Edd:  May 17 was our 14th expat anniversary. A few days ago we celebrated another milestone that to me is the most important day of the year—our 53rd wedding anniversary. This year I wanted to surprise you with something special.

Cynthia:  I don’t generally like surprises. But on the morning of our anniversary when you told me to pack an overnight bag because we were checking into Itza Hotel for the night, I was very excited.

E:  For a number of reasons we didn’t do much to celebrate last year, so I wanted to plan something memorable this time. We’ve been in most of the luxury properties in Cuenca, but this one opened in 2021 shortly after we left Ecuador to travel full time.

C:  As soon as we walked into the lobby—wow! We knew this was going to be great. So elegant.

E:  You assumed I had booked a regular room. Nope, only the best for you, my love. We were staying in a King Suite with two balconies overlooking the historic...

Hey, Edd here. I want to share with you my recent experience renewing my Ecuador driver’s license.

Those of you who have been following us for a while may be wondering, “Wait a minute. I thought you didn’t have a car. Why in the heck do you need a driver’s license?”

You’re right. We sold Cynthia’s car before moving to Cuenca 14 years ago (I had already sold mine), and used the proceeds to pay for the container that brought our furnishings to Ecuador—a win-win transaction of the highest degree.

Since then we have chosen addresses where we can walk to pretty much everything required for daily life. Currently, within 10 minutes from our home is a supermarket, gym, yoga studio, and a wide choice of dining options.

For any other destinations we take Cuenca's light rail system (17 cents per ride for seniors) or use an app on our phone to summon a taxi (fares from $1.50 to $2.50 depending on the distance). Buses are also available but not as...

Edd:  Wow, 14 years ago, on May 17, 2010, we got off the plane here in Cuenca to begin our expat life. As the Grateful Dead sang, “What a long strange trip it’s been.”

Cynthia:  Well, with who knows how many flights back to the States to visit family and friends, full-time globetrotting for 2½ years, and all the other travel we’ve done, we haven’t really lived here the entire time. But, yeah, it has been quite a journey.

E:  Maybe this expat anniversary feels more meaningful because we are actually back in Cuenca to celebrate it. I vividly remember my first encounter with the local culture shortly after we checked into the hotel all those years ago.

C:  Ha! Me too. We were pooped, and I mentioned how much I would love a cappuccino. You gallantly offered to go get one for us both.

E:  So I stride into a coffee shop nearby and in my best pathetic Spanish say, “Dos cappuccinos to go, por favor.” I pay, wait, and...

Edd:  When we announced we were moving to Ecuador almost 14 years ago, I remember someone asking what would happen if we got sick. Would we go to a doctor or a witch doctor? Maybe we should set the record straight for our blog followers.

Cynthia:  Witch doctor? Uh, no, but the subject of health care when living abroad does come up a lot, including a recent podcast we appeared on. So sure, let’s do it.

E:  The topic is covered in general terms on our FAQ page, and we’ve learned from our research and travels that world-class care is available in many countries for a fraction of the cost you are probably paying in the United States. But we certainly know more about the ins and outs of how it works here in Ecuador.

C:  We should begin by mentioning that, as is true most everywhere, the highest quality medical care is found in our largest cities — Quito, Guayaquil, and Cuenca. The farther you travel away from major metropolitan areas, the level of...

Edd:  I was thinking recently about friends from Cuenca who moved back to the States. The list is quite long.

Cynthia:  I’m sure that many of our expat acquaintances over the years have returned to their home country, decided to live in other foreign destinations or, sadly, died.

E:  In our last conversation we touched on something interesting that most people don’t know: the average “lifespan” of an expat is about 4 years. A common fear regarding moving abroad is, “What if it doesn’t work out?” That statistic indicates the concern is well-founded.

C:  Leaving your home country seems like such a radical decision. It's probably surprising to learn that doing so is anything but a “forever” move for many.

