Recently an emailed report entitled “New Study: Ecuador’s Growing Role with the FARC and Transnational Crime” has been going the rounds on the net and several readers have written with concern.

This report on Ecuador and the FARC seemed pretty out of date and inaccurate to me, but I am not an Ecuadorian military or political expert  so I wrote to friends all over Ecuador asking their opinion.  Here are some of their replies about the FARC and drugs in Ecuador.

A European businessman with an Ecuadorian family and businesses in many parts of Ecuador wrote this:

Gary, thanks..I know that many of your readers may share this guy’s view but to most I guess he is seen as too liberal or radical in his views…I guess he also believes that Obama is a communist or that there is no global warming as I have heard several times from people who come to visit us!

I know you have written about Correa yourself saying that you do not believe he is as radical as Chavez.  I agree..and I also think it is much more difficult to copy what Chavez is doing in Venezuela, even though they may be trying to do so. Both presidents are populists and it is probably just a matter of time before at least the people in Ecuador understand this.  There are already signs of confrontations within his party and the congress is now more and more in opposition to the president.

I am not very fond of Correa for many reasons..first of all because of his economic policy with huge government spending and higher taxes.  I believe this is bad for the country in the long term. Ecuador will have less private business,  less entrepreneurship, and as a result higher unemployment over time (especially if the Government receive less money from oil, taxes and foreign loans and cannot employ everybody as they try to do now..) .

I am also worried about his relationship with Libya, Iran, etc. But even Lula in Brazil welcomed the president of Iran last month and people here do not react to this the same way as most Europeans or Americans do.

There is no doubt that FARC has a presence in Ecuador, as they always have had.  This presence may be bigger now since Uribe is pushing FARC on many fronts and their only safe haven is probably Ecuador.  They do not fight in Ecuador but they used to use Ecuador to rest and now more and more as a place to produce Cocaine.

Another problem is the open boarder policy were everybody can visit Ecuador without a Visa (even though Colombians need a certificate from the police to cross the boarder) but I have not heard much about Mexican drug cartels in Ecuador so far.

I am still here and even though you hear about the rise in crime it is still much safer than most Latin American countries. Even my European homeland which used to be a really safe place now has serious problems with crime after many of the eastern Europeans countries joined the European Community.

And I am still doing business here and I guess most Americans that live in Ecuador still feel, as I do, that this is a good place to live.

An Ecuadorian Businessman who lives in Cotacachi wrote:

Dear Gary

The drug problem is widespread  throughout the American continent, most likely near the Oriente border with Colombia of coca crops there.   That area has always had armed clashes between the Ecuador military and the FARC revolutionaries.

The article, I want to tell you,  is very alarmist.  Thank God, Cotacachi is a far cry from all those problems.

An American businessman and journalist who has lived and worked in Ecuador for decades said this:

Gary,  The first rule that I learned as a journalist was: “consider the source”.  And with that Gaudy masthead that begins the article about Ecuador I am immediately suspicious of half-truths slanted far to the right and with the added tenor of hysteria I would not be surprised if these authors were to the right of Atilla the Hun.

It’s interesting that they mention documentation but never site it. Perhaps you should write for it under a fictitious name I would suggest, but I doubt you would get any closer to the truth than you are now because how can you document their sources?

This is what I know to be true. A year or so ago, maybe a little longer Correa was discovered to have had a clandestine meeting with a fairly high Farc Official in Ecuador. The press and the country were in an uproar for weeks and Correa claimed he was just being diplomatic and thumbed his nose.  Some accused him of taking money but nothing further transpired and soon his next scandal was upon him and the intellegensia was in an uproar about that.  I think it had to do with giving Government construction contracts to his brother but my time line could be wrong. That scandal ended with him taking back the contracts and he and his brother having a big public macho fight. Welcome to a banana republic right?

Now as to the Farc and Cocaine in Ecuador you know from your own experience that a sometimes tiny river the Auguarico or the Putumayo or the Sanmiguel are the only border between Ecuador and Colombia and for 30 years very small groups of FARC soldiers have been crossing  the border areas of Ecuador and losing themselves in the jungle where they can lose themselves and be safe. Most of the time the Ecuadorians don’t want to know about it. I only know of one case where they actually engaged the FARC who made the mistake of coming about 50 clics into the country and looking for food, forced the hand of a few soldiers in a little pueblo called Sacha De Las Joyas. This was about 18 years ago.

For years they have been sending their wounded soldiers all the way to Quito in Ecuadorian taxis from Lago Agrio to doctors who are either fulfilling the hippocratic oath or their hypocritical pocket, but it is something of a pipeline that everyone is vaguely aware of.  The doctors dress the wounds, the soldiers return across the border to Colombia.But it is one here… one there. Not batallions.

