joanne Posted February 2, 2015 Report Share Posted February 2, 2015 I've read good and bad about Cuenca. Anyone with first-hand experience? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pappysmarket Posted February 2, 2015 Report Share Posted February 2, 2015 Former Ajijic residents, Dan Prescher and his wife Suzan Haskins live part of the year in Cuenca and the other part in Merida. They work for International Living. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtnMama Posted February 2, 2015 Report Share Posted February 2, 2015 First, Dan and Suzan live where ever International Living pays them to live and then are paid to write nice things about it. They lived in Ajijic, SMA and then Merida. We attended a seminar of theirs in SMA where they said it was the BEST place to retire. I sat near a woman who worked for a developer in Merida and overheard her talking to them about the possibility of working with them. And who can blame them for not wanting to live in Merida in the summer months? I have visited Cuenca and quite liked it. It was a pleasant mid-sized Colonial city. The altitude is over 8,000' which can be problematic. The biggest downsides, other than altitude, I have heard concerns the food. Not much in the way of the kind of fresh produce we are used to and the local cuisine is OK but nothing to write home about. Even with our guidebook, we found no restaurants of note. We were only there a few days, so could have missed a rare jewel or two, but this is a common complaint I have read from others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pappysmarket Posted February 2, 2015 Report Share Posted February 2, 2015 First, Dan and Suzan live where ever International Living pays them to live and then are paid to write nice things about it. They lived in Ajijic, SMA and then Merida. We attended a seminar of theirs in SMA where they said it was the BEST place to retire. I sat near a woman who worked for a developer in Merida and overheard her talking to them about the possibility of working with them. And who can blame them for not wanting to live in Merida in the summer months? I have visited Cuenca and quite liked it. It was a pleasant mid-sized Colonial city. The altitude is over 8,000' which can be problematic. The biggest downsides, other than altitude, I have heard concerns the food. Not much in the way of the kind of fresh produce we are used to and the local cuisine is OK but nothing to write home about. Even with our guidebook, we found no restaurants of note. We were only there a few days, so could have missed a rare jewel or two, but this is a common complaint I have read from others. Actually they are paid to write and hold seminars and sell "stuff" to whoever is a willing buyer. They can live wherever they choose as long as they "produce". They are close friends of ours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bennie2 Posted February 2, 2015 Report Share Posted February 2, 2015 if you are "selling" than everythkng is just ginger peachy 24/7. isnt it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pappysmarket Posted February 2, 2015 Report Share Posted February 2, 2015 Jaja "selling" sounds too crass. "producing" is the in word. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yo1 Posted February 2, 2015 Report Share Posted February 2, 2015 I personally don't trust anything International Living has to say. They have a vested interest in promoting even the most vile places on earth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pappysmarket Posted February 2, 2015 Report Share Posted February 2, 2015 Yes, and one time Lake Chapala was number 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbviajero Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 N/A. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RVGRINGO Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 My son-in-law is and Ecuadorian from Quito. He says he would not live in Cuenca and my daughter will not consider Quito or Cuenca because of altitude and other factors already mentioned. They live in South Carolina; not my favorite place either, but the heat and humidity do not seem to bother them. He is 67 and still playing soccer with 20-30 somethings. He has great lungs feeding his legs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suzanjo Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 My Sister from MN has wintered in Cuenca for three years now. Loves it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bennie2 Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 pappysmarket, love the newsspeak. this sounds like the politcally correct term for "selling". producing? producing what? cash cash cash in their pocket. bennie tells it like it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shira Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 To live in Cuenca you need to speak Spanish as very little English is spoken by the Ecuadorians. There is very little organized activities by or for the expat community although ther is some. Most of the social life seems to revolve around house parties. It is much more affordable than Ajijic with its gringo driven inflated economy. Travel is cheap by bus. Several people from here have moved to Cuenca and seem to be content. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thevalerieleigh Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 We went to Cuenca about 4 years ago. We thought it may be our new home and were very excited. While it's beautiful, nice climate and very economical, I was deeply concerned about the crime rate and violence issues. Within hours of our arrival, I was told by multiple shop owners to remove all of my jewelry. I only wear costume jewelry and was alarmed to see their concern and how adamant they were about not wearing it. We asked how people protect themselves from these thugs and were told "just be off the street by dark". In my opinion, that's no way to live. We spent 2 of our planned 3 weeks there but just couldn't deal with the lack of security and constant threat of violence. I'll add that we were never attacked nor threatened in any way. We were staying at a lovely B&B and met a nice German student in her mid 20's. She was there to take an intensive Spanish language course. Her 2nd day, she was followed by two men and one tried to snatch her camera from her neck. She was able to run into a local shop for refuge but was clearly shaken by the experience. Another incident that occurred during our short visit included a knife attack in the main plaza in the morning (9-11 am) and apparently no one did anything to aid the victim until the assailant ran with the victim's wallet. We did attend an Expat get together in a local bar/restaurant and were really concerned when we learned of a couple leaving this same event a few months earlier that were followed home and had a really frightening home invasion/robbery. They had guns pressed to their heads and also to their visiting 5-6 yr. old grandson's head. Luckily after they loaded up the home's valuables, they left without doing serious harm to the family. They were kicked/beaten/scuffed up and threatened and the child's hands were bound in such a way that he was able to wriggle free and alert a neighbor who called the authorities. We had hoped it was a possibility for us as it's clearly more economical than Ajijic but the constant fear by the Expats was too much for us to bear. Perhaps things have changed for the better and I do hope so. It's a beautiful city with great weather and prices. Here's our two cents worth. Valerie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nancy