E:  That number is an average, so longtimers like us are factored in with folks like a couple we know who went home after less than 6 months! It also includes expats who decide to move on and try other...

Cynthia:  A big welcome to the many subscribers who have joined us in the past few weeks. We’re incredibly grateful that you are interested in the idea of living abroad.

Edd:  A question new followers often ask us is, “What is it really like to be an expat?”

C:  Or more bluntly, “What do you do all day?” We get it. If your experience with life outside your native country has been cruising or trips abroad for a week or two, it’s hard to put yourself in the picture.

E:  Just the thought of waking up each morning in a foreign country seems so exotic, doesn’t it? All the unfamiliar sights, sounds, and smells. And that’s exactly the way it is in the beginning.

C:  Of course, the degree of this depends on how often you visited the place before actually settling there. And how well established the expat community is in your new home.

E:  In our case we’d made one 10-day scouting trip, and there...

Cynthia:  After railing about the mainstream media using sensational headlines in our last blog, that’s the title you come up with? “Shocking revelation?” “Addicted?”

Edd:  Ha! I did it on purpose as a spoof of what we wrote about. The idea came from a recent conversation we had while sitting on the terrace enjoying breakfast. It was a pleasant sunny morning—in the middle of February I might add—and you said, “You know what? We’re addicted to this weather in Cuenca.”

C:  We had just returned from a long family visit that included two snowstorms at our daughter’s home in New Jersey and a Caribbean cruise. So we were exposed to both ends of the temperature spectrum. Maybe “addicted” was a little strong, but over the years we’ve developed a preference for what we call “Goldilocks weather.”

E:  I actually think that “addicted” is spot on. What’s the harm...

Ever since last August, when an anti-crime presidential candidate was assassinated by gang members, Ecuador has been in the news for all the wrong reasons.

Inflammatory headlines like, “Ecuador gripped by drug gang violence,” “Gang warfare breaks out in Ecuador,” and “Surge in gang violence upends life in Ecuador” (italics ours) paint a bleak picture of a country historically described as “muy tranquilo.”

We’ve received so many kind messages from friends and followers concerned about our safety. Shortly before our recent return home to Cuenca from a holiday visit in the States, a relative asked if we were comfortable going back in the midst of Ecuador’s “civil war.”

As 13+ year residents, we would like to share with you our expat perspective on how this mess started and what’s really going on in our adopted home country.

Ecuador is surrounded by the two largest cocaine producing countries in the...

Edd:  I just realized something. We rented this apartment in Cuenca a little over three months ago. That’s the longest we’ve been in one place for over 2½ years!

Cynthia:  You’re right, and most of our readers will probably find that revelation shocking. It was a bit strange at first to be reunited with our own things. When the movers started bringing the furniture in you asked, “Has our stuff grown? I feel like we’re seeing the grandchildren after we’ve been away for a while!”

E:  Our new home is smaller than where we previously lived, and at first we were concerned we had made a mistake. But we’ve managed to make it work.

C:  And you’ve been busy with your recent side hustle—selling a lot of things online that we either don’t have room for or no longer need.

E:  Indeed I have, and what an adventure it’s been. I went through a similar experience with Craigslist when we were...

Cynthia:  It’s been over a month since we last posted a blog because we have been rather busy to say the least.

Edd:  “Rather busy” doesn’t begin to describe what September felt like. We stuffed so many activities and adventures into 30 days that it seemed much longer.

C:  The month started off in a predictable way. We had just moved into our new apartment and were unpacking, cleaning, and starting to get the place organized. We even found time for a couple of social engagements.

E:  But before our lease was signed, round-trip flights to Quito were booked for a trio of articles we had been commissioned to do for TravelAwaits. The research for those was going to put us out of town for two weeks.

C:  And prior to that, we had committed to a 4-day trip to the Amazon jungle for another story we were writing. It’s ironic that we ended our last blog saying, “What’s next for Edd and Cynthia? Who knows? Stay...