Almost the same can be said about cocaine, which to my knowledge has been a FARC staple produce right along those rivers on either side of the border that is convenient for the last thirty years. With the enormous strides made by the Mexican Mafia and the weakening of the FARC it is possible that the Mexicans have moved in, but I contend they would never raise the ire of the U.S. (and perhaps by extention Ecuador) by penetrating deep into the country for while FARC is still a presence no matter what Correa does, Ecuador holds strategic importance for America and I would think more so if, in fact the Mexican Mafia is moving in.

Since Correa is anti-American you may have a tough time  getting an official source that will debunk these allegations, but I think if you do look at their sources maybe you will find some or even one unsubstantiated claim that can lead you to dismiss the whole article. Make no doubt about Correa.  He is crazy enough to talk to Iran.  But he is also cagey enough to take credit for trying to form the largest National Park in the world with carbon credits of which Germany has apparently bought a $1 million not to drill for oil.

He also hasn’t said anything that I know of about his alliance with Chavez since Chavez devalued the peso by 50% two weeks ago.

I hope this has been of some help. I know it is hard to relay some  or any of the realities that I have mentioned here to your readers. I am sure many are skitish.  However there has been a tremendous resurgence of tourism in the country even while the recession lingers.  The  US state department travel advisory is unfair and meant to punish Ecuador for its anti-American stance rather than give accurate travel information. (I know this for a fact).

While small isolated cases of border incursions along the long unpoliced narrow waterways that divide the two countries have been a way of life for the two countries for more than thirty years. Many area in the huge Amazon area are unpoliced with any regularity, cocaine labs and small bands of FARC troops have briefly crossed to the Ecuadorian side. This is a way of life not an invasion from either group.

Neither side would risk the good fortune of their jungle isolation to raise the wrath of the Ecuadorian people which seems to treat these trespasses as nothing they wish to engage life and limb over, as long as the delinquents confine themselves to the hinterlands . Two thirds of Ecuador is Jungle and the Ecuadorians, except for one brief skirmish with the Peruvians many years ago, have not raised their guns in  anger in more than 50 years.  However  military service is mandatory in Ecuador and Ecuador has a large standing army, large enough to ward of any serious threats from isolated militia and small scale drug bandits should they feel the need has arisen.

See more replies at Ecuador FARC

These are just a few of the replies from those who know Ecuador have experienced Ecuador for many years and are living, working and investing there now.

Gary

Join Merri and me plus nine other speakers and contacts this February  at a seminar that shares ways to invest, do business and live n Ecuador or gloabally February 11-14  at Quantum Wealth -International Investing & Business Made EZ, Mt. Dora, Fl.

You can also come on with us to Ecuador.

February 15-16 Travel to Quito and tour Quito

February 17     Travel Quito to Manta

February 18-19  Manta & Mid Coast Real Estate Tour

February 20 Travel Manta to Cotacachi

February 21-22 North Andes, Imbabura & Cotacachi Real Estate Tour

February 23-24  Quito & Mindo Real Estate Tour

February 25 Travel Quito Cuenca

February 26-27  Cuenca Real Estate Tour

Or join us in March 2010

March 11-14     Super Thinking + Spanish Course, Mt. Dora, Fl.

March 15    Travel to Quito

March 16 Travel Quito Cotacachi

March 17-18  North Andes, Imbabura & Cotacachi Real Estate Tour

March 19-20    Cotacachi Shamanic Tour

March 21  Travel Cotacachi to Manta

March 22-23   Manta & Mid Coast Real Estate Tour

March 24 Travel Manta to Cuenca

March 25-26 Cuenca Real Estate Tour

March 27  Travel Cuenca to Salinas

Mar. 28-29   Salinas & South Coast Real Estate Tour

I hope these messages help you make and save money because money is energy and energy fills our needs.

Investments are stored energy… like a battery that continues to fill our needs when we do not work.

The analogy however can be carried further. Too much energy forced into a battery causes it to explode and burn.

Let’s look at the importance of spurts in international investing.  You can see more on spurts here.

International investments… property in Ecuador… or other countries… multi currency stocks and bonds… all… can help fight inflation IF we do not get too caught up in  spurts.

All markets rise…  and fall… in spurts.  This fact can kill investors.

The odd fact is that upwards spurts can do more damage than the drops.

Be careful of spurts!

The key to all successful investing is the protection and increase of purchasing power.

International investments can help you achieve this, but attaining and keeping success can be trickier than it might seem.

Let’s hear (from the voice of experience) why the art of keeping wealth may be more elusive than just making a profit.

As mentioned all markets bubble up and bubble down in spurts.

The problem is that many, especially inexperienced (as in they have not yet been burned), investors who start investing when there is an upward spurt, take the instant profits they make seriously and spend them!

They forget… or do not realize that there are down cycles too.

This means they have not learned the most important part of how to survive cash spurts and sudden wealth.

I learned this lesson the hard way as a young executive, (just 25 years old). Back in the late 60s and early 70s.   I worked my heart out for four years, almost sacrificed my family and ended up divorced by trying to build a financial future.

