Is the cost of living in Ecuador high?

"I've lived here for five-plus years now, on the flanks of Volcan in Cotacachi where my Ecuadorian wife and I have built a home on 1000 sq. meters of property. The cost of living, which I estimate at about 10 – 15% of costs in Canada makes it possible for us to live well on my meager pension and maintain my investment portfolio for travel and splurges. I am a numbers guy by nature and keep a running spreadsheet of daily expenses, which since we are not even close to rich is necessary to try to control rampant spending. I'll make a list of the basics (more or less Fixed expenses): Phone: $30 for one unlimited cell phone with data. Internet: $22/month for good service of 30MBS fiberoptic. Electricity: Average of $25/month. Water, good clean potable water: amazing but true, $1 (one dollar/month.) Full medical coverage including most prescription drugs, through IESS, Ecuadorian medicare: $90/month for the two of us. Property tax: For whatever reason it has never exceeded $3/year. When we paid rent, before we built, it was $125/month for a two-bedroom apartment.. Our two-bedroom 2.5 bath home with big patio and carport cost around $35k to build, with me working along a team of five 'albaniles" masons who I paid $100/week for five long days of hard work, no coffee breaks, usually no lunch break as they eat while they worked and worked like demons with no pushing. The work ethic here is astounding. Food is divided into two catagories. Groceries (supermarket and local markets): Around $250/month for what we prepare at home and we eat extremely well. Dining out, a couple of times a week we have a (usually shared) meal out. About $80/month or less. The two of us can almost always eat very well for under $6 for both. No added tax, no tips. What you see on the menu is what you pay. Period. We spend hardly anything on alcohol so that's not relevant since we might have a drink once or twice a month and never out. We have a car, which are extremely expensive to buy but not too bad to maintain. Mechanics are good, lots of competition, and often work for an hour or more for $10. Or they say forget it if the job is easy, or they ask for a couple of bucks (for a cola). Nobody that I know who drives has automobile insurance. Or homeowners insurance for that matter. I've never figured out what the 'bomberos' firemen do all day. Reminds me of the old ads for the Maytag repairmen. Everything is built of concrete, cement blocks or bricks. Tile surfaces and concrete floors and ceilings. Food in the markets, fresh, wonderful fruit and vegetables are 10% to 20% of what they cost in the north, for me British Columbia, Canada. I find myself getting pissy if avocados cost more than 3/$. Mangos 2 or 3/$. Lettuce is $0.50 head, as are broccoli and fresh greenbeans. Vine-ripe tomatoes are usually$0.10/each. bananas $0.02/each, Onions and bell peppers are often 6-10/$. Eggs are high now, at $3.50-$4/for a flat (cubeta) of 30. usually in the fresh produce world prices are given in a how many for a dollar. Fresh meat is sold by the pound. Beef is about $1.50-2.00/lb. Pork is $2-2.50/lb for any cut. whole chicken costs about $1.25/lb, and pieces (legs and thighs, or breasts are around $150/lb. I could go on, but you get the idea. Come find out for yourself," said another expat in Cotacachi, Ecuador.

"The cost of living in San Clemente is very affordable. If you eat at local type restaurants, a typical lunch will set you back at $2.50-$3.00. Even at the more foreign type restaurants, it is still cheap to eat. Rent can range from $250 a month for a typical Ecuadorian house to upwards of $1,000 a month for a condo in a small complex. All in all, the cost of living is very affordable," wrote a member who made the move to San Clemente, Ecuador.

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