised from day one that my blog would highlight the GOOD, the BAD, and the UGLY about what life can potentially be like for a gringo moving here.  It would not be fair for me to fall back on my promise and censor a guest blogger's opinion because it may have a negative impact on my business www.themiddleoftheworld.com .

Now I have to disclose I personally love Quito, this city is not for everyone.  My guest blogger has had some experiences that he felt he should share with other potential expats to this city.  Everyone will develop their own opinion of the city and some of those opinions will not paint a rosy Garden of Eden like picture of this growing metropolis.

I think the best thing anyone can do with ANY INFORMATION they read on the Internet about Quito or the rest of Ecuador is put it all in perspective that you are merely reading peoples opinions, marketing literature designed to persuade you to fall in love with the country, or literature designed to keep you away.  When deciding if Ecuador is right for you the best step is to first SCOUT the country on a 2 or 3 week visit to feel it out before deciding if this country is right for you.

Mike
www.themiddleoftheworld.com

Quito Traffic "Que Bestia!"

I promised in the beginning I would keep it real, upfront, and honest throughout all of my blog posts.  So as promised I am here to tell you one of Quito's ugliest and most brutal realities.

THE TRAFFIC HERE SUCKS.

This is where you will spend a ton of your time if you live in Quito

I mean it is really bad.  Absolutely horrible.  This is being typed from the hands of a Los Angeles native driver, so that in it self should say a lot.  But seriously, my 10 mile commute is actually an hour and a half at a minimum. 

The miniature version of "streets" you find in certain sections of the city, plus the street lights that are green for a whole 1.8 seconds on major intersections, multiplied by the over abundance of mid sized and large SUV's here in Quito, only begins to describe this mess.  (massive run on sentence I know)

Everyday congestion in the city of Quito

If you must drive here, You will find these many little caveats or unwritten rules helpful:

• It is perfectly OK to be all the way in the right lane on a 3 lane road, then suddenly make a left turn without using your signal.  This works both ways. 
• It is also perfectly acceptable to park in the middle of the street to send a text message, make a phone call, or even get out to buy some street food.  
• If you own a motorcycle you are allowed to drive pretty much anywhere you can make your bike go, even down stairs.    
• Running a red light is perfectly OK after sunset or on Sunday, however the concept of what "Right on red" is has not caught on yet, even though it is actually legal here. 
• Buses are above the law and actually gain 50 points for every car they run into.  Blue buses have diplomatic immunity.
• People will beep at the people in front of them to go when the light is still red, even if it is a police officer in front of them.
• The space between the two lanes on the road is actually another lane, if your car can fit.   

By following these unwritten laws, you will survive driving here in Quito.  Good luck. 

  

Two words to describe Quito?

I have been thinking about this post for a while.  If I could use two words to describe Quito what would those two words be?  I drive around the city a lot and it is truly a complicated place to describe, especially with only two words. Then one day while I was dodging local drivers who treat red lights and other traffic laws more like suggestions it hit me like a bag of bricks.  Or maybe it was a bit more like a concrete slab.  Or possibly it was like a whole building being dropped on me.  Or maybe around 400 buildings, which is about how many buildings or other projects are currently being built in this city.

I then realized the best two words to describe Quito right now are "Under Construction". 

Everywhere I go in this city of progress I see a new high rise going up.  Every block is full of construction workers pile driving or laying concrete or putting the finishing touches on a beautiful new building.  It must be a sign of the economic times here because the construction business is BOOMING. 

On top of the 400 buildings going up, the new airport is finished (as you read from my previous blog).  Also a Subway system for the city is under construction, and the whole city has a big initiative to lay all of the electrical cables under ground.  Their is a park and a college being constructed where the old airport was so the land will not be wasted, and it seems like many of the home owners here are remodeling.

Something RIGHT is going on here and I don't know what it is, but I know I like it.  It is amazing to see so many projects!  I personally love architecture and even though none of these current projects are over 30 floors the artistic thought they put into the buildings here is amazing.  I look forward to seeing what Quito looks like 20 years from now.

I wouldn't be surprised if it looked something like this SkyscraperCity.com poster's post that you can view here:  http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=351025 

Mike
www.themiddleoftheworld.com

Hello all who are spying.

