Our Take on Quito Ecuador (after living there for 2 years)

many of you have been asking where have you been living for the past 2 years for privacy reasons we stopped sharing our location like we did in the past but it is time to let the cat out of the bag and we think it's a close second to quka but before we dive in if you're thinking of moving or traveling to another country hit that subscribe button or scan this QR code and then click subscribe so that YouTube knows you want to see our videos and now for the big reveal drum roll please we've been living in Kito Ecuador well actually we're living in a suburb of Keto we're going to share the exact location in a minute after we talk about some of the pros and cons of living in Ecuador's biggest city let's start with a few things that we like and don't like about living in the keto area and the first is that it is a big city so we can find almost everything we need yeah they have big malls lots of specialty shops they even have like a camera shop where I bought some equipment that was nice to find and there is a lot of cultural activities you've got museums history art the National Ballet and so much more there are lots of things to do in Kito there's cro historico which is a bunch of old buildings and cool architecture you have telerico which is a cable car that goes up to the top of the mountain you have mitad Mundo which is the center of the earth Hardina Lotto which is a bird sanctuary and so many more things to do and it's close to the international airport and there is a lot of different housing options at a wide variety of price points and now for a few down sides about living in keto and the first is that it's not as safe it is a big city there's a lot more crime especially compared to cities like quka or kakachi or loha yeah and there's been an increase of crime in North keto especially in parts of South keto as well and there's a lot of people that live here there's over 2 and a half million people which also means there's a lot of traffic the weather in keto proper is kind of bad actually it's cloudy a lot it rains a lot it's pretty chilly most of the year around you're going to want to bring a jacket and a hat with you because you may need it at any point during the day plus the elevation is quite a bit higher so if you have any issues with altitude keto is not going to be the place for you it is at 9,400 FT keto is also a lot more expensive than a lot of the other mountain towns like quka and loha so you're going to have to have a bigger budget to live here and there are not a lot of English speakers there are some English speakers in the touristy areas but you're not going to find a big concentration like you do in quka Kito is a really big city with lots of suburbs around it that are really popular with expats especially from Europe we did a real estate tour of V de los chos but we live in Kumbaya or as the locals call it kumbai York or kumbam and we'll explain those nicknames in just a little bit when we talk about the cons we'll also tell you if we think this is a great place to live a little bit later in the video but first let's talk about the things that we love about living here starting with the great weather yeah despite Kito being cloudy and cool and rainy quite a bit Kumbaya is in the valley we're about 1500 ft to 2,000 ft lower in elevation so it's a lot sunnier warmer and drier in fact we'll often have blue sky above us and we can see the dark clouds over keto above us there's a lot of young energy here because there is a very popular private college the University of San Francisco so it's great to see all the college kids running around town we really appreciate that safety is another thing that we really like about Kumbaya especially over Kito it's a lot safer here there's a lot of police and security guards around and a lot of younger people and it's a more affluent community so in general we feel a lot safer I walk by myself a lot not at night but during the day and I see a lot of other women walking by themselves as well and I have never felt nervous or unsafe or like somebody creepy was following me so that's a good thing and there are a lot of part parks and trails there's small neighborhood parks all over the place there's a reservoir which with a really nice Trail it's a loop trail it's about 2 kmet there's chakin Yan which is a rail line that was converted to an urban trail it goes all the way from Kumbaya to Pembo it's about 20 kilometers long and it's really popular with joggers and bikers and dog walkers then there's par Los alobos wish I could roll my ARS it is a beautiful dry forest park that's right by the River it is super nice to go hang out there and just relax and there is plenty of shopping kumaya has two different malls poo San Francisco and Scala it also has grocery stores Galore you've got the mega Maxi Super Maxi and there's also a TIA and everything's pretty close by and there's a lot of little mercaditos we went to the farmers market every week which is also in poo San Francisco and bought