My book, Live Like a Local in Loja, shares many stories of our experience living in this beautiful southern Ecuadorian city. In it I did my best to provide an accurate description of what to expect. I also included helpful resources and advice for successful integration into the community, for anyone interested in living there…
People commonly ask about the cost of living in Loja, Ecuador. How much does food cost there? Going to the market each week was a treasure hunt for both of us—a constant discovery of new foods and affordable prices. Today I’ll share a few weeks of typical expenses at the local weekly open-air market, where…
Not long before we were scheduled to leave Loja, I found a group on Facebook called “LojAventura”—a large group of adventurers who went on hiking trips around the province of Loja. They advertised an upcoming hiking trip to Amaluza and Yacuri National Park for the celebration of World Water Day—March 22nd, 2014. In order to…
On March 18th last year we decided to take the bus up to Saraguro, since we’d heard a lot about this town and its indigenous people by the same name. We left Loja early and settled into the front seat of the bus (cost: $1.75 each), where we enjoyed completely amazing views the whole way….
It didn’t matter so much to Keith since he’s not a big fan of live music performances, but one of the reasons I was so interested in Loja was because I love live music—especially symphony music—and Loja happens to be the music capital of Ecuador. When I found out that Loja had its own symphony…
These days, Ecuador receives a lot of attention for being a paradise for expatriates—or expats. The cost of living, the climate, the wonderful people, the beautiful scenery and the slower pace of life tantalize us as we endure the hectic pace, commercialism, extreme temperatures and other shortcomings of life up here in the North. But…
I learned Spanish in Mexico as a kid. My command of the language is a little rusty but quite good. Nevertheless, in Loja I learned all kinds of new words—or new meanings for previously known words. Here are some examples:
My posts about Loja, Ecuador are the most popular on my multi-themed blog, and I’ve received many notes and questions from various readers about Loja (keep them coming, by the way—I love hearing from my readers!). I thought I’d share the answers to some of them in this post, and hopefully more people will find…
Last week I wrote about 19 different weird and exotic fruits you can find in Loja, Ecuador. This week I’d like to continue the trend by throwing a few weird veggies into the mix! (By the way, if you want a ton of great info about Loja, Ecuador, check out the book I am writing!)…
Most of my past week has been consumed with drafting my book about Loja, Ecuador. The act of writing brings happy memories to the forefront of my mind. One such memory is of all the exotic fruits we got to know while living in Loja. I do not exaggerate when I say that every single…
We’ve recently moved to Dickinson, North Dakota for a few months of work. While Keith puts in 70 or more work hours per week, I plug away on my books and business, cook our meals, keep the house motorhome in order and do my best to keep everything running smoothly. To prevent myself from completely losing my…
Nestled below the steep mountains of Southern Ecuador, a winding one-hour bus ride south of Loja, lies Vilcabamba, in the Sacred Valley of Longevity–that place made famous for its high percentage of centenarians (people over 100 years old). Researchers eventually found that this was a myth–Vilcabamba doesn’t actually have a higher percentage of centenarians–but overall…