I thought it was worth the stress. The stock market had been rising for decades. The bull market was all I knew, shares rising, IPOs were coming out every day-almost guaranteed success. The industry I worked in (overseas mutual funds) was in a hot sector and the company I worked went public.

My compensation was generous, a stock option for 50,000 shares at a dollar each. The shares were issued to the public at $20. At 25 I was already a millionaire and those were the days when you could buy more than a house for a million dollars! In fact a million then was worth about $12 to 15 million now.

I had not learned any lessons about locking in profit nor the downsides of markets.

I had never made more that $750 a month so this wealth was bewildering.

I bought everything I could, a new Mercedez 280 SL, a new house and I ran up some nice credit card bills.

But I bought all this on credit and kept my shares. Why would I sell?   They just kept rising! Right.

Then the stock market collapsed. The sudden drop caused a run on the shares of the company I worked for and it, with many similar firms, collapsed. The entire industry tanked and the company went broke. I ended up unemployed, with no money… zero income and in debt.

My stock options weren’t worth the paper they were printed on.

The moral…when you invest to make money be careful. You may make it! If you do not respond correctly, the sudden wealth can make life worse rather than better.

Most wealthy people receive their income in spurts. We saw this process regularly during the internet craze.

Merri and I have been lucky.  Our business has been solid and steady for at least 30 years. Yet when I look back… at least half of our assets and savings came from just a handful of deals… where we picked exactly the right thing… at just the right time and then cashed in on a spurt.

Fortunately I had also learned that you not only buy… but you also sell.  That Hong Kong experience and the observation of thousands of investors over 40 years suggests that sudden financial success creates disaster as often as not.

Investors all too often make one of three mistakes.

The first mistake is to believe that this is the only time there will be such an influx of cash. This tightens a person, so they can’t enjoy spending. They become afraid. Life becomes filled with paranoia. Unhappiness sets in. If money doesn’t make life better, what’s the use?

The second mistake is to think that these large chunks of cash will continue to come easily again and again without working. This thinking creates unrealistic lifestyles and work ethics that lead to disaster.

I first observed this ironic fact while living in England.  A happy, financially responsible middle class family won millions in the lottery. Just a few short years after reaping this spurt of cash through supposed good luck, the husband and wife were bankrupt, divorced and no longer speaking to their kids.

I have seen example after example, of people, who received a sudden chunk of income made very unhappy by this large inflow of wealth. This is why it is a risky time when investors make a big sudden profit. The proud owner of new found wealth, buys new cars, houses and becomes very spendy. They create overhead and debt. If there is a single reversal, they are wiped out.

The third mistake is to pyramid the success especially with debt. You can ask many US real estate investors about that as they continue to try and work their way out of negative equity housing.  This builds on a weak foundation and when the spurt turns creates a faster and often horrendous collapse.

Now the stock market has had a spurt and performed incredibly well over the past year. We cannot depend on this trend to continue.

How much is a big hit anyway? How much is enough to throw a person off track?

One measure is a ten times increase in wealth.

This normally is enough to make a significant difference in a person’s life. For someone with a thousand dollars in the bank, $10,000 seems like a lot. The extra money can make a difference. For someone who already has a million dollars, another million doesn’t make such a significant shift. Ten million does.

The reason spurts create problems is because they disrupt our discipline.

Money is discipline and our financial affairs have some form of economic routine, either self imposed or not.

We have a set of mental standards that makes us think, “I can afford this, but can’t have that”, etc. Spurts of wealth demolish these standards. Suddenly we can have many things we previously could not. We become, once again, kids in the proverbial candy shop.

Yet much of the Western world spends their lives trying to become and stay independently rich. If succeeding in this process can ruin happiness, what can we do?

First, realize that quantum wealth… which is independent, permanent never-ending, fearless wealth, is a process, (not a state) of a continual series of reasonable risks, mistakes, refinements, lessons and actions that culminate in getting it right. When success arrives, there is a huge income (or capital) spurt.

Understand that this is not just one time when you can make a huge wad of cash.

Impose discipline.

Here is a simple formula for dealing with spurts if you cannot create your own.

First immediately spending ten percent of the new money on your dreams.

Buy, the Porsche.

Take the world cruise.

Build the new eight bedroom house. Do whatever you want that does not cost more than ten percent.

Second, give ten percent to a worthy charity.

Take a little time, find a need in this world you feel really should be filled and truly give the ten percent away.

Third, invest the remaining eighty percent very conservatively. Use the PIEC system.  Hire a good, conservative investment manager such as Jyske Bank.

Finally be grateful every day, not for the lump of cash, but for all the important things in life.

Thomas Fischer and I have been especially concerned about spurts since the stock market has risen so handily in 2009.

When these types of results are obtained, inexperienced investors (and even many pros) begin to ignore the risks.

Having been involved with currency investments for so many years, Thomas and I never forget the downside!

This is why JGAM’s speculative portfolios this year have reduced borrowing.

Dollar Dilemma

There are several reasons to be especially concerned about the US dollar.

There is every reason to believe that the US dollar will fall.  I certainly am shorting the greenback myself.

