Today marks six months since we moved to Ecuador. It has been a wonderful, trying, fabulous, frustrating time.  We are legal residents of the country, which means that we have our cedulas (Ecuadorian ID card) and the permanent resident stamp in our passports. Here are some of highlights: Moved from Guayaquil to the Olon area after we obtained residency.  We are renting a casita from a couple of expats while we look for our own property. Bought a car (some people choose to rely solely on the great public transportation system – we did not want to be without our own car)  Scott detailed the process on his blog. Opened…

Scott and I are one month into our new life in Ecuador.  It has been a month of learning, exploring and settling into a rental apartment.  Our facilitator, Dana, has assisted immensely every step of the way. Apartment living Many folks who are moving to the Pacific Coast move straight to their final destination and take buses and taxis back to Guayaquil for each visa step (minimum of 5 trips).  We knew that we would not enjoy making the trip at least five times in a two+ month period.  Instead, we decided to find a 2-3 month rental in Guayaquil, figuring that we could explore this huge city and improve…

What’s been happening? Sorry for the long delay between posts.  The quickest way to get you up to speed is with a summary (next couple of paragraphs).  We are now in Ecuador.  If you would like details, my husband Scott provided them on his blog, sbphasethree.blogspot.com.  My summary version is: We closed on the San Mateo, CA, house on schedule on April 12, drove toward Minnesota the long way (I-40) due to other interstate closures, spent wonderful (but too short) time with family members, obtained all necessary documents and apostilles, became South Dakota residents by staying one night in a Super 8 motel (really), took side trips to Toronto, Canada,…

There is so much to do when you are downsizing your life from a three bedroom house to a few suitcases.  We have spent the last few months working full time on this! We held our last garage sale, craigslisted, freecycled, donated, got the house ready for sale, put it on the market and are now into escrow.  The garage sale was great.  Like the last one, we priced everything to sell, not to make money.  I want our former stuff in a home where the people want it.  Here’s a shot before the garage sale of some of the stuff that we sold during it: Even the shelves that…

Scott and I are busy getting the house ready to sell and getting rid of the things that will not move with us.  We have boxes for each relative’s family and they are being filled with the things we think they might want.  They all live in Minnesota or Wisconsin so we’re guessing but hopefully they will want at least some of what they are getting.  We also have boxes of photos that we plan to scan, then give the printed photos to relatives. It has been two months since my last post and I had hoped that we would be further along than we are but things are going…

About a month ago, I ended my Facebook contract and have been working full time on preparations for moving.  Scott will be joining me in this effort as he recently gave notice to bebe – his last day is December 7.  His coworkers are mostly very excited for him, which is nice.  You never know how people will react when they hear of the Ecuador plans for the first time.  His manager is already asking when he and his wife can visit! Several things need to happen before we make our first move to South Dakota, then our second move to Ecuador: Sell or donate all furniture in our house. …

It has been too long since I posted.  Someone asked me for my blog URL this week and I am a bit embarrassed with how few posts I have made.  Time to talk about our preparation for the big move instead of just our times in Ecuador.  Keep in mind that if you move overseas from the US, whichever state you last had residency in is the one that you will pay income taxes in while you are overseas.  We live in California and do not want to pay state income taxes here while we are residents of Ecuador.  Instead, we will be moving to South Dakota early in 2013…

A month ago, Scott and I returned to coastal Ecuador for the second time to confirm that we want to live there and see some additional areas.  We are definitely in love with the area and are really looking forward to moving there!  It is going to take several posts to fill you in on the trip. When we booked our flights back in January, there was to be a two hour layover in Miami.  It figures that American Airlines had changed both flight times.  Our flight from SFO was leaving later than originally scheduled and our flight from MIA to GYE was leaving earlier.  The two hour layover turned…

Scott and I just returned from our first trip to the Ecuador coast.  We had an amazing time.  It is going to take more than just one post to detail the trip.  I will summarize in this post and later give more details.  We arrived on December 24 and rented an SUV from Budget.  We also rented a GPS unit – so glad we did!  We got lost WITH it a couple of times – we would have been hopelessly lost without it.  Most people do not rent cars – they just take taxis and buses everywhere.  I understand why since they are readily available and low cost (you can…