costs of living in Ecuador; learning spanish
Replies: 5 - Last Post: Jan 13, 2012 3:35 PM Last Post By: staggra1
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costs of living in Ecuador; learning spanish
Firstly, thx for your patience for reading such long post. I appreciate all your advices....Hello guys...I'm looking for some nice and warm ;-) place to live like for 6-12 months....I work as Internet marketer, so basically what i need is fast and reliable inet connection....So far I lived like that in SE Asia - wonderfull experience, however now I'm looking to find some spanish-speaking country to learn this language :) I consider now these countries: Spain, Dominican Republic, Panama, Guatemala, Ecuador, Colombia....Could you please help me anserwing some questions about Ecuador ?
My main purposes and needs for living in such place for 6-12 months are:
- good, reliable internet connection in place that I will stay. I'm not planning to move like crazy like I did in Se Asia (changing cities every few days....) Now I want to stay in one place for longer time (3 months and more) and get most of it....So, for my work stable Internet connection is must...at least 2 mbps, preferable more ;]
- autentic ability to learn spanish - presence of Spanish schools, spanish courses etc...volunteer/work options are plus :)
- ability to integrate with local people, who are not closed (that much) to foreigners...
- ability to meet local girls....normal girls, not prostitutes....:)
- ability to live (mostly in one place) well for 1000 usd monthly....In that amount I would like to rent nice room/ small studio, eat outside (food stalls of course, not fancy restaurants....), signup to spanish course/ school and drink beer every now and then...
- ability to buy/ rent motorbike/scooter...I like freedom of having my own transport... this is what SE Asia teached me ;]
if anyone(maybe someone who already lives there? ) wants to write me something about Ecuador,besides this topic, feel free to do it : freeasbird83-acosta-prokonto.pl
1
Hi there,I've studied spanish in Bolivia, Ecuador, Honduras & Guatemala, averaging a month in each spot. Ecuador is great, it was my favourite. My 2nd fav was Bolivia.
Your main study options in Ecuador are Quito, Otavalo, Cuenca. Quito & Cuenca are larger cities. I prefer small locations so I had picked the population 30,000 town of Otavalo, I was super happy there. All locations would be easy to have an internet set up. All locations could fit your criteria if you set your living up as such.
$120/week for 4 hours/5 days a week with no homestay. It's almost $6 an hour, it's about as cheap as it gets.
I had wanted to study in Colombia but costs are significantly higher, and there's much less of a school network set up there, so I'd rule out Colombia (not for travel, just for study). Ecuador & Guatemala are the cheapest countries on your list.
2
thanks guys for valuable posts :)As for the my preferable city size...well, I think that I feel well in each city abroad, even big one (I was ok in Bangkok for example, but no so ok in Warsaw in my homecountry....so it looks like that I may feel OK everywhere when I travel - "voyageur syndrome" ;-) ).
anyway, I was feeling OK too in small citites and villages abroad....:)
I could always change it, especially with having own motorbike :)
3
well, if you liked Bangkok, Quito certainly won´t be too big, hectic, polluted for you...Since you have a couple of months available, what i would do once you settled for a country: Shortlist a few places, and visit them in the first two weeks or so, to see which one feels right for you. You may have to work out of internet cafes during that time, but that way you´ll find a place that you like enough to stay there a couple of months.
4
btw...motorbikes sell for about 2000U$ new in Ecuador, I haven´t really come across renting places for motorbikes (apart from motocross bikes for tourists with a hefty daily pricetag). Better buy one (new or used) and sell it when you leave.Used cars are ridiculously expensive in Ecuador. You won´t find anything that still kind of drives for less than 4000U$.
5
I'm not an expert on internet connections but I imagine you could get something faster in a town or city rather than a small village (ie the places on the coast where you can study). There are a lot of ex pats in Cotacachi and some are working via internet and demanding faster connection solutions - this town is close to Otavalo.Regarding CNT - this is the state company -slightly more efficient than the past when it was a national joke. There is plenty of competition for basic service provision - ask around the internet cafes which is recommended in the place you decide to settle. You won't have to wait long for installation.
I don't know anything about Spanish schools there but the best choice is in Quito.
Cars and motorbikes are quite expensive but logically it follows that they devalue slowly so you could hope to recoup a decent chunk of your money. I agree it would be better to buy.
Graham
