Finding Joy in Ecuador: Our Crazy Overseas Retirement Plan

By Lollie Hoxie

They needed an escape plan!
After losing their business, facing bankruptcy and foreclosure, then being frightened by a vision of their future, in a ratty trailer park watching Little House On The Prairie reruns, Lollie Hoxie hatches an ideabut she doesnt share it with her husband right away.
In this, her first memoir, Hoxie explains with honest humor what happens next when they take an exploratory vacation to Ecuador, return home to sell everything they own, rent their house, and go back to permanently relocate in the little city of Gualaceo. Her resulting adventure involves the trials and tribulations of living with people who speak no English, negotiating precarious bus rides in the country, and traveling through a strange little town with dirt roads and a drunken immigration official, to name a few. There are side trips to Peru lasting longer than planned with terrific consequences and delicious calamities along the way.
Finding Joy in Ecuador is filled with Hoxies sarcastic humor, contrasted with moments of self-reflection that, at times, take her confidence to the woodshed and threaten to end her marriage.
Finding Joy in Ecuador lovingly describes an adventure that taught this couple about themselves and their love for each other. It also revealed to them an aspect of their American culture: the game of accumulating stuff. And, then, how remarkably fun it was for them to live without it!
This memoir is a rollercoaster ride into retirement overseas; a fun and exhilarating, sometimes scary adventure of the way it really is. For people who want to get a true glimpse of daily life in this foreign country, its a rare find!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Apr 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781452593555

Lollie Hoxie

Lollie Hoxie grew up in southern Connecticut and, after college, spent most of her working years at the helm of an electronics design and manufacturing company she took over from her dad. There were also forays into raising heritage sheep, designing perennial gardens, and owning a country store. She divides her time between Ecuador and Connecticut with her husband, Cliff, and their Ecuadorian cat, Gracie. This is her first book.

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Copyright © 2014 Lollie Hoxie.

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All photographs by Lollie Hoxie

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

ISBN: 978-1-4525-9354-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4525-9355-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014904357

Balboa Press rev. date: 3/31/2014

CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1   What Got Us Into This In The First Place?

Chapter 2   Vacation In Ecuador: A Course in Exports

Chapter 3   Casa de Enrique

Chapter 4   Country Tours: Ecuadorian Family Style

Chapter 5   The Tag Sale: You Have A Better Idea?

Chapter 6   Beth’s House

Chapter 7   Our New Home: Casa de Amada

Chapter 8   Montanita

Chapter 9   Whaddya Mean We Can’t Stay?

Chapter 10   Fresh Air, Green Mountains & Backpackers

Chapter 11   Ancient Ruins And A New Hostel

Chapter 12   On The Road Again

Chapter 13   A Crowded House

Chapter 14   Capzha: A House On The Mountain

Chapter 15   Rolando’s Mom And More Visa Nightmares

Chapter 16   Camping Is More Than We Bargained For

Chapter 17   Just When Things Were Looking Up

Chapter 18   Our New Apartment

Chapter 19   The Dream Is Shattered

Chapter 20   Reentry Is Everything They Tell You In Astronaut School

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

Biography

Dedicated to my husband Cliff, my best friend, my adventure chum, without whom I could never have attempted this great exploration of country and soul.

Introduction

L ots of people are thinking about escaping the USA. There is a whole culture of people who are sick of the politics, sad about the economy and destroyed by the shrunken value of their homes. The frightening part for us was looking into the future and seeing a vision of the two of us on a ratty couch in a trailer park watching Little House On The Prairie reruns. It gives me shivers just to think of it. Well, okay, your scenario might not look that b leak.

My mind got to work on making a change for us in early summer 2010. Our business was failing, our savings depleted, our house was worth less than we owed on it and our costs of living in the state of Connecticut were going up. Everything from dog food to heating oil was beyond our means. Our circumstances were tapping me on the shoulder and saying, "Uh, excuse me, are you paying attention? Look around you!" Not only did I not want to continue this course, but I also got to wondering what our lives were really all about. My husband and I had been together for twelve years. This was his second marriage, my third. We had five grown kids, some with kids of their own. We’d worked all of our lives and the big 6-0 was coming fast. What next? Is this all there is? There were so many things we hadn’t done yet. Places to go, people to see. For one thing, I wanted to travel. Gazing through my growing depression, I knew we had to make a change. A big change.

