Job Discussion Forums

[melisssssa]

Hi all,
So I�ve been furiously looking for something in Chile, and now Ecuador looks like a possibility, which is exciting. But I don�t really have a sense of what it�s like. So all of you who have been to Ecuador, speak up! Tell me what you loved, hated, were enchanted with, were turned off by� I�m a city girl who loves arts and culture, particularly performing arts, and I�m curious as to what Quito has to offer in this respect, as well as all those great things like : cost of living, rent, safety, transportation, bank accounts, cell phones, etc.!

Looking forward to reading you
Thanks

[dribom]

So I�m in Ecuador and I love it. The people are wonderful (and I really mean that), my city is beautiful, and my students are great! Really, I can�t describe how awesome the Ecuadorians are. I admit I am in a pretty cultured place, but still� I have found Ecuadorians to be sharp, witty, highly adaptable and good humored. But you do have to speak Spanish.

But to watch out for: people will tell you that 300-400 dollars a month is ok to live on. This is misleading.

My Ecuadorian friends who are also teachers (Physics teacher and special ed teacher) make this much. And they live really well. But, like all Ecuas, they live in three or four person salary households. 400 or even 300 is plenty if your sisters and mother brings this home too and you all share cooking ingredients, and transportation� and maybe own most of your property.

This is pretty much how I�m living (make 380) and I have to admit that I feel stretched from time to time.

Uh� cell phones are 35 bucks but really expensive to actually use. Everyone texts.

Bank accounts are a fucking pain. Some people have a fine time� I�m a volunteer teacher (I have a salary but I paid for my own flight, health insurance, and training) so I have a special class of Visa that very very few people have. It�s actually pretty cool because I get charged Ecua citizen rates for things like travel, museums, and parks. But even with a Visa, a letter from a prominent, public educational institution, an official identity card (the same diplomats and Peace Corp personnel have), a water and phone bill, and a tone of other stuff it took four hours. You need references without cell phones. Eeek. And I speak Spanish!

What else� work for a public institution is at all possible. Besides the fact that private language institutes seem to work people to death, they are such a rip off to students. In a country where 300 a month is considered a descent salary institutes like Wall Street and Nexus charge up to $10 an hour for lessons from people that may not even be real teachers. I have a number of students in my classes (which are $90 for 100hrs) that did that at one time because they didn�t know there were other options. It�s just not right, when so many people are trying to learn to get ahead and improve their lives to take advantage like that.

Transportation: crazy buses jumping on and off of... much fun.

City girl stuff... I like Quito, but don't rule out other places. Cuenca probably has more arts... and maybe Guayaquil.

Rent... 150 for room and board is pretty doable. Maybe 175 for good food.