Tamera's Take: Everything's Eventual, Cats & Cell Phone Communication

Tamera's Take is about being here.
Are you ready?  I am.

Before any "constant readers" start plotting my death (and you know who you are), yes "Everything's Eventual" is the title of a book by SK.  Just as SK uses songs, life events and literary quotes to punctuate his stories, I am using his book title to punctuate my story.  How do I know he does this? Because I have been a constant reader for over 30 years.  I read my first SK novel while I was pregnant with my daughter.  The book terrified me.  I loved it.  I still read his books.

The rainy season has begun.

Anyway, I thought about using "The Cell", but that was too obvious.  Are we okay now? Good. Then I will continue.

Last week in "Octopus's Garden, Cats & Water Always Wins", I wrote about not having enough time to blog because of everything that has happened to us in the past couple of weeks. Eventually though you have to just suck it up, quit whining and write (or paint, or clean your house, or whatever it is that you need to do).

Stephen King said it.  He is right.
Eerily always right.

“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.” 
― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Roof Top Terrace

At this moment I need to move from the rooftop terrace that I love so much, and get out of the sun before Senor Sol burns a hole in my retinas.  It may only be 8:30 am but the sun is serious around here.  Downstairs I go.

That is better - sort of.  I have lost my view, the ocean breeze and the sound of tropical birds, but my eyesight is thankful that I relocated to the shade of the first floor patio.

The view from the roof was especially beautiful today.

Our Beige and Sage Colored Mountains

When we arrived in Crucita late November, we were told that the rainy season starts in December and continues through February or March.  November is the end of the dry season. That was evident. Everything was dusty and dry. There are mountains along the coast of Crucita. They were beige with tinges of sage green here and there.

We looked forward to the rainy season so our mountains would turn green. December came and went. Where was all that rain we heard about?  

Beautiful Rocafuerte

A few miles inland everything was green. We know this because we visited a number of towns in the Manabi province during the past two months.

Portoviejo, Charapoto, Rocafuerte, El Pueblito, La Boca, San Jacinto, San Clemente, Bahia, San Vicente, Chone, and Manta.  

There was rain.  It just never made it to the coast.

That all changed about seven days ago.

We have been able to call our friends and family back home using a Skype phone account.  This is a little different than the Skype you can use for free on your computer (or smart device).  Free Skype does not work on every computer (or smart device).  Also, our bank is not going to "Skype" when they need to contact us.  We pay $13.50 each month for Skype phone subscription to receive a U.S. VoIP phone number and unlimited use of that number.  We can call anyone in the U.S., and anyone who has our number can call us.  It costs them nothing to call us.

We use the cheap LG smartphone that we brought with us.  It is not an "unlocked" phone, and does not have an active cell phone plan. But that does not matter.  As long as we have access to WiFi, we can use this cell phone for calls to/from the U.S.

What is the downside?  There are only two downsides. First, we have to have access to WiFi. Second, we cannot use it to call anyone with an Ecuador phone number, and vice versa.

We have WiFi set up at our house and free WiFi is available at many restaurants, hotels, malls, and even some buses.  This is not a problem unless our electricity is out, or we are nowhere near a free WiFi hotspot.

San Vicente.  Across the bay from Bahia.

We have only lost electricity a few times and never for more than an hour.

That all changed five days ago.

We need to be able to make phone calls to people and businesses in Ecuador.  Skype Phone was not the solution to that problem.

If you are only going to be here for a short period of time, you can use a U.S. cell phone plan (Verizon, AT&T, etc) with an international calling feature. You may have read other blogs advising travelers to bring an unlocked cell phone, so they can use one of the local cellular carriers.

Why go to the trouble of bringing an unlocked cell phone? Because cell phones are supposed to be very, very, very expensive in Ecuador.

At least this is what we read and heard.

We agonized over this dilemma.
We are not short-timers.
We did not have an unlocked cell phone.
We waited until the first week of 2016 to get our Ecuadorian cell phone/number.  There was no reason to wait.  It was much easier than we ever could have imagined.  Lesson learned.

You can shop for just about anything in El Centro.

There are various options for obtaining local cellular service in Ecuador, but for us it made the most sense to buy a smartphone and use a prepaid (prepago) chip.