First, the world has become addicted to US spending. Americans consumers are spoiled. They continue to remain wealthy.  First there was the stock market bubble, followed by the US real estate bubble. These artificial wealth creators we spawned by a flood of liquidity that allowed people to borrow more and more.

When the correction came… the government bailed everyone pout and create a monumental debt… an almost guaranteed reason for the buck to fall.

Yet everyone wants the strong dollar to continue. The Asians want it to continue fueling their export sectors and to maintain the value of their investments in US dollar bonds.

Oil sellers want it to prop up their investments in the US . Europeans want a strong dollar to keep their exports competitive as well.

Next there are no strong alternative reserve currencies. Other western nations and Japan are riddled with debt as well.

Plus, and this is perhaps the most difficult factor to discern, other government have created massive debt as well.  So the dollar is less likely to fall versus other currencies.

There is one more problem about profits made by just holding non dollar assets.

Profits created by a falling US dollar will almost certainly be reduced by rising costs of living. A falling USA dollar almost certainly will increase inflation in the US . So your profits may look great but won’t buy anywhere as much as expected.

The best you may do is keep up, unless you invest and manage your spending well.

This brings us to the final dilemma, the Fed which aims to keep inflation down. They are headed for that proverbial rock and the hard spot. If there is inflation, they need to raise interest rates. This will push US real estate prices down further and perhaps stall the economy again.

Yet a run on the greenback may force rates up anyway.

So beware…of yourself and currencies.  The dollar is most likely to continue its decline. I am betting it will myself but I know it is likely to do so in spurts. How you handle these spurts can make the difference between wealth and poverty!

Until next message, may all your spurts be good!

Gary

Join me, Thomas Fischer, Joe Cox – my tax and asset protection attorney and four other speaker at our February International Investing and business seminar in Mt. Dora Florida Feb. 11-14 2010.

Quantum Wealth Florida -International Investing & Internet Business, Mt. Dora, Fl.

Enjoy a Split session and join us in Florida and Ecuador.  After the Florida course, on Feb. 15-16  we’ll travel to and visit Quito.

Feb  17         Travel to Manta
Feb. 18-19   Coastal Real Estate Tour
Feb. 20        Travel to Cotacachi
Feb. 21-22   Imbabura Real Estate Tour
Feb. 23-24  Quito-Mindo Real Estate Tour
Feb. 26-27  Cuenca Real Estate Tour

Learn how to save with multi tour discounts.

Multi Currency investment and living secrets are a lot like health secrets. They are ideas that make sense.. yet they are ideas that may go against the grain of every indoctrination we have ever been told.

Many good multi currency investments go against the grain.

Many aspects of livng aborad are unlike anything we know at home.

Take politics for example. Latin poliitcs are often noisy with  a lot of turnover.

On the health secret side,  as another example we know about the importance of starting the day with good nutrition.

One popular way Ecuadorians start their day right is with a morning drink of Sabila and Linaza…Aloe Vera and Flaxseed oil.

This gentleman comes out early in our village of Cotacachi.

We usually find him near Cotacachi’s second plaza here.

This is an early morning drink enjoyed by many residents…quite delicious…served hot with a touch of other roots as well.

Aloe Vera is taken as an internal cleanser for digestive problems, mouth ulcers, gum disease and to improve the immune system.

The leaf contains many enzymes, essential amino acids, proteins, polysaccharides, vitamins E, C, B1, 2, 3, and 6 and the minerals iron, manganese, calcium and zinc.

The flax oil (linseed oil) is a great health tonic as well. This is richest plant source of omega_3 fatty acids. This can help lower high blood pressure and reduce clotting, which causes heart attacks and strokes. It is also an anti-inflammatory relieving conditions like arthritis, migraines and gout.

Flax oil also contains more lignans than any other plant source. Lignans have anti-cancer, anti-viral, and anti-bacterial properties.

However flax oil should be fresh as it goes rancid quickly.

Aloe vera gel is not easy to blend with her liquids so the mixing routine is quite a process as our friend shows us here.

Yet do not expect this at McDonalds soon.  The public is not as familiar with Linseed and Aloe as they are with Egg  McMuffins or Cocoa Crispies…so guess what is more often consumed in North America.

However massive acceptance and repetition of a wrong, does not make it right. No matter how much Coca Cola the world drinks..it still will not be good for us. No matter how much debt society accumulates…debt is still not good.

It’s hard to fly in the face of common wisdom… difficult to ignore the thundering herd.  Multi currency investing and living abroad requires emotional strength and mental flexibility when logic suggests we act on total unfamiliar ideas.

For example readers were really surprised one year when a message at this site suggested borrowing US dollars to invest beyond Russia… to invest in Kazakhstan.

This idea came from Jyske Bank  and our immediate reactions were, “What?” Or “Surely you jest.  Where’s Kazakhstan”?

Then we looked at the facts.

