Experience in northern Ecuador?

Hellloooo, Permies!

I've been emailing with a couple who have an all organic eco-hotel/resort in Ecuador. They're trying to sell it and downsize now that they're in their 70s, and pass the torch to a new generation. 40 acres or so, all infrastructure present... In an indigenous community.

Questions -
Does anyone have experience with getting visas/residence in Ecuador as a US citizen? How hard was it? how long did it take?

Anyone here done something like this? How did you supplement income beyond the "airbnb" aspect?
What was your experience with moving there? Unexpected challenges? Things you wish you knew?

Trying to farm the collective expertise and gain as much info and knowledge as I can so I'm able to make a well-informed decision.

Thanks all!

Tom Shep wrote:Hellloooo, Permies!

I've been emailing with a couple who have an all organic eco-hotel/resort in Ecuador. They're trying to sell it and downsize now that they're in their 70s, and pass the torch to a new generation. 40 acres or so, all infrastructure present... In an indigenous community.

Questions -
Does anyone have experience with getting visas/residence in Ecuador as a US citizen? How hard was it? how long did it take?

Anyone here done something like this? How did you supplement income beyond the "airbnb" aspect?
What was your experience with moving there? Unexpected challenges? Things you wish you knew?

Trying to farm the collective expertise and gain as much info and knowledge as I can so I'm able to make a well-informed decision.

Thanks all!

Tom,

I took a trip to Ecuador a few years back. I stayed in the imbambura region near cotacachi / Ibarra.  It was beautiful, but no welcome mat layed out. I met an expat family with kids and they were beyond socially awkward. As it was not a tourist area, there were few efforts at friendliness towards us. That improved a bit once I decided to lose the beard. (?) . we suffered no crime or violence, but some glares, a few fists raised in our direction.

Read up on vilcabama and see a bit more about how ecuadorians have suffered at the influx of Western money. It goes beyond gringo pricing. Crime towards expats is on the rise in some areas. And more than a few expats have returned to their country of origin per the expat forums.

Politically, its a bit of a yo yo too. It was left, took money from china in exchange for mining consessions. Then swung right a bit, now courts have overturnes those concessions. While less drillijg in sensitivr areas and more indigenous respect is to be applauded, it could be site of future proxy war over resources between east and west. Theres oil in the rainforest and minerals in the hills..

Lastly, I'd say go ! Do a scouting visit before you get serious. Whatever it would cost you to go would be exponentially cheaper than what it would cost to make a bad decision. (If you go, walk around the volcanic lake rim (lago de cuicocha)

Despite that cautionary counsel. It may be that your forerunner has bridged a deep respectful relationship with the tribes and that you could indeed step in seamlessly. If so, and if you are looking for partners (financial and onsite), lets talk after your trip.

Hey J,

Thanks for the response.

I've been watching the politics - doesn't seem like any area is going to be free from exploitation or proxy conflicts ... or just conflicts from overcrowding and resource scarcity. Some might juts be a little further out of reach and "more trouble than they're worth" for the first round. I dunno. I dropped my crystal ball a few years ago and can't tell the future any more.

The current owners have been there 30+ years, had a very successful restaurant for awhile, before starting their downsizing. They run a scholarship program for local kids too, and are very embedded in the community. They have very large shoes that might be hard to fill. But I am still very interested in the idea.

Where you were is almost the same exact area as we'd be moving to, btw. within an hour or less from Ibarra. Definitely not down on the coast in the "desirable" strip along the beach where most "gringos" go to retire.

Did you make it down to the big market in Otavalo while you were there?

Tom,

Heh, yeah my crystal ball is broken too. Lol.

I did otovalo market and it was worth seeing. I preferred the shops in cotachi as it felt safer. Otovalo attracts such crowds that pick pockets target the area. Still worth doing, just be alert.

Glad to hear that the current owner is so embedded. Sounds interesting for sure.

To your other questions, getting residency or even citizenship is not that hard. Lsst I checked, spending like 35k on property would open the citizenship option. It was required to spend most of year in Ecuador for first few years. Expat forums have rich current nfo on this type thing.

Two other items of interesting research are the intag and the city of knowledge.