Yes, we are still moving to Ecuador

We have been following quite a few blogs from expats who have moved to Ecuador. The idea is to learn from other peoples experiences. The blogs have been very helpful and have kept us on the right track. We got a local (Cuenca) attorney working on our papers right away, decided what part of the city we wanted to live in initially, made some contacts for rental properties while we were in Cuenca, sent off all the papers that needed to be apostilled as soon as we got back to the states - we're cooking, right ? Well, not exactly.

We've got a couple pieces of property here in the states to unload, equipment, tools, household goods - a life time of accumulation. Turns out that stuff is the easy part. Culture shock - the thing everyone talks about - that's the thing. We haven't even moved yet and we are getting killed by the stuff we thought was secondary to "Getting out of Dodge". It's not about learning spanish, finding the right flights, shipping and visa's - it's about us not being smart enough to figure out just how deep the water is ( cultural differences )..

The U.S. State Department is making up stuff as they go, I guess that is nothing new. The Consulate is still operating under the rules from several years ago, I guess that isn't news either. Who would think the Secretary of State where I was born would lose my birth certificate and not know what an apostille was, but cash the check to do it. In Cuenca we talked to a lot of people, shook a lot of hands and heard a lot of " no problems".  We figured it out after we got back to the states - what would I do if someone got in my face, jabbered a bunch of stuff in a strange language, pointed to things that were just confusing and acted like they wanted an answer. I'd shake their hand, smile and say " no problem ". I'd just want to be clear of these lunatics.  We'll be lucky to get anything done in Ecuador while we are still in the states because I was that lunatic. My wife is a lot smarter than I am so she wasn't counting on any of the contacts we made, but I was. So much for having things lined up before we moved.

Yes, we are still moving to Ecuador but I have a lot of humble pie to eat before we do.