Eric and Sandy. It’s been nice meeting you on TH-cam. My wife (Janis) and I live in Southwest FL but own a small condo in Cuenca. We love that city and the nice people of Ecuador. I went to school at Clemson and saw Eric wearing a great Clemson cap the other day. I am from NC but spent much of my life in Greenwood SC. My wife is from Lake City FL. Not sure where you are now but keep up the good work. By the way, I also use JEP and Schwab.
Wow very cool thank you for sharing 😀! I ( Eric ) grew up in Simpsonville, SC. but I claim the whole upstate SC area as home. I've been a life long Tigers fan but didn't go to school there. Love Cuenca and the Ecuadorian people. It's absolutely our first home outside of the US. Currently we're living in northern Idaho. We've been exploring the PNW and BC a bit. It's such a beautiful area. We're planning to start traveling full-time and making videos full-time again around the end of this year. We appreciate you watching! Nice to meet you!👍
I could've sworn I saw you recently in the Sunrise Cafe. I didn't say anything, but if it wasn't you it was a body double. Glad to see you are both doing well.
You can get bus and tranvia cards at many places in town. The city bus terminal next to Feria Libre, the intercity bus terminal near the airport. The EPTA office on Gran Columbia and Tarqui.
@@ericandsandy thanks guys! You were a big help with our decision to move to Ecuador 19 months ago. We went to Manta for the first 13 months. But we couldn't afford an ocean view/breeze. So we moved to Cuenca.
Thank you very much 😊. We should be uploading videos more regularly. They won't all be about Ecuador, but at least you'll know what we're up to. Thanks for watching and supporting our channel 😀. Have a great day ❤
Our private driver (Vito "Victor" Ojeda), made our first weeks so much easier. In addition to our airport pickup in Guayaquil to Cuenca, he shuffled us to JEP, Movistar and a few other errands to help as translator.
First, I'm sorry about your health scare that caused you to go back to the states. How long do you think your move to Cuenca is delayed? Was the original plan to spend the rest of your lives in Cuenca? Were you basically retiring? I don't mean to be nosy and nineteen thousand in savings is a lot but...why was that enough to force you to temporarily give up on Cuenca? You've made me realize how important life insurance is. Thanks for that. But now I'm also wondering if there is another angle that I have to consider, that being, is there a point that would make me have to return?
Wow, there's a lot to unpack here, so I'll do my best. So I (Eric) I'm not retired, but Sandy is. Honestly I'm not sure if I'll ever technically retire. I like being busy, and working on something gives me purpose. Having a successful TH-cam channel is a full-time job in itself. Any successful youtuber will tell you that there's a lot of work involved in it. That being said, all of that hard work doesn't always lead to a lot of earnings for quite a while, if ever. Until a channel has at least tens of thousands of subscribers, and hundreds of thousands to millions of views on their videos, you really don't make much of anything. Since our channel was monetized in April of 2023 to date we've earned about $500. At that rate it basically would have taken forever to repay the money from my hospital stay. So we chose to move back to the states where I could work full-time to repay it much quicker, and we've been able to do that. And by no means did the 19k drain our savings. But coming back to replenish it quickly felt like the right thing to do, and it was. We always knew that if something unexpected happened and we needed to go back to the US that we could, so we did. With that being said our plan for many years has been, and still is, to live permanently abroad. If things continue to go well then we should be able to resume that plan around fall of 2025. Cuenca is definitely a city that we could live in for the rest of our lives, we absolutely love it there. Our plan was to live in Ecuador for the 4 years to lock down our permanent residency to make Ecuador our first home outside of the US, then travel more. We'll still probably do that, but because we're going to have to start the 4 year permanent residency plan all over again, we're going to do some more traveling first. Because during those 4 years you can only be out of Ecuador for a total of 6 months. Sandy was born in Japan and wants to visit there. I have Scottish roots so I want to go to Scotland. We both really enjoyed our time in Georgia 🇬🇪 (the country), so we want to go back there. We have friends that live in Turkey so we want to visit them. Albania has been on our list for a long time so we want to go there. As well as Montenegro and North Macedonia. We've recently made a friend from Lithuania and she has sparked our interest in that country. Basically once we get to that side of the world we're gonna be checking out as many places as we can, seeing what all they have to offer. After that, then we'll make our way back to Ecuador to restart our permanent residency plan, traveling throughout South America while we do. And of course we'll be making videos the whole time, sharing everything we can about our experiences. I plan to keep this channel going forever. I love making videos and telling story.❤🎥😁 As far as if anything could ever make you have to return, I don't know. We all do the best we can with the challenges that are presented to us. In that circumstance I'm sure you'll be able to do the same.🙂 Thanks for this comment. I enjoyed answering it. Sorry it to a few days. Like a said, a lot to unpack. All our best! 👍😁😉
@@ericandsandy Thank you so much for your very thorough answer. I appreciate your very honest answer and wish for you both nothing but the best. I look forward to watching more of your videos and hearing more about your adventures. Thanks again.
