It is What It Is

April 14, 2012

It’s been an unusually hot and rainy season, though our area of the coast is not experiencing the more severe flooding and damages that have occurred in the provinces just north of us. And the heavy rains that some predicted to continue into April (when the weather is generally mild) have not come, thankfully. Still, the weather varies from scorching to sweltering, and a sense of lethargy has overcome most all of us (locals and expats alike, though I think the locals are taking it in a little better stride). Everything just seems to take so much more energy.

Because of all the rains, it’s been “buggier” than normal, and many of us have experienced at least a day or two of down time in bed with vague, “blah”, sorta-achy flu-like symptoms. That, and because the heat outside is unbearable, we’ve all retreated to the shade or indoors most of the day. I have watched a lot of movies, and reading like a fiend, parked in front of a fan in our bedroom.

Fortunately, I haven't come across
too many mutant size bugs this year
except for this scary looking guy who
flew into the kitchen last week.
I swear I can see the whites of his eyeballs!

Which is to say, there hasn’t been much to write about, unless you want to hear about how crazy I am about “The Sopranos” (can you believe I’ve never seen this series?!), and spending waaay too much time cruising the internet, too languid to write.

We also had 4 days of
unusually high tides last week.

An article called “Ecuador Seen as New Retirement Hot Spot”, written by Alina Dizak, a freelance writer for  Reuters was recently picked up by Yahoo and several other publications. The scope of the article was more or less limited to the financial benefits or economic reasons that gringos move here and did not address in much detail other reasons that folks choose to “expat” to a different country (Ecuador, specifically).

True, for the most part, it is cheaper to live in South America than in North America (and also true – good and reasonably priced health care is available in Ecuador, and relying on naturally grown remedies is a given. That was certainly a factor in our decision to move to this country, as for many people our age who come here to “retire”).

But Ecuador is not for everyone, and it certainly isn’t “like living in the States, on the cheap", as some promoters of this country indicate. Those who come to Ecuador with that attitude or expectation are more than likely going to be disappointed and probably won't last long here. Especially for those who have no desire to learn the language, the customs, or the culture (which completely befuddles me – why move to a new country if that is not one of your first aspirations?).

There were almost 2000 comments to the article, and I’ve actually had time to read them. As would be expected, they ran the gamut of anti-US sentiment, to some really naïve and uninformed perceptions about Ecuador, to the I.R.S., to the space aliens, to those who envy expats making the leap, and to those who scoff at us. One comment in particular irked me:

Some jerk from Irvine, California wrote “moving to a third world country only says you screwed up here”… I beg to differ.

Many of us moved here because we love Ecuador.  We love the people. We love their simpler lifestyle, their values, and their kindness. We CHOSE to live in Ecuador because it is a beautiful, multi-cultural country, on an enchanting and magical continent that we hope to explore more. We CHOSE to hug the adventures and the challenges.

Moving to a strange land is not without its challenges. Living in a new country – any new country – which is not your homeland can be, at times, very isolating. Generally, the language is new to most, the customs and culture of your new país can take years to learn. Often, the simplest tasks, such as grocery shopping, paying the bills, catching a bus, etc, can be very intimidating for quite some time after the re-location.

It can be tough on even the strongest and most optimistic travelers, whether coming on their own or coming with spouses and/or family. Expect daily physical, mental, emotional, spiritual “tweaking” to happen. Expect to be stretched in all these areas, if our experience is any example.

Yet we feel it’s been worth it. Furthermore, we embrace it.

It takes flexibility, patience, endurance, a desire to learn, open-mindedness, a sense of humor and curiosity to commit to this journey…

And to you, "Mister Constipated-Thinking Asinine Nitwit in Irvine":  I think you should probably just continue to hang around Dave & Busters at the Irvine Spectrum playing pin-ball machines for your thrills, because you would never make it here.

Okay, I’m done ranting. On a lighter note:

Daisy has another new playmate buddy (aside from Scott’s two chocolate labs, Denali and Yost that he brought with him a couple of month ago, and Daisy’s best buds).

This dog is also a chocolate lab, and he arrived as a rambunctious puppy several months ago with his very friendly and nice owners who are renting long-term at Randy and Fonda’s place. The dog’s name is "Barty", and he’s all big feet, as he clumsily “galumps” around the yard of our old house (now Sarah’s).  He has not exactly endeared himself to Todd because he has managed to trample and stomp all over Todd’s carefully planted and tended plants that line the front walkway.

But I get a kick out of him (have you ever seen a tongue that long on a dog?!) and Daisy and he have a grand time chasing each other around playing tag.