There are a number of cell service carriers in Ecuador.  The two main service providers are Movistar and Claro. We chose Claro, and bought a new Samsung Galaxy.  It came with an Amigo Chip that gives us 2 for 1 on every dollar we spend to recharge (recarga) data/talk/text.

In addition we have unlimited "Whatsapp", that allows us to talk and text for free with anyone else who has Whatsapp.  Total cost for the device, sim cards, amigo chip and promtional plan, was less than $140 USD.  We will probably spend no more than $10 per month to recharge data/talk/text (megas/voz/mensaje).

You can get a basic cell phone for less than $20 USD. You can get a basic smartphone for less than $50 USD.  If basic is not your style, no problem.  You can get the brand, style and features you want in a price range that meets your needs.

Blah Blah Blah

Good luck with getting "unlocked" cell phones in the U.S. anyway without paying a fortune.  I do not know why, but the cell phone carriers in the U.S. are the only ones that lock their devices so that they cannot be used with other carriers.

If you want to bring your cell phone, there are technicians in Ecuador that can repair and unlock most cell phones for a fee.  If you are in Portoviejo, go to El Centro shopping district.  Keep in mind that once unlocked it may or may not work on other networks.  

Note:  At the time of our arrival in 2015, Ecuador Customs allowed each traveler to bring only ONE cell phone.  There are also customs restrictions on other electronic devices, such as laptops, tablets, digital equipment.

Check the Customs Regulations before you travel.

By now you may be wondering, "is she ever going to finish the story about the rain, green mountains, blah blah blah?".

Yes.

Everything's eventual.

Then it started to rain.

Rain. Finally.

I cannot express how happy I was when it finally started to rain.  Not just drizzly little droplets that look more like mist and disappear instantly when the sun comes out.  Or worse, appear in the middle of the night when you are not even sure that it rained.

This was big rain.  This was soaking rain.  This was last Saturday.

So what if we miss a beach day.  There will be plenty more. Besides, all this rain is going help turn our mountain green. Sunday.  Still raining.  No problem.  Bring it on.

We have not lost power.  Our WiFi is a little wobbly but still doing what WiFi is supposed to do.

Midnight on Sunday night, or Monday morning depending on how you look at it, everything stops. No electricity.

No electricity means no WiFi.  No WiFi means no Skype Phone.

Everything is going to be okay. Our laptop was fully charged.  Our Claro cell phone was fully charged.  The power is never out for very long.  I did all of our laundry two days ago.  I had already packed our necessary documents into the laptop bag for our morning meeting on Monday.  Manta Monday.  Manta Monday with our Attorney at the Immigration Office.

Waiting on the Malecon for our attorney to pick us up.

At 7:00 am on Monday, the electricity was still out.  Our attorney was picking us up at 9:00 am. One more thing that does not work without electricity - the water pump.  We have bottled water for drinking and cooking.  The water for the rest of the house comes from our cistern.

The electric pump in the laundry room brings the water from the cistern to the kitchen and bathrooms.

Not today.  No electricity.  No showers.

My husband and I are resourceful people.  We have been camping many times.  We have been through our share of Hurricanes in Florida.  We have a gas stove and five gallon bottles of water! Camping showers done.  Stove top coffee made.  We are ready on time.

Still raining.  Still no electricity.

I felt like "Rainman" taking these pictures from the car.

My first trip to Manta and I saw almost nothing, except flashes of green things as I looked through the windows of the car. I assume we drove past farms, trees and mountains.  It was hard to tell through the rain and fogged up windows.  I also saw the ocean and big boats.  They were the gray things floating in the gray water, that I saw through the fogged up windows of the car that was driving in the rain.

Tamera was very tired and just a bit cranky from having had no sleep the night before.

Very cool whale sculpture at San Clemente beach.

I was also under a bit of pressure.  I was the designated translator between the four of us (who were in Manta that day to apply for 12-IX Visas) and our attorney.   Our attorney does not speak English.  I speak the most Spanish out of the three Americans and one Canadian.  Our attorney was there to speak to the immigration officials on our behalf and file the necessary documents.  But we still needed to speak with him.  There were questions to be asked and answers needed.  Anyway, I was the designated translator.

I will not go into any more details about our experience at the immigration office, except to say that the staff were all very efficient and courteous.  Our attorney was very skilled, very efficient and very nice.

The day was a success.  We should have our new tourist visas by Monday or Tuesday.