@@jamielivingston7765 no plans to drive in EC. MI: have to have new picture of license older than 4 yrs. . New to heading to EC. Dont know savy ways to do things (yet) Mule service, etc. .
We will definitely live in Cuenca again. We love it there. But because we've had to spend so much time out of the country it messed up our visa plans. Now we'll have to start that all over. So before we commit to the 4 year plan again (2 temp and 2 perm so we can basically stay in Ecuador forever ), we're going to do more traveling. We enjoyed our time in Georgia 🇬🇪 very much. We want to see more of eastern Europe. Sandy was born in Japan so she wants to go there. I have Scottish roots so I want to go there. I told Sandy we're basically just taking the long way back to Ecuador 😅. Then we want to travel more throughout South America. Of course we'll be making videos the whole time. Our next videos will be from some of our recent travels in the western US and Canada. We'll also be back in Cuenca late spring of 2025 for a few weeks 😁
@@ericandsandy Yeah, I just finished a little simpler Visa, Amparo por matrimonio... Permanent Visa as my wife is Ecuadorian and American. I feel for the Visa journey. Yeah, enjoy the travel.
Not necessarily. For us it was just one less thing to worry about and one less expense. Unlike the US where you absolutely need to have a car because of how things are designed, we feel in Cuenca it's not really necessary. There are lots of sidewalks, bike lanes, the public transportation options are good and affordable.
Great video!! Loved the ending!! 😂😂😂😂 So nice to see a new video on the channel! Big hugs!
Thanks Rene! Miss you guys! Looking forward to seeing yall soon 😁👍
Nice to see you back!!!
Hey, thanks!
Anyone looking to move to Ecuador, you two are a treasure ✨.
Thank you for the kind words 😁 we appreciate you very much ❤
Eric and Sandy, you two are the kind of people I like to meet. Your videos are respectful of the people and places you visit 👍.
Thank you so much. That's such a beautiful compliment
welcome back. great info about the tram card.
Glad you enjoyed it! We appreciate you very much! Have a great one 👍😁
I love the video, it's very informative. Missing you guys so much ❤.
Thank you! Thanks for your helpful. I put links to your channels in the description 👍😁
Awesome Video Eric! Thanks so much for the mention and kind words!
You bet! Thank you guys for the help! Looking forward to seeing you soon 😀
Happy to see your videos again.
Thank you very much! We appreciate you 😁👍
Eric and Sandy. It’s been nice meeting you on TH-cam. My wife (Janis) and I live in Southwest FL but own a small condo in Cuenca. We love that city and the nice people of Ecuador. I went to school at Clemson and saw Eric wearing a great Clemson cap the other day. I am from NC but spent much of my life in Greenwood SC. My wife is from Lake City FL. Not sure where you are now but keep up the good work. By the way, I also use JEP and Schwab.
Wow very cool thank you for sharing 😀! I ( Eric ) grew up in Simpsonville, SC. but I claim the whole upstate SC area as home. I've been a life long Tigers fan but didn't go to school there. Love Cuenca and the Ecuadorian people. It's absolutely our first home outside of the US. Currently we're living in northern Idaho. We've been exploring the PNW and BC a bit. It's such a beautiful area. We're planning to start traveling full-time and making videos full-time again around the end of this year. We appreciate you watching! Nice to meet you!👍
I miss Cuenca. I used to stay on Calle Larga right next to the “Chipotle”. I can’t wait to go back.