The Republic of Kazakhstan, at that time was the ninth largest country in the world and the world’s largest landlocked country. This huge nation has a small population, about 15 million not many more people than geographically tiny Ecuador.

Kazakhstan declared independence in 1991 and there had been significant progress toward developing a market economy partly due to the country’s large oil, gas, and mineral reserves.

Here is a photo of Kazakhstan’s capital city Astana from Wikepedia.

Bank TuranAlem (BTAS) was formed in 1997 as a merger between two government-owned banks, and is the second-largest bank in
Kazakhstan.

BTAS was a full-service bank with representative offices in Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine, China, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Tajikistan and Armenia.

The bank’s bonds were rated by Moody’s Ba1 and S&P: BB

Our experience said no…  go with something we know like General Motors.

Yet GM’s debt is rated much lower than the bank’s, Caa1 by Moody’s (seven levels below investment grade), and BB by Standard & Poor’s.

Plus GM was not seeing rapid strong growth.

The most recent accounts released by BTAS did show continued rapid growth EVEN though it has been affected like most financial institutions by the global credit crisis.

This is where the distortion came in.  GM bonds paid between 10% and 12%. The yield for Bank TuranAlem bonds is was 10% to 12% also.

We were paid extra for a much safer investment because Kazakhstan is unfamiliar!

The Kazakhstan government has defended the banking sector, and there was no doubt that the major banks, including Bank TuranAlem, would have received government subsidies, if they had run into problems.

The bank was very profitable. The capitalization was high.

Jyske Bank maintained a BUY recommendation. Considering the increase in income and significant support from the Kazakhstan government, Jyske expected that Bank TuranAlem to make it through the ongoing crisis in the global capital markets.  They did, while familiar GM bonds did not!

This is the way we can find value with multi currency investments… look for investments that are not familiar.  Look beyond the past at value and be ready to embrace the new.  When the new becomes familiar… those who bought when it was not new… become rich.

Until next message, may you profit by being familiar with unfamiliarity.

Gary

Join us at a seminar or Ecuador real estate tour.

Feb. 11-14   Quantum Wealth Florida -International Investing & Internet Business, Mt. Dora, Fl.

Feb. 15-16   Travel to and visit Quito
Feb  17         Travel to Manta
Feb. 18-19   Coastal Real Estate Tour
Feb. 20        Travel to Cotacachi
Feb. 21-22   Imbabura Real Estate Tour
Feb. 23-24  Quito-Mindo Real Estate Tour
Feb. 26-27  Cuenca Real Estate Tour

Mar. 11-14     Super Thinking + Spanish Course, Mt. Dora, Fl.
Mar. 15-16    Travel to Quito and Andes
Mar. 17-18     Imbabura Real Estate Tour
Mar. 19-20    Cotacachi Shamanic tour
Mar. 22-23    Coastal Real Estate Tour
Mar. 25-26    Cuenca Real Estate Tour
Mar. 28-29   South Coast Real Estate Tour

Apr. 12-15   Ecuador Export Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Apr. 17-18   Imbabura Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Apr. 20-21  Coastal Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Apr. 23-24  Quito-Mindo Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Apr. 26-27  Cuenca Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)

May  13-14     Ecuador Shamanic Minga  ($499 or couple $749)
May  16-17    Imbabura Real Estate Tour  ($499 or couple $749)
May  19-20    Coastal Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
May  22-23    Quito-Mindo Real Estate Tour  ($499 or couple $749)
May  25-26    Cuenca Real Estate Tour  ($499 or couple $749)
May  28-29    South Coast real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)

June 24         Quantum Wealth North Carolina
June 25-27    International Investing and Business North Carolina  ( $749 or couple $999)
June 28-29   Travel to Ecuador and Andes
June 30-Jly 1 Imbabura Real Estate Tour  ($499 or couple $749)
July 3-4          Coastal Real Estate Tour   ($499 or couple $749)
July 6-7          Quito-Mindo Real Estate Tour    ($499 or couple $749)
July 9-10        Cuenca Real Estate Tour   ($499 or couple $749)

Sept.   3-6      Ecuador Export Tour  ($499 or couple $749)
Sept.   8-9      Imbabura Real Estate Tour  ($499 or couple $749)
Sept. 11-12     Coastal Real Estate Tour   ($499 or couple $749)
Sept. 14-15     Cuenca Real Estate Tour    ($499 or couple $749)
Sept. 17-18     Ecuador Shamanic Minga  ($499 or couple $749)
Sept 20-21      South Coast Real Estate tour ($499 or couple $749)

Oct.    7          Quantum Wealth North Carolina
Oct.   8-10     International Investing & Business North Carolina ($749 or couple $999)
Oct.   11-12    Travel to Quito and Andes
Oct.  13-14     Imbabura Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Oct.  16-17     Coastal Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Oct.  19-20    Quito-Mindo Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Oct. 22-23     Cuenca Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)

Nov.    4-7        Super Thinking + Spanish Course Florida ($749 or couple $999)
Nov.    8-9       Travel to Quito and Andes
Nov. 10-11       Imbabura Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Nov. 13-14      Coastal Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Nov. 16-17      Quito-Mindo Real Estate  ($499 or couple $749)
Nov. 19-20     Cuenca Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Nov  22-23      South Coast Real Estate Tour (($499 or couple $749)

Dec.   3-5       Ecuador Shamanic Mingo  ($499 or couple $749)
Dec.   7-8       Imbabura Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Dec.  10-11    Coastal Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Dec. 13-14     Quito-Mindo Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Dec. 16-17      Cuenca Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)

If you join the International Club, the entrance fee for 2010 is $2,999 (until January 2010).  Your attendance fees at all courses will be waived. You and your guest can attend courses worth $40,947.

