Expansive Ecuador

Ecuador offers some of the most amazing birding in the world. And Mindo is perhaps the best place in the Ecuador to do it. Unfortunately, it was raining in most of Ecuador when we visited Mindo. But we nevertheless spent a few days exploring the amazing trails at the Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve (https://www.bellavistacloudforest.com) a birding lodge deep and high in the cloud forest to the east of Mindo. We were in search of the blue-colored Plate Billed Mountain Toucan, which we heard, but did not see. But we did see some amazing birds including numerous types of Hummingbirds, Parrots , Tanagers and even a few harder to see “target birds” including an amazing Crested Quetzal, and Yellow Crowned Quetzal. We’ve had some amazing bird experiences on our trip, including in the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sancturary in Belize and in Los Quetzales Natioanl park and on the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica. But Mindo was as good and perhaps even better than these other destinations.

During a detour to the Papallacta hot springs to the east of Quito, we ran into a French expat who told us all about the bad things that the Chinese are doing in Ecuador. Over the last 20 years, the Chinese have “convinced” the leadership of Ecuador to buy Chinese products and sign contracts with Chinese companies. Thee contracts have include contracts to build new hydroelectric power plants and roads, buy new buses and even a contract to allow the Chinese to fish the waters off of the coast of Ecuador. Unfortunately, most of these contracts were a bad idea. The vast majority of the hydroelectric power plants never went live. Many of the buses that the Chinese sold to Ecuador are no longer running. And the Chinese are overfishing the Ecuadorian waters which will likely result in the collapse of fish populations, including in the waters surrounding the Galapagos Islands. But the reality in Ecuador, and in many other places in the world, the Chinese have picked up where the Americans have left off. For many decades, US companies and the US government have exploited Central and

One of the things we learned about Ecuador is that it’s a top destination for expats, especially retirees. Quito, Cuenca and Vilcabamba (or as the locals sometimes call it Gringobamba) are top retirement destinations. With beautiful property, cheap prices, spring-like weather and a stable political system, it’s not hard to figure out why Ecuador is such a popular place for expats. Apparently, in all three of these locations, you can rent a nice 2 bedroom apartment for $300 (nice) to $500 (plush) per month. And according to several expats we talked to, you can buy healthcare coverage for as little as $40 per month.