We love Chipotle!
Thank you, Eric. It was really helpful and I’m gonna be in Quaco probably in November. I will try to use all those info getting around.
Glad it was helpful! Best of luck! Thanks for watching 😁👍
thanks, eric it was great video and info .👍
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching 😁👍
I'm looking to move there with my wife and two adult children by may or so. Thank you for all of your informative videos.
You're welcome! Best of luck with your move 👍
I could've sworn I saw you recently in the Sunrise Cafe. I didn't say anything, but if it wasn't you it was a body double. Glad to see you are both doing well.
Nope wasn't me. In fact I've only been there once. But feel free to say hello anytime you see us around. Have a great one 👍😀
You can get bus and tranvia cards at many places in town. The city bus terminal next to Feria Libre, the intercity bus terminal near the airport. The EPTA office on Gran Columbia and Tarqui.
Jamie, do you iknow of a map, online showing Transvia route around Cuenca?
Great info, thanks for sharing!
@@ericandsandy Jamie for EXPAT Mayor of Cuenca!!!!
@@ericandsandy thanks guys! You were a big help with our decision to move to Ecuador 19 months ago. We went to Manta for the first 13 months. But we couldn't afford an ocean view/breeze. So we moved to Cuenca.
That's so nice, thank you. We hope you love Cuenca as much as we do. Enjoy. We will be back soon so if you see us please stop and say hi.
Good to see you again - hope you're well!
Are you still in Cuenca?
Thank you. Doing great. Just for a short visit
Glad to see yàll back on!
Thank you very much 😊. We should be uploading videos more regularly. They won't all be about Ecuador, but at least you'll know what we're up to. Thanks for watching and supporting our channel 😀. Have a great day ❤
Hello you guys great video
Thank you very much! We appreciate it!
I was SO ready to not have to drive anymore and maintaining a vehicle. Love the walkability, Tranvia and taxis in Cuenca!
You got that right! So were we 😁👍
Only thing is when it's raining, it gets tricky to catch a taxi!
True. And on Sundays sometimes as well 😁👍
If you have an Ecuador number, loading the Azu taxi app is very good to have.
Our private driver (Vito "Victor" Ojeda), made our first weeks so much easier. In addition to our airport pickup in Guayaquil to Cuenca, he shuffled us to JEP, Movistar and a few other errands to help as translator.
Love a good private driver! Yes they can be so helpful. It's great when you have one you can depend on 👍
The buses move sooooo very fast and they take the ride of way before every other vehicle AND pedestrian. So they are way faster than you would think.
They definitely get the right-of-way one way or another 😅👍. We'll be sure to give it a try.
We old folks can ride TranVia for $0.17 per ride!
Wow that's awesome! Even better 👍
when you move back will you head to El Vergil, again?
Hi Barb!!! I hope so. I guess it will be what is available in our budget. Crossing our fingers
First, I'm sorry about your health scare that caused you to go back to the states. How long do you think your move to Cuenca is delayed? Was the original plan to spend the rest of your lives in Cuenca? Were you basically retiring? I don't mean to be nosy and nineteen thousand in savings is a lot but...why was that enough to force you to temporarily give up on Cuenca? You've made me realize how important life insurance is. Thanks for that. But now I'm also wondering if there is another angle that I have to consider, that being, is there a point that would make me have to return?
Wow, there's a lot to unpack here, so I'll do my best. So I (Eric) I'm not retired, but Sandy is. Honestly I'm not sure if I'll ever technically retire. I like being busy, and working on something gives me purpose. Having a successful TH-cam channel is a full-time job in itself. Any successful youtuber will tell you that there's a lot of work involved in it. That being said, all of that hard work doesn't always lead to a lot of earnings for quite a while, if ever. Until a channel has at least tens of thousands of subscribers, and hundreds of thousands to millions of views on their videos, you really don't make much of anything. Since our channel was monetized in April of 2023 to date we've earned about $500. At that rate it basically would have taken forever to repay the money from my hospital stay. So we chose to move back to the states where I could work full-time to repay it much quicker, and we've been able to do that. And by no means did the 19k drain our savings. But coming back to replenish it quickly felt like the right thing to do, and it was. We always knew that if something unexpected happened and we needed to go back to the US that we could, so we did. With that being said our plan for many years has been, and still is, to live permanently abroad. If things continue to go well then we should be able to resume that plan around fall of 2025.