You can calculate the savings as our schedule of all 2010 courses is shown below.

Arrival dates are always one or two days earlier. Please double check with us before booking flights.

I invite you to be a member of the International Club which allows you and your guest of your choice to attend all of these courses which are valued at $40,947!

International Club 2010 Membership Enroll here

You may well wonder why I would make such an offer and ask why the cost is so low? Let me answer this question frankly and from the heart.

First, it helps us do a better job for you. We feel greatly enriched when we can really help our clients improve their lives. We have learned through years of experience the best way to do this is to meet with you regularly. We can best help you learn how to improve your health and wealth through continual expansion of knowledge.

Second, we gain enormous fulfillment from the many friendships we form through the years. Our friends have enriched our lives tremendously. Let me explain this in more detail.

As a member, you will be part of our international family that meets intensively over the next year to examine ways we can make our lives better. Our goal is beyond just having money. Our goal is to have quantum wealth… good health… wealth and fulfillment through service.

Though I give all course delegates my very best, I cannot help but to do a better job for those who come again and again. As we meet often; your particular wants, needs and desires become clear, and it is easier for me to point you in the right direction.

Another phenomenon is that repeat delegates help each other! They get to know one another, help each other learn, share their insights, make contacts and gain more wealth.

Out associates in Ecuador, are experienced business people who live or work and conduct our real estate and export courses.  They can also act as your local backup for the business.

Lifestyle for Two. There is more! I have learned at my courses that many repeat delegates were couples.

We want couples! As a member of the program, you are entitled to bring another person to every single course or tour. The cost for that extra person will be ZERO!  You can bring whomever you wish. Bring your spouse, a friend, son or daughter, partner, accountant, adviser. You can bring the same person each time or a different person, whomever you choose to accompany you. (Accommodations and air fares relating to the courses are not included for members, delegates or their guests.)

Won’t you join us in this exciting club and share Merri’s and my lifestyle for the next year? We look forward to seeing you at as many courses as possible and sharing this wonderful world of abundance and well being with you!

Gary

International Club 2010 Membership $2,999 Enroll here

International Club Three Monthly Payments of $1,025

These condos on Ecuador’s beach were originally for sale for $18,000…. just a block from the beach.

The price with inflation has risen to $23,000. Here is a shot of the nearby beach.

Here I am with delegates inspecting more of these low cost Ecuador beach houses outside…

and inside as well.

These low cost units are near our apartment on top of the Palmazul Resort spa and hotel that we use as a base for our Ecuador coastal real estate tours.

Here is the view from the hotel and some delegates on our last Ecuador coastal property tour…ugh…working hard?

Here we are on the Ecuador beach.

Here is a better view of this magnificent, empty, Pacific beach in Ecuador.

There are two bedrooms, 1.5 bath, 1,200 square foot condos (at $79,000 to $129,000) being built on this hill behind the hotel on this beach.

These Ecuador beach condos are just a minutes walk to the water and with these views for the $79,000 units.

These are the views from the $129,0000 units.

You can read numerous articles about Ecuador real Estate for sale and other opportunities in Ecuador at www.Ecuador Living.com.

Ecuador Living provides regular emailed updates about places and people in Ecuador, plus contacts for subscribers who plan to travel, work and or live in Ecuador. You can subscribe here.

You can see the schedule for our Imbabura Real Estate tours here.

Our Coastal Real Estate tour schedule is here.

Yesterday’s message Ecuador Air Fares Plummet explained explained why travelers to Ecuador can benefit, right now due to a fare war between Lan Ecador and Aerogal airlines.

I also sent a post to Ecuador Living subscribers showing how to find and catch these low fares.

Subscribe to Ecuador Living and receive this report on how to find cheap Ecuador air fares plus Ecuador hotel discounts in Cotacachi, Quito, Cuenca and on the coast. Subscribe here.

Gary

Cheap Ecuador air fares make it less expensive to get to Ecuador than ever before… plus there is still time to enjoy great Ecuador tour savings at a discount.

Monthly payments can now be made to attend our Ecuador tours. See below.

Join the International Club and start attending our seminars and tours in February.

Along with cheap Ecuador air fares there are really incredible Ecuador tour savings if you plan to attend six seminars or tours any time in all of 2010.

