What items do you most miss from the US?

golf clothes/ spices and kitchen equipment / cleaning and laundry supplies are consistently on our list.

Dried split peas and Wasa Crispbread.

Money:)

Definitely the food items. The rest of the things you mentioned can be purchased at some price.

Good towels, spices, disposable toilet seat covers for traveling, sunglasses, extra contact lenses

You are kidding about sunglasses, right? Every 10 feet someone is selling sunglasses on the street. If you don't want the
" street vendor " quality glasses, all the high end brands are in the malls.

I actually haven't seen the ones on the street(the sun was probably in my eyes)  and the ones in the mall were double or triple the price of Ca.I'll get a hat and take to the streets.

I agree, I did see some hatefull prices at the malls on sunglasses. I saw them for sale on the street, priced like we are used to paying at a drugstore, or service station. Also, I saw them in little convienence stores. In Cuenca there are many of the tiny storefront stores that are like SunGlass Hut. Hundreads of pair. You do have to haggle with them, and point out that they are not selling " real " Ray Bans . Tons of fakes, usually you can tell by the printed name, not etched. Also, one pair had the Ray Ban name on the left lens.... always on the right for the real deal.
Keep yer eye's peeled, you'll find em'

PS. I just noticed when I posted this..... I'm wearing some of the cheapies I bought in Ecuador in my profile pic.

Hi nards, we are coming in March, would you like us to bring you some?

D

About sunglasses, notice also that is dangerous for your eyes to buy the cheap/fake ones.

They dont have the apropiate protection against radiation and the sun here is really strong.

Vinny

contact lenses?

I buy cooper vision lenses here at $33 for a box of 6 -- and they are uv protected lenses...

Maybe life is different on the coast?

We have split peas too...

Susan

Denise in Denver,

Thank you for the generous offer, but since Susan in Salinas says there are split peas to be had where she lives, I should be able to score some soon by way of a road trip to Salinas.

Oh nooo....the pressure....  hoping there are split peas when you get here and not just lentils!!!!

You know many people in Cuenca have thought they have seen split green peans but they turned out to be lentils. There are varieties of lentils with a very similar color and look.

I won't make a trip just for green peas, but I will clear out the store if there are any.

I alway have EBAY to fall back on for the occasional binge.

ZenSPIKE wrote:

In Cuenca there are many of the tiny storefront stores that are like SunGlass Hut. Hundreads of pair. You do have to haggle with them, and point out that they are not selling " real " Ray Bans . Tons of fakes, usually you can tell by the printed name, not etched. Also, one pair had the Ray Ban name on the left lens.... always on the right for the real deal.

I bought a pair of RayBans from a street vendor here in Cebu -- 50 pesos (~$1.25).

I hope they aren't fakes -- I'd hate to be ripped off.

as I was giving Gina something for scratching this evening -- she likes to take a dip in the pool and is allergic to chlorine   ... I remembered... BENADRYL!   one of the few drugs we do not have here in Ecuador

Bob,
You can rest assured, if you paid as much as a buck and a quarter, you got the real deal. It's those 50 cent RayBans you hafta watch out for.
Neil

Seedless watermelons!..they are all seeded here...(damn these GMO foods can be convenient)..sigh

OceanHideaway wrote:

as I was giving Gina something for scratching this evening -- she likes to take a dip in the pool and is allergic to chlorine   ... I remembered... BENADRYL!   one of the few drugs we do not have here in Ecuador

The same substance as Benadryl (diphenydramine) is available in lotion form under Caladryl brand name. For a pill alternative, you can buy Clarityne 10 mg over-the-counter (around $1.00 per pill). Or if you want to save money, then its generic version Loratadina can be bought for around $0.15 per pill.

Yours is one of the must overlooked yet interesting questions. The truth is, everything that a person needs can be purchased here, however not necessarily what you might want and in the quality you might be accustomed to. So here is my personal list: bed linens, towels, pillows, cotton underware for men, the size of shoes that will fit your feet, ordinary everyday vitamins, sun block, Asian and Indian spices, American or Mexican seasonings, ( stew mix, taco seasonings, chili seasonings, meat loaf seasonings, etc.) peanut butter, small boxes of baking soda (illegal to sell here except in drug stores),salt substitutes if you need them, stainless steal cook and bake ware (they sell aluminum which is highly toxic), jalapeño peppers, Dr. pepper.
Of course I could fill a container with a multitude of other things that I personally would like to have but really can live without.
S, whatever near and dear to you, put at in your luggage. Then have some friends on standby to ship you whatever you forgot. The truth is, if you worry about what we might not have. There are very good substitutes here and some opportunities to use your imagination, too.
We have been here for a little over two years and wouldn't change a thing.
Good packing!