Cuenca is definitely a city that we could live in for the rest of our lives, we absolutely love it there. Our plan was to live in Ecuador for the 4 years to lock down our permanent residency to make Ecuador our first home outside of the US, then travel more. We'll still probably do that, but because we're going to have to start the 4 year permanent residency plan all over again, we're going to do some more traveling first. Because during those 4 years you can only be out of Ecuador for a total of 6 months. Sandy was born in Japan and wants to visit there. I have Scottish roots so I want to go to Scotland. We both really enjoyed our time in Georgia 🇬🇪 (the country), so we want to go back there. We have friends that live in Turkey so we want to visit them. Albania has been on our list for a long time so we want to go there. As well as Montenegro and North Macedonia. We've recently made a friend from Lithuania and she has sparked our interest in that country. Basically once we get to that side of the world we're gonna be checking out as many places as we can, seeing what all they have to offer. After that, then we'll make our way back to Ecuador to restart our permanent residency plan, traveling throughout South America while we do. And of course we'll be making videos the whole time, sharing everything we can about our experiences. I plan to keep this channel going forever. I love making videos and telling story.❤🎥😁
As far as if anything could ever make you have to return, I don't know. We all do the best we can with the challenges that are presented to us. In that circumstance I'm sure you'll be able to do the same.🙂
Thanks for this comment. I enjoyed answering it. Sorry it to a few days. Like a said, a lot to unpack. All our best! 👍😁😉
@@ericandsandy Thank you so much for your very thorough answer. I appreciate your very honest answer and wish for you both nothing but the best. I look forward to watching more of your videos and hearing more about your adventures. Thanks again.
Would you be able to share the contact info of your private driver with me, we also want to go to Ingapirca. Thank you, and another great video :)
DM us on Instagram about this. There's a link in our bio 👍
You back ?????? Heading there next mo. They wont let me renew my drivers license til Nov 1. So do that ? wait ? then come ?
You are planning to drive? Can you renew online? And then have a mule service bring you the new card?
@@jamielivingston7765 no plans to drive in EC. MI: have to have new picture of license older than 4 yrs. . New to heading to EC. Dont know savy ways to do things (yet) Mule service, etc. .
@@jamielivingston7765 w covid you could renew online. After 4 years have to go in person, update photo
Not yet, let me know when you get there.
@@BPe-ie9je your passport can be your ID. No need for a state ID
GET TO THE CHOPPA!!! Plans to come back to live in Ecuador or no?
We will definitely live in Cuenca again. We love it there. But because we've had to spend so much time out of the country it messed up our visa plans. Now we'll have to start that all over. So before we commit to the 4 year plan again (2 temp and 2 perm so we can basically stay in Ecuador forever ), we're going to do more traveling. We enjoyed our time in Georgia 🇬🇪 very much. We want to see more of eastern Europe. Sandy was born in Japan so she wants to go there. I have Scottish roots so I want to go there. I told Sandy we're basically just taking the long way back to Ecuador 😅. Then we want to travel more throughout South America. Of course we'll be making videos the whole time. Our next videos will be from some of our recent travels in the western US and Canada. We'll also be back in Cuenca late spring of 2025 for a few weeks 😁
@@ericandsandy Yeah, I just finished a little simpler Visa, Amparo por matrimonio... Permanent Visa as my wife is Ecuadorian and American. I feel for the Visa journey. Yeah, enjoy the travel.
Are you back in Cuenca?
Just for a visit
Do you not recommend a car because you sont ha e small kids?
Not necessarily. For us it was just one less thing to worry about and one less expense. Unlike the US where you absolutely need to have a car because of how things are designed, we feel in Cuenca it's not really necessary. There are lots of sidewalks, bike lanes, the public transportation options are good and affordable.