Our 2010 International Club membership allows you and a guest to attend as many of the 51 courses and tours we’ll sponsor and conduct in 2010  (fees would be $38,452 for all these courses individually).

The 2009 club fee was only $2,999. Because we have added four extra south Ecuador beach tours, the 2010, International Club fee rises from our 2009 enrollment to $3,500 on January 25th 2010.

Enroll in the International Club now at the original fee of $2,999. Save $501.

International Club 2010 monthly payments.

Attend our 52 investment, business, Spanish, real estate and export, courses and tours in 2010 with one small enrollment fee of $2,999.

Because holiday expenses often tighten the winter cash flow, you can enroll with three monthly payments… $1,025 in January… $1,025 in February and $1,025 in March 2010.

International Club 2010 Membership $2,999 Enroll here

International Club Three Monthly Payments of $1,025

Here are the 51 courses and tours you can attend free. Plus there is even one more savings you will see below.

Feb. 11-14   Quantum Wealth Florida -International Investing & Internet Business, Mt. Dora, Fl.

Feb. 15-16   Travel to and visit Quito
Feb  17         Travel to Manta
Feb. 18-19   Coastal Real Estate Tour
Feb. 20        Travel to Cotacachi
Feb. 21-22   Imbabura Real Estate Tour
Feb. 23-24  Quito-Mindo Real Estate Tour
Feb. 26-27  Cuenca Real Estate Tour

Mar. 11-14     Super Thinking + Spanish Course, Mt. Dora, Fl.
Mar. 15-16    Travel to Quito and Andes
Mar. 17-18     Imbabura Real Estate Tour
Mar. 19-20    Cotacachi Shamanic tour
Mar. 22-23    Coastal Real Estate Tour
Mar. 25-26    Cuenca Real Estate Tour
Mar. 28-29   South Coast Real Estate Tour

Apr. 12-15   Ecuador Export Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Apr. 17-18   Imbabura Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Apr. 20-21  Coastal Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Apr. 23-24  Quito-Mindo Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Apr. 26-27  Cuenca Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)

May  13-14     Ecuador Shamanic Minga  ($499 or couple $749)
May  16-17    Imbabura Real Estate Tour  ($499 or couple $749)
May  19-20    Coastal Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
May  22-23    Quito-Mindo Real Estate Tour  ($499 or couple $749)
May  25-26    Cuenca Real Estate Tour  ($499 or couple $749)
May  28-29    South Coast real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)

June 24         Quantum Wealth North Carolina
June 25-27    International Investing and Business North Carolina  ( $749 or couple $999)
June 28-29   Travel to Ecuador and Andes
June 30-Jly 1 Imbabura Real Estate Tour  ($499 or couple $749)
July 3-4          Coastal Real Estate Tour   ($499 or couple $749)
July 6-7          Quito-Mindo Real Estate Tour    ($499 or couple $749)
July 9-10        Cuenca Real Estate Tour   ($499 or couple $749)

Sept.   3-6      Ecuador Export Tour  ($499 or couple $749)
Sept.   8-9      Imbabura Real Estate Tour  ($499 or couple $749)
Sept. 11-12     Coastal Real Estate Tour   ($499 or couple $749)
Sept. 14-15     Cuenca Real Estate Tour    ($499 or couple $749)
Sept. 17-18     Ecuador Shamanic Minga  ($499 or couple $749)
Sept 20-21      South Coast Real Estate tour ($499 or couple $749)

Oct.    7          Quantum Wealth North Carolina
Oct.   8-10     International Investing & Business North Carolina ($749 or couple $999)
Oct.   11-12    Travel to Quito and Andes
Oct.  13-14     Imbabura Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Oct.  16-17     Coastal Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Oct.  19-20    Quito-Mindo Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Oct. 22-23     Cuenca Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)

Nov.    4-7        Super Thinking + Spanish Course Florida ($749 or couple $999)
Nov.    8-9       Travel to Quito and Andes
Nov. 10-11       Imbabura Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Nov. 13-14      Coastal Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Nov. 16-17      Quito-Mindo Real Estate  ($499 or couple $749)
Nov. 19-20     Cuenca Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Nov  22-23      South Coast Real Estate Tour (($499 or couple $749)

Dec.   3-5       Ecuador Shamanic Mingo  ($499 or couple $749)
Dec.   7-8       Imbabura Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Dec.  10-11    Coastal Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Dec. 13-14     Quito-Mindo Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Dec. 16-17      Cuenca Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)

If you join the International Club, the entrance fee for 2010 is $2,999 (until January 2010).  Your attendance fees at all courses will be waived. You and your guest can attend courses worth $40,947.

You can calculate the savings as our schedule of all 2010 courses is shown below.

Arrival dates are always one or two days earlier. Please double check with us before booking flights.

I invite you to be a member of the International Club which allows you and your guest of your choice to attend all of these courses which are valued at $38,452!

International Club 2010 Membership Enroll here

You may well wonder why I would make such an offer and ask why the cost is so low? Let me answer this question frankly and from the heart.

