Hello and an assortment of questions

I can address the Quito questions.  Don't have experience with ADHD, haven't lived in Loja.

Great Dane:  I don't think this can be predicted.  Too many variables:  size of the dog...taxi-drivers' perception of the dog...whether you'd be trying to enter a taxi with your children AND the dog...the type of restaurant...how convincingly you could persuade a store manager (in españoI) that the dog is smaller than he appears...I could go on...

Bugs and tarantulas:  Quito is above 9,300 feet, and that's not where bugs go.  The only thing I've seen approximating a bug lately was some miniscule fruit flies when I left some over-ripe fruit out.  So just keep your fruit covered. 

Now if you go outside Quito to a suburb in the lower-altitude valleys and live near a river, your experience could be different from mine.

If Quito has any tarantulas, I've never seen or heard of it.  Whatever your source of information was for this, steer clear, it could be fear mongering.  Now if you go out to Tena near the jungle, or a zoo, or the Galapagos Islands, you could encounter anything  

cccmedia in Quito

Thanks for your reply! Regarding the tarantula, I found this discovercuencaecuador.com/2011/10/tarantula-spider-in-our-house-in-cuenca.html I know cuenca is lower than Quito but I thought they were fairly similar. Fruit flies don't bother me

Mi espanol es no bueno but I'll work on it. I used to speak it pretty well as a kid thanks to an awesome school, but I moved to a crappy school and have since forgotten most of it.

nocturne wrote:

Are there sufficient options for kids activities? Specifically gymnastics (one child hoping to be a serious gymnast), dance, martial arts, and horseback riding. Any estimate for costs on these?

This mostly-Catholic country is loaded with kids, and therefore with lots of companies catering to them.

The luckier "vaqueritos" get to ride horses at the Green Horse Ranch.  The owners can pick y'all up in Quito and drive you to the ranch, and then you could go on horse-back around a dormant volcano or crater.  The ranch gets rave reviews at tripadvisor.com ... Figure on a half-day tour.  If you were thinking about a 45-minute ride inside the city limits, that's "poco probable."

Dance and martial arts, no problem.  Kids swimming indoors, no problem.  There are a lot of gyms, so I think you'll be able to find a place for your future Olympian to work on her gymnastics.

Aside from the horsey thing, the activities you mentioned are mostly labor-intensive from the businesses' point of view -- meaning they're less expensive than in the States.

cccmedia in Quito

nocturne wrote:

What are the chances of finding reasonably priced, flat to somewhat hilly land of at least 10 hectares within 20 min of Quito?

Even though I've forgotten how large a "hectar" is, your real-estate target is so common and the 20-minute radius so large, that I'm going to say: 
     100 to 1, in your favor.

But here's the thing:  rent, don't buy.

The #1 Rule for newly-arrived Expats here in La República is this:

Don't buy or build anything in your first year in Ecuador.

There are too many scenarios that could make you regret it.

cccmedia in Quito

Thanks! A hectare is about 2.5 acres so that'd be about 25 acres of land. I live in the mountains now so I know how valuable reasonably flat land is. I used to be a horse trainer before bills made me quit for something i could actually live on so eventually I'd like to build a farm. We will definitely rent first though.

Four more thoughts:

1.  Whatever your timetable is, you'll be glad later if you accelerate your  language skills starting now.   Have you visited the Expat.com thread titled "español for Gringos"?   Since you once had some skills, maybe this could help re-awaken them.  The link is for the most recent page of that thread:
https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.p … 30&p=4

2.  To acquaint yourself with some of the realities (yes, $$) of educating your girls in Ecuador, visit dayinquito.blogspot.com ... where they just posted on this topic on the welcome page.

3.  Although I don't have experience with ADHD, I do have experience dating back to 2013 with a specialist doctor in Quito who can prescribe psychotropic medicines.  If that's what you're looking for, let me know, and I can post or PM more information.  To pick up such medicines in Ecuador, a "receta especial" is required at the pharmacy, and it takes a specialist who is authorized, to issue such a "receta."

4.  If you become serious about Ecuador, you'll need also to familiarize yourself with how to obtain a residency visa, which would allow you to remain in Ecuador for more than about six months per year.

cccmedia in Quito