What Were We Thinking?

In yesterday’s post, I said I would try to explain our decision about our plan to relocate to Ecuador in 2017.  Putting our thoughts on paper is harder than I thought it would be, so please excuse me if it doesn’t make sense to you, but in the paradise that is my mind…it makes sense to me.

 

Let me first say – regardless of how much I complain about the long, cold, Canadian winters, we love our country and Canada will always be our home.  That said, I’ve got enough love in my heart to go round, so enough with the mushy stuff.  Here we go…

 

Lack of Time

 

I know I’m not the only one out there and that the majority of us are in the same boat.  We all lack time and lack of time is has been one of the biggest deciding factors to relocate - we just don’t have time and can’t seem of find the time for anything – no time for each other, no time for our son, no time for chores, no time for hobbies, no time for friends and no time for family.  Simply put, there is no time to enjoy life.  

 

Pace of Life

 

We’re looking for a slower pace.  I don’t know about all of you, but in my opinion, technology has not improved us as a society.  Technology may make your life easier in certain aspects, but complicates it in others.  We no sooner complete one task, when we are faced with another task, which is most likely needed sooner than the previous task.  No matter how fast we do something – it’s never fast enough.   

 

I’m not lazy, but I don’t want to do more in a shorter period of time - I want to do less.   I want to be less connected and feel less obliged to respond to instant messages, text messages, e-mails, phone calls, voice mails.   I can guarantee you that I won’t go without technology.  I just won’t be a slave to it any longer.

 

Quality of Life – Short Term

 

J and I both make decent money, but because of the cost of living and personal income taxes being what they are here in Canada, it’s hard to feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of the month.  We know we are fortunate to have what we have and travel like we do, but we work extremely hard and sacrifice a great deal of time and energy to get to that point.  

 

We don’t want more stuff in life, but instead want more from life.  Ecuador will give us this ability.

 

Quality of Life – Long Term

 

Although, J and I aren’t close to retirement age, we worry about the ability to retire comfortably or quite frankly, the ability to retire at all.  By moving to a country where the cost of living is significantly less than where we are now, we know we will be able to live comfortably in our golden years and actually enjoy the life we’ve worked for.

 

I’ll expand on this topic in greater detail in another post, because a lot of research and fact finding missions went into the realization that we would be financially better off in another country.

 

Weather

 

There is no secret that I dislike winter.  I dislike the cold, I dislike the wet and I dislike the dampness. 

 

I’m sure I’ll miss the changing seasons, but by moving to Ecuador, we can still experience the seasons if we feel the need to by travelling to the different regions the country has to offer.  By living in Coastal Ecuador, we will have the benefit of experiencing Summer like weather year round, but the Southern Mountain Region will allow for Spring like weather and Northern Mountain Region will give us the feeling of Fall/Winter.  Of course, there is also the Amazon Region which will give us hot as hell temperatures, big friggin snakes, creepy crawlies and probably some form of typhoid or dengue fever.   Ecuador has something for everyone – whether you want it or not.

 

Other Stuff

 

Scuba Diving - The Galapagos Islands are part of Ecuador and the close proximity to world-class giving is super exciting to us.  J and I dove in The Galapagos Islands in 2003 and have always said we would love to go back.  I guess now, we’ll get our chance.

 

Surfing – Coastal Ecuador is fast becoming a world-class surfing destination.  Although J and I don’t surf, we are fascinated by the athletic skill level of surfers and are envious of their carefree beach lifestyle.  When in Puerto Rico and Hawaii, we spent hours, upon hours at the beach with the surfers – J photographing and me, just watching and enjoying their company.  Time well wasted in my opinion.

 

So, there they are…some of the deciding factors we looked at when making our decision to relocate.   We are well aware that there are just as many, if not more negatives that go along with the positives that I listed.   Perhaps, I’ll cover those in a later post – along with explaining how we plan on making this happen.   I figure if I put my thoughts in writing, maybe they won’t sound as insane as they do in my mind.

 

Since you are the only people we are sharing these early stages of our adventure with (for the time being), please let me know if you have any specific questions you’d like to have answers to.  I’m happy to share…and will give you an answer to almost any question.