Considering moving from California to Banos, Ecuador

Hola. I live 5km outside of banos. It is a tourist town and on weekends sometimes it is overwhelming.  Are you looking for a place to rent? That may be a good start.Rentals are 250-500 per month depending on your needs and wants. I would not suggest bringing a dog with you as there are literally hundreds roaming the streets during the day. Food is good. You can still get a $2.50 almuerzo and you can buy french cuisine or italian if you wanna pay $20.00 per plate Lots of bicycle rentals and tourist things. There are 11 waterfalls within a half hour of banos. The jungle is 65 km to the east. There is a mercado 3 times a week where you can buy fresh fruit and veggies. All in all it is an interesting place but sometimes it rains for 3 days in a row and you had better bring some reading material. An average book here costs $30.
Good luck with your travel plans, and oh, by the way, the bus ride from quito is 3 hours 45 minutes. usually no bathroom in the bus. but it only costs$3.25       Hopes this helps

Hello Riojane:
Well, I see no problem with Banos, for me is toooooo isolated,  not too much there, if you are a kind of person that can adjust to that kind of enviroment then it will be fine.
I live in a very nice area outside of Quito, is called Cumbaya, I really like the weather here (is warmer than Quito) we are on a valley, people and surroundings are really nice.
In 15 minutes you can be in Quito by bus 0.25 cents both ways, lots of things to do here, many expats also live in this area. My advice is that you should travel around before you make any decisions.
At the moment I know someone that is renting an apartment furnished for $320 with a beautiful view. If you are interested please write me at [email protected].
Best of luck to you and we will wait for you in ECUADOR. BIENVENIDA.

Marthy

Thanks for the reply. In truth, I am not sure just where I would like to live in Ecuador. I live rurally here in Northern California, and do not much like big cities, so Banos sounds interesting, although the tourist crush does not appeal.
I am open to any suggestions, and plan on coming to Ecuador in September to take a look at towns of interest.

Hello Riojane,

If you like quiet areas, Baños could be an option but, few times a year like Christmas , the Virgin Mary festival ( October) , Baños is more crowded than any other city in Ecuador.  if this won´t become a problem for your, I think it will be a very nice place for you.
if you are planning to visit Ecuador on September , I recommend you the coastal area  too places like Salinas, Canoa, Jama , Puerto Cayo. I am currently living in Salinas and it is gorgeous up here , Unfortunately I am coming back to Quito 15 July , because we have rented an apartment there until March 2014. have a safe travel and if there is anything I can do for you , let me know.

I am 65, retired and have been living in Colombia for 20 months. Originally from Italy, but most of my life has been in the USA. I am catching a bus on the 17th of September from Medellin to ?. All I know, I am moving to Ecuador. Any suggestions on where I should plant myself, so I can look around at options to live. All the town's sound wonderful. I am also a lover of Hostels for temporary housing. Thanks.

Ciao Sirbob, Bienvenuto al Equa atore?, cuanto dovi pensi che voglie vivere?, io sono stata a la Italia molti ani fa, me ricordo un po il italiano, ma visogno practicarlo.
Si poso ayudarti lasha sapere.

You might visit Quito first since it is in northern Ecuador (convenient coming from where you are) and is yet away from the EC frontera towns that have the Colombia spillover influences.
   Quito, also, since, at 65, you will want access to superior health care nearby.
   Despite comments from time to time by bloggers that a large city like Quito is too noisy, that problem can virtually be eliminated by choosing your place of residence carefully -- for instance, the inner courtyard of a gated community whose management does not tolerate noise disturbances.
   The capital has remarkable shopping, year-round spring and easy access to the bureaucrats.
   By the way, is it for security issues that you decided to exit Colombia after 20 months....

Thanks for the advice. Leaving Medellin for several reasons, and one is the security is getting worse here. But, my love of traveling is a priority. So, I want to keep traveling and Ecuador seems a logical next move.

Hi, i moved to Baños from California this past June. It is a great small town that attracts a lot of tourists but not a lot of expats. I am starting a B&B just 2K from town. I think one needs to have an independent spirit and sense of adventure to make this work. I find people here to be very friendly and welcoming.

Hello, my wife and I are also considering Banos for our upcoming move to South America. We are hoping that it is the kind of place where we can cultivate our interests in the environment, yoga/meditation, indigenous culture and organic farming (small scale). I suppose we could be considered new age hippie types but really we are just younger (31 & 36) city people who are looking for a new experience away from the United States where we can learn to live a more simple lifestyle and understand what it is like to see the world from a non American perspective. We also do not want to live in a big city, we are looking for a place with less than 100,000 people, preferably 20,000 - 50,000.

Based on what I've read, I like that Banos is a tourist destination for adventure sports. My thought is that we will get encounter some younger English speakers who are passing through, but still have a chance to create community with local Ecuadorians. We don't want to find ourselves only hanging out with other expats. I also am excited to participate in some of the adventure sports. The beautiful landscape is appealing, also the proximity to both the Jungle and Quito (we'd like to be less than 5 hours from a major city/airport). We also prefer the mountains to the coast.

Based on this basic description, do you think that Banos would be the kind of place that we could find community, primarily with locals, but also with expats? Do you have any other recommendations of places that you might recommend for us? I don't think that Vilcabamba is for us but the area around Mindo looks pretty nice. I am looking forward to your feedback. Thanks!

Bill

I live in banos. You can contact me at ***. we can discuss
the city of Banos.

SO, what is the contact info?