Living Abroad: Coming Home to Ecuador!

Edd:  Well, here we are back in Cuenca after a l-o-n-g time in the States.

Cynthia:  Yep. When our son asked us to extend our trip to help out with remote learning for our two grandchildren, a 6-week visit turned into 3 ½ months!

E:  As we discussed in a previous conversation, our lifestyle is pretty simple and extremely portable, so once we figured out how to pay the rent from abroad we were all in.

C:  In another chat we talked about differences we observed between life in the two countries. You’ve been out and about more than me. What have you noticed since we’ve been home?

E:  We wondered what would change during our absence. Turns out that aside from some businesses closing and a few new ones opening everything is pretty much the same. Ecuador moves at a slow pace.

C:  You know, we were fortunate that this is one of the most lenient and still sensible countries as far as requirements for entry. Of those opening their borders, many require a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken 96, 72, and even 48 hours before departure, which is really cutting it close.

E:  Can you imagine how stressful that would be? You have zero control over how long the lab takes to process your test, and if you don’t get the results back in time you would have to reschedule your whole trip.

C:  Exactly. Ecuador has a 10-day window which is much more reasonable. Most of our readers probably haven’t had to take a test so why don’t we describe what it was like.

E:  Yeah, good idea. Our daughter’s primary care physician accepts Medicare patients, so we had a virtual office visit with her.

C:  Which was a new and unique experience.

E:  And she set us up with a laboratory in the area offering drive-up testing for COVID-19. When we got there a guy in a haz suit--

C:  Did you not notice everybody there wore a hazmat suit? Dude, not sure what you expected, but this was a test site for coronavirus!

E:  Right. Anyway, our records were already there and check-in was simple. All we had to do was answer a few questions and show our IDs.

C:  We had heard varying reports about how painful the test was. For readers who don’t know they insert a swab way up your nostril.

E:  Somebody had told us it felt like they were extracting brain tissue! But while I wouldn’t call the experience “pleasant,” I didn’t think it was that bad. Did you?

C:  No, I thought the woman administering the test was very gentle. And thankfully our negative results came back in only 2 days. That kind of turnaround during the holidays was really impressive.

E:  But even with the required tests in hand we had no idea how reentering Ecuador was going to go. Over the years we’ve had our share of frustrating encounters with bureaucracy.

C:  Slow down. I wanted to mention that just as our flights to the States went flawlessly well, so did our journey home. The terminals and planes were super clean, and everyone from ticketing personnel to vendors to flight attendants was extremely kind.

E:  I couldn’t agree more. And as it turned out, reentry was a breeze. We were directed to an area where our test documents were reviewed, temperatures taken, and off we went to Immigration and baggage claim.

C:  And now after unpacking, shopping for food, and lots of rest we’re getting back to our life. Any thoughts about 2021?

E:  Wow, after the sucker punch we were all hit with last year it’s hard to feel like you can start making plans, but we’re acting “as if” and putting together some exciting ideas.

C:  As we’ve demonstrated with our own activities over the past few months, safe air travel is possible. I’m sure people will become more confident traveling. Obviously, paying attention to the situation in individual countries will be key when deciding where to go.

E:  And since experts are predicting it could take as long as five years for the global economy to recover, I believe the thought of moving abroad is going to go more mainstream. Not just for retirees but increasingly for digital nomads.

C:  I agree. So much work is being done remotely now. More and more people are going to realize if you have that type of job, you can work anywhere.

E:  Saving a ton of money plus having an adventure sounds good to me.

C:  I think this is going to be an interesting year.

E:  And I can’t wait until we can tell everyone what we have in store!