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Hello All,

I just joined the blog/community, and I received an email from Christine asking me to introduce myself – so here it is.  I hope IÂ’m posting it in the correct spot.

I was born and raised in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest of the United States.  Even so, thatÂ’s close to the ocean, and so I grew up with a deep and abiding love for both.  I have degrees in Forestry from the University of Washington and Computer Sciences from Boise State University.

I first left the PNW when I joined the military.  I spent about 3 years running around the jungles of Southeast Asia with my Hmong bodyguard, Pa Tau.  Since leaving the military, I have worked exclusively in computers and high tech.  IÂ’ve lived and worked in many areas around the US and around the world, including Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia / New Zealand, India and the Middle East, to the point that ItÂ’s probably simpler to list the places I havenÂ’t been than the ones I have.  I speak a couple of Asian languages, but I have found that English has been satisfactory for 99% of my needs, so I donÂ’t know more than a smattering of other languages, and for the purposes of this forum, that includes Spanish, even though I spent nearly a year in Madrid and Barcelona, and my ex-wife was from Galicia, near the Spanish/Portuguese border, and Spanish was her first language.

I mention all these places IÂ’ve been just to illustrate that IÂ’m somewhat familiar with an expat lifestyle, and even though those lifestyles might be somewhat different than a retirement lifestyle, I believe I know what I may be getting into, at least to some extent.

You might notice that in my list of places, South America is not included, and that is indeed the case.  So you might wonder why IÂ’m interested in relocating / retire there, and specifically to Ecuador – even though that particular decision is not set in concrete, yet.  There are several reasons, really.  One is the mountains.  I miss them.  My current wife and I now reside in Austin, TX, and while the folks here do have the grace to call them “hills,” they are indeed nothing like the mountains I grew up in, nor the Sierra in South America.  My wife is from Colorado  originally, so she understands the mountains as well.  I tried going home to the PNW again in the 1990Â’s, but itÂ’s just not the same place – itÂ’s totally overrun with flatlanders who have simply trashed the whole place.  But IÂ’m also not forgetting that the Ecuadorian coast is reachable as well, at least for an occasional visit. 

A second reason is that one of our sons is interested in relocating “off the grid,” and has researched and spoken highly of Ecuador as a choice for himself and his wife.  An opportunity to establish a new family “beachhead” so to speak, has some attractions.

A third reason is that northern South America at least, and that includes Ecuador, is not so far away from the US that it makes travelling back to visit our other sons and grandchildren (and our mothers, who are both 95 and still going strong) impractical.  Even Hawaii is a more difficult trip.  And we can bring our children and grandchildren down for a visit as well.

The fourth and final reason is that even though I would intend to obtain a pensioner visa, I would also intend to continue working in the computer / high tech field, albeit doing primarily telecommuting.  For that I would need a reliable (high speed) Internet connection and a few computers at my disposal.  The ability to get back to the US for occasional meetings, conventions, seminars, etc would be a big plus, and with a pensioner visa, I could gradually reduce the number of hours I work in a graceful manner, as the situation might warrant.

So I would be 62 when I would make the move, perhaps as early as January, 2014, if I can get all the stars to align by then.  IÂ’m interested in backpacking, fishing, mountaineering, white water rafting and kayaking – that sort of thing.  I should perhaps mention that my paternal grandmother was one half native American, and I was taught in many of her traditions growing up, so IÂ’m also interested in the native culture, herbology and shamanism, which I would hope to explore.

So thatÂ’s about it as an introduction.  Beyond that, my basic questions would be, does any of this make any sense?  What parts donÂ’t?  Where should I consider living, where I can get good transportation in and out, good Internet, and still be able to easily escape to the mountains to play?

And then, the secondary questions, like what do I actually need to bring with me that is unobtainable or prohibitively expense to procure in-country?  My needs are probably significantly less than my wifeÂ’s, but I enjoy a pleasing esthetic in my surroundings as much as she does.  And while IÂ’m sure I can get on well enough with the locals (having already done so in many places), it would still also be nice to have an expat community available to participate in.

Thanks for wading through this little soliloquy.  IÂ’ll look forward to any and all comments.