in CO Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 We spent significant time in Cuenca 7 years ago, considering it as a place to live when we retired. We concluded that it wasn't for us, for the following reasons. Being on the equator, Ecuador has 12-hour days and 12-hour nights, with very little variation, all year long. That gets real old real fast. At 8200 feet, the nights are chilly pretty much all year. We wanted more indoor-outdoor living, which would be possible at lower altitudes around Cuenca. But then you sacrifice access to the amenities that Cuenca provides. Otherwise the altitude wasn't an issue for us. The food--calling it "bland" does it more justice than it deserves. "Boring" is closer to the truth. How people can take all the fresh ingredients and make them tasteless is beyond me. For reasons I don't understand, the sun does something peculiar at the equator. I was constantly confused--what I thought was north turned out to be south. While we were there, at least one of the volcanoes that line the central valley was belching ash clouds, making the sky dark and leaving ash over everything. Anyone with pulmonary issues should be aware of this. Quito is a horrible, polluted, noisy, crowded city that is spreading north and south in the central valley and up the sides. Cuenca is much more pleasant, but clearly it has crime issues that we didn't encounter when we were there. Getting to Ecuador takes an entire day, and while flights weren't terribly expensive we knew that the difficulty of getting there would prevent most of our friends from visiting. That being said, Ecuador is a beautiful country with very interesting indigenous groups, that unfortunately don't always get along with each other. The Galapagos Islands are a real plus, too, and there are inexpensive flights from Quito. When we went, almost the entire plane was filled with school kids on a field trip. Of course, these are just my observations. In the end we chose México, and specifically Pátzcuaro. Nancy in Pátzcuaro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bennie2 Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 thevalerie, good review. clean w/out media speak. central america is what it is. "international living" sounds like a joke. its ironic that place is recommeded to retirees. doesnt surprise me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmh Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 What does nice weather means? I just looked at the weather for the next 10 days and it is between 48 and 65 pretty cold in my book. I forgot storms / rain ever day s well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bennie2 Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 i love this weather, hope it keeps up a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheridan Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 I kinda thought before that there were a lot of parochial interests, money grubbing behavior, and egomaniacal attitudes behind most of the forums of interest to expats, but it seems that a new low has been achieved by expatexchangeforumecuador in that they refuse to post a new topic on their forum to draw attention to these comments on this forum concerning people's experiences in Cuenca. Is the almighty dollar always the underlying theme to be followed rather than true expressions of people's experiences? I guess if the people behind the forums are only interested in posting opinions that somehow translate into more expats coming there, then there is no room for anything that doesn't help them achieve that goal, whether the place is Ecuador, Mexico or Botswana! Caveat Emptor! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComputerGuy Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 The Internet is no longer a place to find truth. Most of it is now advertising, or conning, or opinion. While this does make it more difficult, it's still an amazing thing. On the other hand, the old-fashioned books and magazines are no better. I have a partially-completed book here from a guy who lived in Cuenca, and his desire was to compare Ajijic with Cuenca. Would this have been a real expose, or merely an opinion? Turns out while he loved Cuenca madly, he spent exactly one month there. But let's say he'd lived there for years... writing and selling a book is stilla bout making money, for the most part, right? And with a book, we don't get any chance at all to "post comments". That being said, Sheridan, I can't quite rationalize the comments in your first sentence about "a lot of parochial interests, money grubbing behavior, and egomaniacal attitudes behind most of the forums of interest to expats". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHILLIN Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 What about this article, about the cost of retiring in Mexico? Seems to back Sheridan's view. It was linked to Yahoo, written two days ago. http://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/020215/how-much-money-do-you-need-retire-mexico.asp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bennie2 Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 computerguy: this forum sure tells all! most advertising is bs, nothing new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yaj Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 Just a few observations. I'm a young guy who lived there for almost a year - a couple of years ago - in downtown Cuenca. I got a great apartment in the center which was inexpensive. It's a beautiful city. The old churches. The Rio Tomebamba which goes right through the city. Beautiful architecture. Some okay bars and clubs. It's colder and rainier than Chapala. The people are more subdued. It's not as festive as Mexico and Cuenca doesn't have the infrastructure for foreigners that lakeside has with groups and activities. There are a lot of full time foreign residents but they are spread out and you kind of meet them through a few local restaurants where they meet or at the monthly Open Fridays art show or at people's homes. Best would be to visit and get a feel for the place and the culture. I will be honest, I'm from the States and I had a great girlfriend there who I had met on a previous visit, but I did feel more resentment towards the US there than in Mexico and other countries. I didn't enjoy the food at all. On special occasions we would go to Pizza Hut... Lots of people love it there. Some have been in Ajijic but most haven't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
More Liana Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 What about this article, about the cost of retiring in Mexico? Seems to back Sheridan's view. It was linked to Yahoo, written two days ago. http://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/020215/how-much-money-do-you-need-retire-mexico.asp Note that parts of the linked "Investopedia" article are based on information obtained from International Living. The linked article may have been published two days ago, but it is a rehash of old information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmh Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 Thanks Kid that makes sense that at that altitude the weather is more like San Cristobal de las Casas than Chapala. Frankly your description will not entice me to go and visit, there are lots of nice cities in the world with good food so so much for Cuenca! Many magazines have lazy writers who just pick up nfo from other magazine and have nothing original or new to say.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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