My sister was in Panama. She had moved there with her husband during the Bush administration. She said she just couldn’t take it anymore; the political scene here in the US. They retired in Panama on her husband’s social security. So, I started my own research about living overseas. Cost of living, climate, quality of life. I didn’t tell my husband at first because, frankly, I just didn’t think he’d like the idea. I didn’t want him to pee on my rainbow before I had my facts straight. Initially, this was my dream.

Our adventure was not well thought out. It was not concisely planned. We wouldn’t have our social security checks coming in the mail for another few years. We didn’t even know that much about Ecuador except that we liked the climate and the people were friendly. Our story is not about a crisp, clean, well-funded relocation to a beautiful country and a new, glorious retirement lifestyle. Ours was a cartoon. A calamity. An adventure that taught us so much about ourselves, our love for each other and our ability to try something new and laugh at ourselves over the result. We also learned a valuable lesson about our American culture: the game of accumulating lots of stuff! And then how remarkably fun it is to learn to live without it!

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What Got Us Into This In The First Place?

I repeated the mantra with my eyes closed as our plane screeched and bumped onto the runway in Guayaquil, Ecuador and we were really truly on our great adventure. Oh my God, I opened my eyes, "we are here . We are in South America!" I said to my husband, C liff.

Yes, he replied, with a not-so-great expression on his face, "we are in South America". My husband is a handsome guy. I love to look at his face. This moment, though, it was revealing his thoughts as it often did. Those clear blue eyes were telling me that he didn’t want to talk just now. He needed to get through this in silence. This trip had been long and we still had a three hour cab ride to get us to our apartment in Gualaceo. It was my birthday, August 26, 2012. The beginning of our new life, the first day of our retirement in South America.

The air was balmy and tropical-smelling. Tired, but excited as hell, I urged us through customs and, miraculously, our nine suitcases got piled into a tiny cab with smiling Juan at the wheel. Juan, as it turned out, spoke some very broken and colorful English. I don’t know where he learned it, but he could tell stories and sing songs as though he had come to us from a previous life in America. Did he get this from watching TV? Juan could have made it big as a stand up comic. He was a funny character. We hit it off immediately and he and I yakked the whole way to Gualaceo. Cliff slept in the back seat with a couple suitcases, totally unaware of his surroundings. My husband was wound pretty tight after a three year struggle to save his business. The bankruptcy process was the final excruciating step for him. As I peered at him between dialog moments with Juan, I was grateful that the flight and negotiation of suitcases through immigration had finally knocked him out. I hoped his dreams were sweet. He deserved that.

Over a year ago, we had come to the conclusion that, the way things were going for us financially, there would be no way we could live in the states on social security. The business Cliff owned was not going to provide us with a pension. Our house in Connecticut was underwater, meaning we owed more on the mortgage than we could possibly hope to sell it for. We had already modified the mortgage once, to lower the monthly payment. We went through most of our savings in an attempt to rescue the business. I had an IRA account and had been doing some investing online. The IRA account was the only investment we had left and, although it had done very well in the past months, it was far from enough to live on in retirement in the states.