Hi.  I will be coming down next month to Cuenca and will be staying for 1 year or 2. 
I will bring 3 suitcases with all my basics and diving equipment but I would like to ship a medium-Large box full of things that I prefer not to buy while there.
Does anyone know of a place or mail service that I could use to have my stuff delivered to so that I could pick it up when I arrive.  Ideally I will like to have it arrive a few days (or a week) after I arrive.
This will make my packing so much easier than deliberating over what stuff to stuff into my luggage while worrying about going over the weight limit for luggage.

  Thanks for any advice

Definitely food. Most likely cheese

will they let you bring dried peas into the country?

I miss access to cheap electronics (costco, amazon.com, ebay) and used furniture (craigslist). Also, I miss not having access to specialty items such as non-synthetic vitamins, chorella, certain natural shampoos, etc.

But so far the benefits of living here far outweigh the inconveniences.

Healer wrote:

will they let you bring dried peas into the country?

To learn about Nards Barley's success in getting dried split peas into Ecuador, you may wish to peruse the following threads:

"Are there no dried split peas to be had in Cuenca"
  (originally posted by Nards Barley in 2012)

"Barley's Pea Strategy:  Is This the Future for USA-to-Ecuador Shipping"
(just posted by cccmedia, Jan. 22, 2015)


                                                              .

wlae84 wrote:

I miss access to cheap electronics (costco, amazon.com, ebay) and used furniture (craigslist). Also, I miss not having access to specialty items such as non-synthetic vitamins, chorella, certain natural shampoos, etc.

But so far the benefits of living here far outweigh the inconveniences.

Is there a reason that you do not have access to Amazon or Ebay?  Do they not ship to Ecuador?  I live on Amazon, it is my first go to for almost everything except furniture, clothes etc.

Yeah...of course I still have access to those sites, but it's no longer cheap due to tariffs, shipping, etc. PLUS all the complications such as the possibility of having to reship your package back to the US at $100 if it doesn't meet customs rules (which from what I've read can change at whim), having to order one item at a time in order to avoid customs confiscation and having to pay unnecessary tariffs as a result of ordering 1-by1. And plus... just not knowing what's gonna happen and how to go about it without the possibility of paying huge sums of money that if you had ordered from the US would not be a concern.

I haven't actually ordered anything yet for these reasons which were formulated from reading posts on this forum and other online sources.  If I was in the US I would have already ordered multiple things in the last 3 months, so being here has been a roadblock with respect to online shopping.

wlae84 wrote:

PLUS all the complications such as the possibility of having to reship your package back to the US at $100 if it doesn't meet customs rules (which from what I've read can change at whim), having to order one item at a time in order to avoid customs confiscation and having to pay unnecessary tariffs as a result of ordering 1-by1.

I've had two separate Amason shipments get snagged on technical violations of customs rules.

In the first case, Amason stepped up and paid the return freight when the Correos system refused to forward (or promptly return) a package that was overweight and contained forbidden over-the-counter-vitamins.  Correos's freight forwarder in Miami refused to send a fax confirming it had blocked the shipment to Ecuador, and I did emailing directly with Amason until the package ultimately was returned -- at no cost to me.  Bless Amason, they even refunded the $180 for the contents (which they didn't have to do, since by then the shipment was past the stated window for refunds).

As for the other package (slightly overweight), Econcargo -- the Correos freight forwarder -- with my approval, removed some individual pasta boxes from the shipment, to accomodate the weight restriction, then sent the main package to me in Quito.

This was a rare moment of unexpected and welcome customer service from Econcargo.

cccmedia in Quito

cccmedia wrote:

contained forbidden over-the-counter-vitamins.

Hmmm....would you mind sharing what these vitamins were so we won't make the same mistake?

Also, have you tried including a doctor's note in the package? Do you think it would make a difference?

I'm eagar to learn how to get supplements through because there are a lot of products that I haven't been able to find in EC.

wlae84 wrote:

cccmedia wrote:

contained forbidden over-the-counter-vitamins.

Hmmm....would you mind sharing what these vitamins were so we won't make the same mistake?

Also, have you tried including a doctor's note in the package? Do you think it would make a difference?

It's my understanding that you cannot import ANY vitamins.  I don't recall exactly what I ordered at that time, almost a year ago.

I have since found that any vitamins or supplements I have wanted in Quito can be purchased here in the health stores.  So I haven't had the need to consider the doctor's-note strategy.  I doubt the dogs of SENAE would care a fig about an Expat's doctor's note.  They'd sooner attempt to confiscate the products.

cccmedia in Quito

I miss being able to buy comfortable shoes in size 12, REI, and good quality corn tortillas. You'd think corn tortillas would be more common, but all I can find here in Quito are really hard and mold within a day of opening the package. I looked for masa with lime so I could make my own, but so far no luck.

Quito has 2.5 million people.  So, "por amor a Elvis," can we get a SuperMaxi, a MegaMaxi or a HyperMaxi supermarket that stays open past 9 p.m.....

cccmedia in Quito