I gave the attorney our new Ecuadorian cell phone number.  He is supposed to call me when our Visas are ready.

The view from the rooftop terrace is especially beautiful today.

It is green.  Very green.

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Tamera's Take: Octopus's Garden, Cats & Water Always Wins

Tamera's Take is about being here.

Are you ready?  I am.

Octopus Garden - Courtesy of Divetime.com

"I'd like to be under the sea

In an octopus's garden in the shade

He'd let us in, knows where we've been

In his octopus's garden in the shade

I'd ask my friends to come and see

An octopus's garden with me

I'd like to be under the sea

In an octopus's garden in the shade

We would be warm below the storm

In our little hideaway beneath the waves

Resting our head on the sea bed

In an octopus's garden near a cave

My Octopus Garden

We would sing and dance around

Because we know we can't be found

I'd like to be under the sea

In an octopus's garden in the shade

We would shout and swim about

The coral that lies beneath the waves

(Lies beneath the ocean waves)

Oh what joy for every girl and boy

Knowing they're happy and they're safe

(Happy and they're safe)

We would be so happy you and me

No one there to tell us what to do

I'd like to be under the sea

In an octopus's garden with you

In an octopus's garden with you

In an octopus's garden with you"

                      by Richard Starkey/Ringo Starr

A lot has happened in the past ten days.  So much that my husband and I have not had time to write anything new for our blog.

I guess you could say we have transitioned into the next phase of our adventure in Ecuador.  Well, that would not be an accurate statement.  "You" are not saying anything about it.  I am.

The problem I face is this.  I do not have time to write because we are so busy.  But because we are so busy, I have a lot to write about.

High Tide.  Very High Tide.

I am one of those "list" people.  Someone who is forever mentally organizing all those little bits of shiny junk that are swirling around in my head.  All the events, sights, sounds, people, places, sea turtles, birds, cats, paperwork, trees, sea turtle nests, flowers, shells, bands, waves, sunrises, immigration, sunsets, fruits, vegetables, bicycles, keys, cars, cedulas, stores, hats, lamps, driftwood, 12-IX tourist visa, pottery, garbage, gardens, bingo, buses, houses, rain, attorney, shacks, walls, bits of rope, more bits of rope, passports, sea glass, dead fish, live fish, music, waves, sand, and as much as I have tried to ignore them - small colorful rocks.

Every day, for just a moment, panic sets in as I try to find one of my four notebooks so I can make my lists.  Lists of things to remember for some future reference that I may or may not remember why. My husband is kind when he blogs about my lists,  He praises me for taking "copious notes". Though, on some level it must be annoying to him.  It is annoying to me.  Especially when I cannot find one of my four identical spiral notebooks to write those copious notes.

South Crucita Beach at the Cliffs

Then there are the digital photos to sort through.  Literally thousands of them. We are not crazy picture-takers by nature.

I am an amateur photographer relegated to using the camera on my Motorola Droid cell phone.  Sometimes it takes 30 or 50 shots on a camera phone to get 2 or 3 decent pictures.

All my SLRs are carefully packed in a bin, stored at my mother's house in Florida.  I would love to have them even though I know I would get very little use out of them.  Film is expensive.  Developing film is expensive.  Finding someone skilled to develop my film is difficult at best.  I could set up a dark room and do it myself.  I certainly have the space in our house.  What I do not have is the equipment - here.

You guessed it.  Packed away in a bin in Florida.


I am not complaining.  My husband does not have any of his bass guitars, amps, recording equipment.  They are not even packed in a bin in Florida.  They are in the hands of some other musicians.  Maybe in Florida.  Maybe not.

I cannot bring this home?

So this Raven (me) collects her bits of shiny junk and artistically (in her mind) arranges them around the house.  The need to create was so strong yesterday, that she built a very tiny bench - do not laugh - for shells.

She built it out of pieces of wood that had washed on the shore of the beach in Crucita.  Okay so the junk does not have to be shiny for a Raven to pick it up.  Just interesting in some way.

"Why is a Raven like a writing desk?  I don't know."

Right now a Raven is more like an Octopus. At least in the collecting of shiny bits of junk and bringing it home.

None of this is the reason we have been busy.

It is impossible for two people who have worked all their lives to go somewhere and do absolutely nothing.  Maybe for the first few weeks.