Also, in my online research back then, I had discovered an economic forecasting website. I considered the state of our economy. Would we want to live here under the circumstances? These guys were seasoned economists. They had been looking at economic cycles for over 20 years. They talked about what was ahead for the US in the coming months and years. My reading lead me to the conclusions that this economy was going to be slow for the next several years, that there would be continued unemployment and that real estate and the stock market would lose money until around 2015. The economists saw a shift coming for the US, a correction. So, following the advice of my new money mentors, I prepared my portfolio for a shift, and selected some foreign infrastructure stocks and communications companies to round out my IRA. I held onto Ford Motor Company because I had a soft spot for the stock my dad had purchased for me when I was a little girl. Besides, I always drove a Ford. As I read the weekly emails from these economists about the baby boomer cycle, financial policies of big banks and the Fed printing money to help the economic recovery (QE1 & 2), I realized that this economy was in trouble. I felt strongly that the politicians were helpless to fix it, and I also knew that nothing short of a correction had to take place in order for this to finish its cycle and restore. I was quite sure that our house was going to be underwater for a long time. I wasn’t confident that it would ever actually come back to what it was worth when we bought it, just five years ago. We would probably be forced, in the end, to walk away from it. Frankly, I wasn’t willing to stay here long enough to realize just a break even for us. There was not likely going to be a profit. This was the time I began to consider leaving the country. I was getting the feeling that retiring overseas was the only solution for us.

I shared these projections and my ideas with Cliff, who was already out on the end of a skinny limb with his business so far in debt. He was focused entirely on putting out daily cash requirement fires. I don’t think he had the capacity to consider our future retirement plans with me at this point. This economy had slowed his sales and made it almost impossible to service the debt. His troubles were not going away. Hard decisions would have to be made in order to turn it around. Firings. Cutbacks. Saying no to old familiar ways of dealing with customers.

During that summer and into the fall, in 2011, we continued to keep up the maintenance on the house without using our savings. I built walkways from found materials and expanded the perennial garden so that there was less lawn to mow. We made small repairs by hand and called in favors from friends for the bigger ones. I also worked part time for Cliff in order to reduce his office expense.

Since Cliff was preoccupied with his business problems, I began reading on my own about people in the US and Canada retiring to Central and South America. I liked the idea for its adventure aspect, but also thought it would be affordable for us, where retiring in the states was not. Cliff and I also hated the cold. This would mean no more snow. No more huge heating bills. Cheap cost of living. New cultures, simple way of life.

In the months that followed, I spent lots of phone minutes chatting with my sister in Panama about her reasons for moving there and how they liked it. Elisabeth, in her enthusiasm for our possible relocation to Panama, talked way too much describing flowers, weather, the people and their culture, blah blah blah. Even though I loved being in these enthusiastic conversations with her I was concerned each time, that I was spending too much money on the phone calls. I hadn’t yet got Cliff’s blessings and I felt guilty. Elisabeth is dramatic. Her language is never mild. It is colorful, comedic and sensual. She can give you a tactile experience of her surroundings just by talking about them. Each time we spoke, I felt warm and happy, inspired to go paint something! I got excited about living in Panama. Our conversations were never short. Forty five minutes of warm air, mountains lush with forest, orchids in bloom. For me it was a break from our stress. A tiny vacation in my mind and again, I felt guilty having it. I took her direction, though, and looked online at real estate for sale and rental properties in Panama. I got a map of Panama, scotch taped it to the wall and circled little towns within a ten mile radius of her house. I memorized the names, their altitudes and proximity to nearby cities. This went on for weeks. Expensive phone conversations and the study of maps.

Then something happened. One day when I went online to look at properties in Panama, I was distracted by a visually exciting photograph of Ecuador. This photo had similar vistas to the ones I had seen in Panama, but something different. More forest? More green? I’m not sure. Something about it was appealing. Then, as I continued to explore there online, an ad would call my attention to the beauty and affordability of Ecuador. Lots of light and color. There would be an article about how great and cheap it was. I couldn’t ignore them. They were calling to me! Ecuador just kept showing up. I began to click on them. I started to read the articles, viewing the photos, investigating the terrain, climate, history of Ecuador.

Every night after dinner I would sneak off to Ecuador online and spend hours. Like a drug, it gave me a warm exciting experience to offset the anxiety my work day had instilled in me. Imaginary travel. While there, I could forget the financial stresses and the problems we faced at work. I fell in love with this little country the size of Colorado, with Andes mountains, Amazon jungle, Pacific coast beaches. I felt as though I was betraying my sister. I was falling for another country. I couldn’t explain it, even to Cliff, who didn’t know of my departure, I was sneaking it! I didn’t tell either of them at first. I couldn’t face Elisabeth’s disappointment, well, no, rage, at the thought of us not moving to her Panama.

