Ecuador sounds like a great place to semi retire

Hi Ellie and Mike,

Welcome to Expat.com

I have created a new thread with your post on the Ecuador forum in order to give much more importance to your questions.

Thanks

Priscilla

Ecuador--so far for me --has been a joy. Coming from Calgary with my three little rescue dogs and a cat--I learned a lot. And there is a lot to know. You can do it all yourself if you start in plenty of time. You need to be aware of timing because you cant have your dogs' vaccinations too long before departure. In other words thirty days or under. I had to use a pet transporter out of Toronto and it was very very expensive. I never considered leaving them behind and now that we are all here in Cuenca--I have found that there are places that are pet friendly but they are further away from el centro. Which is good because El Centro is very noisy, busy and polluted.
United will let you bring pets with you --one in cabin and one in cargo. if you so choose. Be careful that there is room as they only allow four pets per light I believe.
Hope this helps--any other questions --just ask and I will try to answer as best I can.

Please keep in mind, if you become permanent residents of Ecuador, you can only be out of the country a limited amount of time:

Article 36: Regulation of Immigrant Law.- All legally registered immigrants may leave and return to the country, but cannot stay outside more than ninety days in each year during the first two years from the date of admission on immigrant status, or more than eighteen consecutive months at any time, without losing their immigration status and category, in which case its documentation will be canceled.
The date of admission corresponds to the day of issuance of the Ecuadorian ID.
In other words, after the second year, a foreigner may travel abroad as often as desired, and even returning only one day to the country, the 18 months start counting from zero again.

We live on a 15 acre farm outside of Cotacachi and feel very safe. We brought 25 dogs with us from the US and they love it here as well.  There are a number of Ecuadorians who have goats.  Some actually take there goats around town on a leash and sell milk right of the utter.

By the way, my wire has started a program in conjunction with the city of Quiroga to help the poor senior citizens of the city.  They meet 3 times a week and do exercises, dance, crafts, and a variety of other activities. They are also provided a meal on the 3 days they meet.  Last Friday a lady missed the meeting. We checked on her Saturday and found out she had no food and hadn't eaten since the meal she had received the previous Wednesday.  Thank God we checked on her.  We had bread and cheese in the car with us which we gave her and then went got her a few groceries. There is no end to volunteer work available here.

Barbara Suderman wrote:

I had to use a pet transporter out of Toronto and it was very very expensive. I never considered leaving them behind and now that we are all here in Cuenca--I have found that there are places that are pet friendly but they are further away from el centro. Which is good because El Centro is very noisy, busy and polluted.  United will let you bring pets with you --one in cabin and one in cargo. if you so choose. Be careful that there is room as they only allow four pets per light I believe.

Hey Barbara, we are in the US and would like to get an idea of the cost of bringing our forty pound dog.  What do the airlines charge?  Does Ecuador charge fees for dogs coming into the country?  Thanks, John

Hi, John!
I don't know about the States--only Canada--but my cost was for using a pet transporter as I made some mistakes in preparing to bring my dogs. One was to go with a pet transporter out of Calgary who essentially withdrew her services --at the last minute. I found out about her after hiring the pet transporter out of Toronto. To make a long story short--check the airlines --get your shots up to date and get all the necessary paperwork done. It has to be recent within 30 days--all the vet stuff --to bring your dog in to Ecuador. I would recommend looking at someone to help you at this end. Nothing worse than getting off the plane and finding out you didn't cross a t somewhere and your dog is not allowed in.

You brought 25 dogs! 
   Goat milk from the udder in the street!
     Great stuff, this sure beats 10 more posts about how the bureaucrats are continually changing the visa procedures.
       Tell us more about life on the farm.