After that, the mind starts to go a little numb and I can actually feel the cogs breaking away from the gears.  I have the added disadvantage of not being able to do very much physically.

Writing this blog has been great for both of us.  We have a creative outlet.  We think the readers enjoy the stories, and hopefully we are providing helpful information for anyone who wants to visit or live in Ecuador.

Houses on the Cliff

Enter a new purpose.

Our friend Tamy has started a company of her own.  She works hard and is actually well on her way to having a successful business.  She has clients.  Probably more than she thought she would have at this early stage.  Tamy is very smart and knows that if she wants to consistently reach her target audience, she has to do some marketing.  She has already created a branding logo - which is fabulous. She is now working on her website.


Enter Tamera and Jason.

Finders Keepers

Tamy has hired a web designer, but she has to provide him with content, layout, and the mechanics of how she wants her website to work.  She is bi-lingual and her English is excellent.  However, as we have discovered while learning Spanish, everything does NOT translate.  I will give you an example.

Garage (garaje in Spanish).  Seems simple enough. Except that a "garage" in the United States is, well, a garage. It has a roof, walls, a roll up door and sometimes a window or two. The definition of a "garaje" is a private parking space, where a vehicle is stored. In Ecuador that means a secured parking lot or driveway.

Our property has a garaje. There is an eight foot high locked gate to secure the garaje. If we ever buy a car or motorcycle, we can park it in our garaje and it will be safe.

Make no mistake. It is not a garage. An American will see the word "garage" and think what we thought when we first read the description of our property in Crucita.

Translation.

I will give you another example.

Shiny Beach Stuff

We saw a sign today that read: "Deposito basura el receptaculo.  Cuide el medio ambiente." We know enough Spanish to understand that the first sentence stated, "put your trash in the receptacle". I did not even read the second sentence. The first one was instruction enough for me. Then Jason says, "what does ambiente mean?".

I had no idea.  If I had to guess I would say, "ambient". I turn on my cell phone to translate.  Sure enough. It means ambient. What does ambient have to do with trash? I am not sure. I translate "Cuide". It means "care". I translate "el medio". It means "the middle".

Put them all together and you get, "Care the middle ambient". That has to be wrong. It does not even make sense.

It is that translation thing again.

I type the entire sentence into the translator.  "Care for the environment."  That makes sense.

As a favor for our new friends, Tamy & Jared, we are helping her to create her website content. What else do we have to do?!  My husband Jason is the writer of the family.  I review content and agonize over sentence structure, word placement, etc.  He and I do not always agree.  We will leave it at that. All in all we really are enjoying the process; and helping our friends create a website North Americans will understand.

T-3 Passport Stamp

The best part is that we are learning from each other. Our Spanish is getting better every day. It has to. We are going to really need it on Monday.

When the tides are high, and El Nino is in effect, the landscape at the beach changes drastically. Devastatingly is a better word.

This is sort of true of our life right now.
Full Moon.  Check.
El Nino.  Check.
Extremely High Tides.  Check.
Water crashing over the Malecon every day.  Check.
FBI Background checks needed for Resident Visas.  No Check.
FBI Background checks first promised in 8 weeks; then 10-13 weeks.  Still No Check.


Waves crashing over the Malecon.  Huge rocks washing away with the tide.  Things washing ashore, then being dragged back out to sea.  Workers scrambling to rebuild retaining walls to keep the "cliff houses" from disappearing.  Water always wins.

No swimming against the tide.  No fighting a run-out.  You have to figure out how to work with the water.  Water always wins.

Tiny Shell Bench

For those of you who are thinking about obtaining your Resident Visa in Ecuador, you must read Paperwork, Paperwork and More Paperwork.  Then add this piece of information.

The turnaround time to receive your FBI Background Checks has increased three times since we started the process last year.  We should have received ours last week according the latest FBI estimate.  When they did not arrive, I called the FBI.  Yes, you can call the FBI.  My mother advised me to "light a fire under them".  Needless to say I did NOT take her advice.  Remember.  Water always wins.  Work with the water.

Water Over the Malecon.  Water Always Wins.

Our new estimate for receiving the FBI background checks is around the first week of March.  Our current 90 day T-3 Tourist Visa expires at the end of February.  I knew that there was a possibility that we would not receive our Resident Visas prior to our Tourist Visa expiration date.

