We have never been here before but my partner has done a lot of research over the last 10 years. As for myself I have only recently become interested when checking out the real estate in Ecuador.



We are from Western Australia so it took us a bit of time to travel here. Now we are based in Cuenca the third largest city in Ecuador.

The city is beautiful surrounded by wonderful mountains. The people are warm and friendly and it is very affordable. We have managed to rent a 1 bedroom self contained apartment for $360 per month.

But if you should choose to stay in a Hotel they are also affordable. As are the Hostels. We have been checking out different accommodation and the Hostel next to us is absolutely wonderful.

Clean, airy and the owners are very friendly. The price for a room with an ensuite is around $15 per night which includes breakfast in a very bright and friendly courtyard.

A hotel down the road is around $42.00 per night so we asked if we could have a look at a room. The room had a large terrace over looking the river, ensuite, queensize bed and an adjoining small lounge with desk facilities.

We have also been able to connect to the internet without any problems. Also our TV has cable so we are able to keep up to date with world news.

We are being introduced to many interesting people and will start our investigation into the real estate market this week. We plan to retire here later this year and also help others who may wish to visit this side of the world. There is a big expat group here who regularly meet on a Friday night at a special expat café.

We went the other night and plan to return this Friday night. So far I found roses to be $1.00 for a dozen from the markets and I have purchased the most beautiful alpaca sweater for $14.00. Food from the supermarkets is also very cheap.

Cuenca goes back to the 1557 and has an awful lot of history attached to it. It is also called the city of Churches. Now if you want to know more about our travels log onto our website below.

Today we had lunch at a beautiful restaurant not far from where we are staying. Our meal and drinks for two was under $20.00. But we did not notice the Menu of the Day for $3.85 and if we had we both would have chosen it.

It consisted on Soup, a bowl of Salad, Rice with prawns and desert. This is an ample healthy lunch and I noticed most of the patrons in the restaurant had ordered the special. We also noticed that there were many who were also tourists like us and spoke English.

At night this restaurant has a happy hour between 5 - 6 p.m. Drinks consist of Gin and Tonic, Vodka and Lime and others and the prices rangfed from $1.00 - $2.00. I think we shall check it out tonight.

I read today that Cuenca is one of the fartest growing cities in Ecuador.

There is still so much we want to explore here and we are waiting for the Carnival period to be over so that we can be shown around by English speaking persons.

That is the only draw back. I wish we could speak Spanish more fluently. We can get by and the people are very patient and friendly.

It has been a few weeks since I wrote the above and we have now purchased a motor cycle and an apartment. We never thought we would do this on our first trip.

The motor cycle is great to get around instead of a car and we can venture out into the country which is a great sense of freedom.

Our apartment is on the Tomebamba river and at present we have purchased it for rental with a view to living in it ourselves later this year.

Continually we meet new and interesting people both local and expats. The language is still a problem but again people are generally very helpful.

Hasta luego