Using the same criteria I did for Mexico, here's my "review" on Ecuador's suitability as a retirement option with grades for the major considerations:
Weather: A- The only thing keeping this from a solid A is a bit too much rain for my tastes. A big plus is the consistency/lack of extremes. Every. Single. Day. pretty much the low to mid 5os at night and low to mid 60s during the day. When it was rainy, it felt colder, when it was sunny, if felt warmer. The UV is high. My understanding is Cuenca is better than Quito (more on this below)
Safety: B+ It's this "low" only coz of anecdotal stuff I've heard, and even then more of an issue in coastal cities and not Quito. But lots of tourists (int'l and domestic) means there's petty crime if you're not careful (as DJ discovered when his phone got filched coz he didn't have it tucked away in his backpack)
Food: B+ Points off for lack of variety, and they REALLY like their meat. But man is it CHEAP. The two of us could eat out in lots of places for $6 total. The best fried rice I've ever had outside of China. A fair amount of American fast food and other chains if you miss that, and some nice high end places. Lots of pizza. Lots of sandwiches.
Infrastructure: B+ Our electricity never went out, even with storms. We had some internet issues, but not as much as I did with Cox in the states, and our landlord admmitted he needed to change providers so there are better ones out there. The airport is modern, although a good hike (hour by car) from central Quito. Not as many run down or abandoned buildings as in Mexico. Roads in good condition, but lots of traffic. Extensive bus system we never used coz we could use the (new and modern) Subway for anything we needed outside of the historic center.
Health Care: A Can't give this an A+ coz we didn't experience inpatient care, but I hear/read it's good. Click HERE where I give more detail on our experiences, and as a follow up, I would add I later had an "elective/cosmetic" procedure done to get rid of of some Keratosis things that would have set me back $500-$600 in the states (why I didn't do it there), and in Quito, it cost.........$22. The cream to heal after was pricier: $30.
Costs: A Our smallish apartment was around $500 a month (2 bedrooms, 1 bath, washer but no dryer) and included all utilities and internet. As mentioned, dining out was dirt cheap, movies were about $3 (at night!). Subway was 45 cents. On the whole, I would say our cost of living was LESS THAN HALF of what it was in Oklahoma.
Social/People: C There IS an expat community here, but not large (bigger in Cuenca), and the locals are friendy enough. I didn't make any real local friends, but didn't really try, either. DJ got lucky that there was a boy a little younger than him in our building, so they hung out some. We did find Ecuador folks to be friendly and helpful.
Culture: B+/A- There's a shit ton of cool historic buildings to see in Quito and also a ton of museums. Large malls that are still heavily trafficked with lots of shopping, multiple screen movie theaters (altho sometimes hard to catch movies in English). Large parks and plazas with frequent festivals, carnivals, and parades, etc.
Flora/Fauna: A- Ecuador is a beautiful country that we barely scratched the surface of. The altitude and weather combine for virtually ZERO bugs/pests in our apartment. We never saw a roach, never had ants, saw 2 flies in 3 months, and only DJ claimed to see a spider. The city is ringed by mountains, which look very striking in certain parts of town. There wasn't too much flora within the city of Quito itself. Of course the Galapagos Islands are part of Ecuador and if we weren't so poor, I would have done that.
Location: C I've found it's expensive to fly into/out of/around South America which is a negative for a travel whore like me. It' not TOO far from the states, tho, which I GUESS is a plus. Quito is in the Eastern time zone which made it convenient in a lot of ways for keeping in touch with friends/family.
At the end of the day, Ecuador moves to the top of my current rankings for places I'd consider for retirement, ALTHOUGH I would definitely check out Cuenca and would probably choose it over Quito. From what I've heard, read, and talked about with other folks, although it's smaller, Cuenca has a much larger expat community, is more "charming" and less chaotic than central/tourist heavy Quito, the housing is even cheaper, the weather is even better (i.e., less rain) and it's not as high up. That being said, if for some reason, Cuenca didn't do it for me, I'd be perfectly happy living in a modern apt, in the Inaquito area of Quito. Click HERE for more deets on my previous ranking, just moving each country down one spot with Ecuador now #1.
Next up: Portugal - which I EXPECT to be my new #1, but we'll see!