One day I took a chance and brought it up with Cliff. I cautiously revealed the truth about where I had been, about my feelings. He was shaving. When I get excited, I have no regard for whether or not Cliff is available to talk. I just start. Hey, whaddya think about talking to Enrique about Ecuador? I yelled to him in the bathroom. We loved Enrique. Enrique is Ecuadorian. Ten years ago, we met him, and his American wife, Tammy, in their restaurant here in nearby Winsted. They had met when Enrique came to the states from Ecuador to find work 20 years ago. We became friends as we frequented their restaurant for its wonderful Ecuadorian and American cuisine. It was the best in town, in our opinion! When times were good, and we still had some spending money, mad money Cliff called it, we would go to Enrique’s for vodka martinis and dinner.

Cliff’s reply, complete with shaving cream, was cheerful as he recalled our friend, Enrique. Yeah, we could do that. The fact is, he didn’t really believe at that point that we would actually move to South or Central America. He was just humoring me because he still hung onto the idea that the economy would somehow turn around, or maybe it wasn’t really happening at all. Just call him Cleopatra. He’s the queen of denial! We agreed to go see our friends and have dinner next Saturday night.

At work, in a continuing effort to slow our descent in the business, Cliff agreed to invite a retired gentleman through the SCORE organization to come talk with us and give us some advice and guidance regarding the business. SCORE is the retired executives organization that matches business owners up with specialists in like businesses. These guys have been there, done that. This was our way of easing the fall. If there was anything we could do to slow down the leaking out of money, we wanted to hear about it.

We met Mike a week later. Mike is a smart guy and a real good man. He had the perfect mentor personality. He drew simple charts, he was passionate about our future but didn’t want to overwhelm us. I don’t want to force anything down your throats, he said, you have to want this. Let’s take baby steps, and find out where the problems are. God, he gave me hope. I began to think that we could change the direction of this thing. For a few months we followed his lead, worked it, tried some changes, watched the numbers. For a little while we were encouraged. In the end, though, after a few months, it just wasn’t enough. Too little too late. We called Mike, told him goodbye and thank you and put the business up for sale. On the market, priced at the amount we needed to get out of debt, we saw our last chance.

On Saturday night we found Enrique in the kitchen of the restaurant. The aromas were glorious! Our favorite, salmon on the grill with vegetables sauteed in cilantro and spices simmered away in front of us. Our gnomish friend in his tidy white chef coat concentrated on the next order as we snuck up behind him. When he saw us, true to his Ecuadorian style, his brown eyes sparkled and a big warm smile appeared as he reached to hug me and give a kiss on my cheek. Hey, you guys! How are you?

"Hola!" I said, Buenos noches, mi amigo! I liked to practice my Spanish with Enrique, because he was very forgiving when I messed up. This was the only Spanish I knew so far. He extended his hand to Cliff next, with a simultaneous hug. Again, Ecuador style. Cliff loved this simple gesture that said so much: you are my friend, I value you, I am happy you are here. Tammy flew in through the swinging doors from the restaurant. It was early, but they were already busy. Hi guys! Cliff, how are ya? Lollie, hey, you gonna eat?" More hugs. We left Enrique with his promise to come out and see us at the table later, when he had a lull.

Scooting out to catch up with Tammy, already making her way to our table with menus, we thanked her, a little guilty for having interrupted the cook! We settled into our comfy seats at the table with white table cloth, fresh flowers and a candle giving off its warm light. Around us were people drinking wine, enjoying dinner and speaking in hushed voices. Cliff looked at me across the table and raised his eyebrows and smiled. This was what he did when he relaxed and anticipated a sweet evening for the two of us, away from the stresses for a moment. Tonight, we would announce to our friends that we were giving serious consideration to retirement in Ecuador in a few years. They would be so happy about our idea! We knew this was a subject close to