organic vegetables plus there is an organic farm or wera on that Chakan Trail and they also have produce that they'll pull right out of the garden for you right out of the dirt they're only open on the weekend so Saturday and Sunday Kumbaya also has amazing Health Care Facilities there's SE over in Mal Del p and there's opal de losay it's right next door to the Scala mall and there is a nice variety of restaurants some of our favorites well my favorite especially is barari because they're the people who make the chocolate but they also have an amazing restaurant with beautiful views and there's a no way which we really like and there's these series of what we call the Z restaurant zanto ziche Zao and zece which is a pizza place and both malls have food courts that are actually really nice in fact Scala has two food courts the top level is all the fast food joints and the bottom level and the middle are all the nice restaurants and poo upstairs it has two different sections one's for fast food and one's for nice restaurants kumaya is close to Kito it only takes about 20 minutes to get to Carolina Park about 30 minutes to get to Central heast dorico and about 30 minutes to get to the airport now let's talk about the things that make living in Kumbaya a challenge and the first is it is super expensive the locals here call Kumbaya kumay yor or kumay Ami because they think the prices are about the same they're actually not as expensive as New York or Miami but they are expensive for Ecuador yeah we've talked before about getting green go that's where you kind of get price goug because of the way you look here in Kumbaya it's just called kumbai Yad because it doesn't matter how you look if you're at addresses Kumbaya they're going to double the price for any types of services the rents are definitely higher here you can find some cheaper areas but you're really going to need to go and look at places like tumbaco or Bay De losos or PBO if you want to save money on your rent some of the restaurants we like going to are just as expensive as those in the United States sometimes we're really shocked by how similar the prices are there's also a lot of traffic there's a lot of people that live in this community and they're building even more condos so oh my gosh the traffic is going to get pretty bad here in my opinion yeah they haven't put a lot of thought into the amount of traffic that all of these new condo developments are going to bring it's also not nearly as walkable as we're used to even though we still walk everywhere we're really taking our lives on our own hands because of pedestrian blindness is what I'm calling it now they just don't even see us in fact we're kind of lucky to be here right now because we almost got hit by a bus doing 45 M an hour right through a red stoplight we had the green walk signal I was like 2 feet from being in front of that bus As It sped by it came from out of nowhere too there was a car blocking the view I'm just thankful we're not dead right now yeah that was ridiculous and it is a bedroom community here so there's just not as much to do if you want to have all of the variety we talked about in Kito well then you really need to go into the main city of Kito yeah like Carolina Park area or laa you're going to find a lot more activities and things to do Kumbaya does have a really nice little square and it there's a lot of things to keep you entertained but not to the same degree and finally the last con is that it's super dry we listed that as a pro as well but sometimes it is so dry our eyes are burning our skin is like totally dry we go through tons of lotion here just to try to keep ourselves hydrated and we've had issues with our allergies here too even me my allergies have been really bad at times poor JP he's always got allergy issues yeah this is our yard this is explains that pink thing when it bloomed man my face swelled up we really enjoyed our time in Kumbaya but it definitely took a toll on our budget yes definitely the most expensive place that we have lived in Ecuador and we did feel safe though so I guess it was worth it it was definitely worth it to me I'm glad we had that experience however when we return from our extended travels we're going to look at going back to quka because it's still our favorite place and it is more affordable a lot more although we're really going to miss our friends here in by especially our new sobrina she's only 5 months old we're going to miss her horribly well we'll come back and visit her too and her parents too yes if you're thinking about moving to Kumbaya then check out this video next and if you are surprised that we chose to live in Kumbaya over quena or any other of the mountain towns let us know in the comments below before you go leave us a like please and we will see you all in our next video ciao ciao

Channel: Amelia And JP Abroad

Views: 58,584

Keywords: ecuador, equador, cumbaya, kumbaya, quito, cuito

Id: _zaBLELJhkM

Length: 9min 23sec (563 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 21 2023