I set aside the contingency money to cover the cost of obtaining the 12-IX Tourist Visa that allows us an additional 90 days to stay in the country while we wait for our Resident Visas to be processed.

What I did not count on was that in 2016 the cost of those 12-IX Tourist Visas increased significantly.  I also had not counted on the FBI taking so long to process our requests for background checks.  By the way the customer service agent at the FBI office said, and I quote, "we are just opening September 2015 mail now".   Okay I understand they are busy.

The final wave over the Malecon is that our Immigration Attorney can not file any of our documents for the Resident Visas until those FBI background checks arrive.

Monday.  Manta Monday.

Two of my very important notebooks!

We have spent the past few days organizing and copying the necessary documents to apply for our 12-IX Tourist Visas.  Our attorney is taking us to the town of Manta on Monday, so we can go to the Ecuadorian Immigration Office (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility). There we will fill out the necessary forms (with the help of our attorney), have our photos taken, then provide them with copies of our passports, the T-3 stamp on our passports, a financial statement, state background checks (thankfully we had those prior to arriving in Ecuador).

We opted for paying our attorney to assist us with this process, otherwise we would have to go to the Immigration Office in Manta two or three times, and we would have to rely on my limited Spanish vocabulary when speaking to the immigration officials.

We only have to go Manta one time with our attorney. The attorney will handle the rest for us.

I am very thankful we have an attorney.

My people better get this Visa thing fixed.

You could choose to do all this on your own, but I would not advise it.

The forms have to be filled out in Spanish. The documents have to be translated into Spanish.  Manta is 40 km away.

Three trips to an Immigration Office in Manta is not my idea of fun.  One trip is going to be difficult enough given my limited Spanish.  Our attorney does not speak English. I will do my best to communicate with him in Spanish.

I think it is time to take a break and go in search of a few more shiny bits of junk for my Octopus Garden.  The tide is low right now.  But not for long.

Remember.  Water always wins.


                              

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In the Beginning - Updated 02/05/2016

Questions? E-mail us!

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For some time, my wife and I have been scouting potential international locations we could move to in an effort to improve our quality of life.  For us, the time of living on credit, working for someone else, and rarely having time to enjoy our lives is at an end.  Our American dream will continue in a new country.  It's time to take a chance and embark on a new adventure. We have chosen Ecuador.  For us its the hands down choice.

We have found lots of good information over the years but it has been a long, arduous process.  We are finally to the point where the research is paying off.  This blog is an attempt to help others by sharing what we have learned. We will post relevant information of our move process; the end result being a one stop informational blog for anyone attempting the same.  Please remember this is only one couple's journey.  As you will read should you choose to read on, things change.  We will attempt to update changes when possible.  Research everything.  There are now Quick Links available at the bottom of every page to help with that.  We hope you join us on our adventure.  Adios!

Completed or Updated Information:

• Tourist and resident VISAs.  What you will need and how to get them. - Paperwork and Then- More Paperwork!

• Documents; what you must gather in the U.S. and how to prepare them. - Paperwork and Then- More Paperwork!

• Health; what care and documentation you will need prior to travelling. - Paperwork and Then- More Paperwork!

• Pets, who can you bring, what is required. - Moving Pets to Ecuador - The Most Fun You Will Never Have

• Getting there; our adventures in air travel. - International Traveler - Tom Tuttle from Tacoma Washington

• Family; be prepared for the reactions! - Familia y Los Amigos - They Love You. Always and Forever

• Cost of Living including utilities, shopping, and pet food/supplies - Living on the Edge - Money, Shopping, and Tequila

• Inventory; what you can you buy there, what you should ship - Tamera's Take:  A Day In The Life, Cats, & What To Bring 

• Cell Phones, internet and general communication - Tamera's Take: Everything's Eventual, Cats & Cell Phone Communication

• Money; what to carry and why.  Tipping and buying - Money, "It's a Gas" - What to Bring, When to Tip, How it Works

Information to Look Forward to:

 As of 02/05/2016 - All costs are USD.  As Ecuador is on the US Dollar, there is no exchange rate for U.S. citizens.  Costs are included on all information pages.

• Real Estate buy or rent?  Do you need an agent?

• Where to live. It's your choice.  What is your dream?

•  Transportation

Questions? E-mail us!

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