I promised Juan Carlos and Andreas from the Internations.org Quito get together that I would write again.  Apparently my blog is catching on.  Whoop Whoop!  Please don't scalp me if I misspelled your names.  Blame it on the Whiskey and Pisco Sours.  The Internations event was amazing and I met a lot of other expats and "extranjeros" who are walking in my shoes.

Last time I told you all that Centro Historico and the Mariscal District are night and day, and I was asked, "Why?".

Since you already know what Centro Historico is, (If you were paying attention to my last entry), I will focus today on Mariscal.  If you are from Los Angeles, or have been to Hollywood then Mariscal in my opinion is Ecuador's version of Hollywood minus the stars on the street,....Oh..  and that silver dude.

Mariscal is like grand central station for tourists who are traveling throughout Ecuador.  

There are more bars per square meter here than a prison yard, and I am not just talking about places to get a drink.  Every establishment has barred windows, barred doors, and barred ceilings.  Even the third floor of a building is barred up.  You can also get some of the most delicious Chocolate bars here that come from Mindo but that is another story.  I even saw barbwire wrapped around a tree.  Who is going to steal a tree?  Maybe they just don't want people to piss on it.   

Back to the other bars where we get belligerent, the choices are infinite in this gritty but festive district.  Every bar is packed from 2:00 PM till 2:00 AM on Wednesday Through Saturday.  Sunday is a day of rest and church here in Ecuador so you can not buy booze after 4:00 PM unless it is with a meal.  I would have snapped pictures of the Plaza Foch, but it is hard to hold a camera while you are two fisted and there is no way I am giving up one of my Ecuador's finest cervezas, Club Roja.

This beer is delicious and reminds of the many Newcastles I drank with my friend Isaac in the states. 

Some of my favorite places to go to here in Plaza Foch (Reina Victoria Y Mariscal Foch) are:

Q - Nice vibe and awesome happy hour
Finn McCool's - Authentic Irish Pub
Mulligan's -  To play Billiards and Foosball
Cafe Espanol - Ecuador's version of Starbuck's also located on every block
Restaurante Olympico - best Chinese "Chifa" EVER.
Playa Azuca - Good place to eat

There are also plenty of nightclubs but I am not the nightclub type so I will let you explore those on your own.

Mariscal is much more modern than Centro Historico and sometimes you forget you are in another country.  I guess you could say it is more "Westernized", or "Gringonized" or whatever you want to call it.  I snapped this Mariscal Skyline picture from the 11th floor of the Hotel Mercure.

Beautiful isn't it.  I love living here.  But be careful walking around here especially solo and at night.  As with any major city crime does exist so don't walk around like your in love.  Watch your surroundings and please don't wear your backpack on the front because that looks corny and doesn't protect you from someone who wants your stuff.  Besides, the backpack slashers and pickpocketing types tend to hang out in Centro Historico, so if you get robbed in Mariscal it will probably be with a knife or gun anyways.  Wearing your backpack on the front makes you look like a mark.  Your pretty much saying "Hey! I am a gringo tourist!  I probably have an Ipad in my backpack which is why I am so scared to wear it regularly!".  I see thousands of people with backpacks on and they get to their destination just fine.  Be aware, not paranoid, or you won't enjoy your time in Mariscal.  It is probably best to only bring what you need anyway.
 
They have beefed up security significantly in this area in the past few months.  Like I said before, don't walk around drunk and stupid by yourself especially at night and you will probably be fine.  Take a taxi instead of walking if it more than a few blocks.

the bottom line is, Orlando Florida is more dangerous than Quito, and I don't see American's thinking twice about visiting Disneyworld.  So... Tranquilo.  But do yourself a favor and leave the flower print Hawaii 5-0 ass button up shirt in your closet at home. 

I only write this because I read some other blog from some other Extranjero which basically said "don't come here you will definitely get robbed".  With that type of attitude you are probably right.  I suggest people like should read "The Secret", or at least watch the video. 

Anyhow, if you plan to come to Mariscal hit me up and I will show you around.  Speaking of which it is 11:00 and I still haven't had a beer yet, so I must go.

Ciao.

Mike
www.themiddleoftheworld.com