Congratulations! I wish you much happiness. I did own a car for about 5 years here in Cuenca. Our circumstances differed considerably from yours, and I'm glad to have sold my car. Some items that you didn't mention on the cons of owning a car are: 1) Parking. It can get expensive and the spaces are normally much smaller than in the U.S. Even our parking space in a pretty costly hgh rise building often necessitated several "back and forths" to avoid damage to our car or a neighboring car. 2) Traffic jams in the city and lots of traffic safety issues in the rural areas. My thought on the popularity of statues of saints on the dashboards of buses is that it allows safe passing around blind curves. 3) Stress! By my North American standards it was rare that I didn't feel like I had narrowly avoided an accident if I was driving for 15 minutes or more. Watch the motorcycles weaving in and out or traffic, running red lights, going the wrong way on a one way street, etc. There's the scooters, skate boarders, etc. which follow no known law or safety protocl. And, then there the ever popular fast exit from the interior lane of a three lane roundabout . . .
Some great points there Marcus. Thank you! Parking in el Centro Cuenca can be an issue - I agree. With our highlander (bigger car) it can be a challenge at times. Some apartment complexes do indeed have less-than-ideal setups.
Thanks Max! The engagement was overdue but we're happy. If you can get by without a car, that is certainly a lot easier / cheaper way to live. Most choose this path.
We bought our first car 3 weeks into our life in Ecuador, 12 years ago. Will never be without one but always have a front and rear dash cam running.
Congratulations! I wish you much happiness.
I did own a car for about 5 years here in Cuenca. Our circumstances differed considerably from yours, and I'm glad to have sold my car.
Some items that you didn't mention on the cons of owning a car are:
1) Parking. It can get expensive and the spaces are normally much smaller than in the U.S. Even our parking space in a pretty costly hgh rise building often necessitated several "back and forths" to avoid damage to our car or a neighboring car.
2) Traffic jams in the city and lots of traffic safety issues in the rural areas. My thought on the popularity of statues of saints on the dashboards of buses is that it allows safe passing around blind curves.
3) Stress! By my North American standards it was rare that I didn't feel like I had narrowly avoided an accident if I was driving for 15 minutes or more. Watch the motorcycles weaving in and out or traffic, running red lights, going the wrong way on a one way street, etc. There's the scooters, skate boarders, etc. which follow no known law or safety protocl. And, then there the ever popular fast exit from the interior lane of a three lane roundabout . . .
Some great points there Marcus. Thank you!
Parking in el Centro Cuenca can be an issue - I agree. With our highlander (bigger car) it can be a challenge at times. Some apartment complexes do indeed have less-than-ideal setups.
Congrats on your engagement and cheers!
Gracias David!
Dude...Congratulations on the engagement. As for buying a car...Nah! I never really felt the need for it. So far, at least.
Cheers
Thanks Max! The engagement was overdue but we're happy.
If you can get by without a car, that is certainly a lot easier / cheaper way to live. Most choose this path.
If i live there, i would want a car because we are a young family and we are used to our own car