First, it helps us do a better job for you. We feel greatly enriched when we can really help our clients improve their lives. We have learned through years of experience the best way to do this is to meet with you regularly. We can best help you learn how to improve your health and wealth through continual expansion of knowledge.

Second, we gain enormous fulfillment from the many friendships we form through the years. Our friends have enriched our lives tremendously. Let me explain this in more detail.

As a member, you will be part of our international family that meets intensively over the next year to examine ways we can make our lives better. Our goal is beyond just having money. Our goal is to have quantum wealth… good health… wealth and fulfillment through service.

Though I give all course delegates my very best, I cannot help but to do a better job for those who come again and again. As we meet often; your particular wants, needs and desires become clear, and it is easier for me to point you in the right direction.

Another phenomenon is that repeat delegates help each other! They get to know one another, help each other learn, share their insights, make contacts and gain more wealth.

Out associates in Ecuador, are experienced business people who live or work and conduct our real estate and export courses.  They can also act as your local backup for the business.

Lifestyle for Two. There is more! I have learned at my courses that many repeat delegates were couples.

We want couples! As a member of the program, you are entitled to bring another person to every single course or tour. The cost for that extra person will be ZERO!  You can bring whomever you wish. Bring your spouse, a friend, son or daughter, partner, accountant, adviser. You can bring the same person each time or a different person, whomever you choose to accompany you. (Accommodations and air fares relating to the courses are not included for members, delegates or their guests.)

Won’t you join us in this exciting club and share Merri’s and my lifestyle for the next year? We look forward to seeing you at as many courses as possible and sharing this wonderful world of abundance and well being with you!

Gary

International Club 2010 Membership $2,999 Enroll here

International Club Three Monthly Payments of $1,025

One of Quito’s best boutique hotel…  is the new Mansion del Angel.

Since this new boutique hotel replaces an older boutique hotel in Quito… that had the same name, at this time, all of the comments and blogs about Quito Boutique hotel mansion del Angel are out of date.

For example this comment at tripadvisor.cm about hotel safety said:

On arrival we were allocated a room whose door was between the garden gate and the main door of the hotel. Concerned about the lack of security of the room’s position, we asked to be moved inside and our request was granted.
Unfortunately, our security concerns proved to be only too well-founded. The very next morning as we were leaving the hotel, one of our bags was snatched from within the hall area of the hotel. Unlike almost every other premises we visited in Quito, there was no security presence at the main entrance; and the reception desk is situated at the back of the hotel well away from the front door. A team of thieves was able to enter the building and abscond with our bag with apparent ease, unchallenged by hotel staff.

The old boutqiue hotel was located in the Mariscal Sucre part of Quito… a high crime area.

The new Mansion del Angel is much neared the Old Town where safety was turned around, thanks to a revitalization campaign initiated in 2001. That program poured hundreds of millions of dollars in public and private investment into neglected neighborhoods. Restoration of historic buildings and construction of hotels and attractions have made Quito more accessible, and a strengthened Policía de Turismo has made the streets safer.

“New Quito boutique hotels have also given tourists a good reason to stay. The elegant Hotel Plaza Grande is in a restored Spanish-colonial mansion has rooms starting at $500.

The Hotel El Patio Andaluz has handsome suites that open onto a 16th-century courtyard for $250.”

The newly restored Mansion del Angel Quito boutique hotel is stunningly beautiful… yet rates are far lower.

This new address is near Alameda Park and is far from the previous location of their old Quito boutique hotel… in an area I consider much safer.

The moving of the this luxury Quito boutique hotel provides the same elegant surroundings and service but in  a larger and grander building with a new address.

Every room from…

lobby… to

the restaurant, to the…

entrance defines elegance.

See the new Quito Boutique hotel Mansion del Angel at Quito Boutique Hotel.

Learn how to enjoy discounts and free upgrades at hotels in Quito and throughout Ecuador at Ecuador Hotel Discounts.

Gary

Join our January Ecuador tours.

Jan.   8-11     Ecuador Export Tour
Jan. 13-14     Imbabura Real Estate Tour
Jan. 15-18     Coastal Real Estate Tour
Jan. 19-20    Quito-Mindo Real Estate Tour
Jan. 21-23    Cuenca Real Estate Tour

See the best Ecuador property for you.  Find the best real estate offers.  Know more of Ecuador. To help you experience a bigger adventure in this wonderful nation, to broaden your horizons, to expand your awareness of all Ecuador offers, we are providing deep discounts in 2010 for those who sign up for multiple tours.

We just added four South coast Ecuador tours that can help you gain extra savings with a multi tour pack.

Two Pack… 2 seminar courses & tours $998 Couple  $1,349 Save $149 on couple

Three Pack… 3 seminar courses & tours   $1399 Couple  $1,899 Save $98 single or $348 on a couple or more

Four Pack… 4 seminar courses & tours   $1,699 Couple $2,299 Save $98 single or $697 on a couple or more

Five Pack… 5 seminar courses & tours  $1,999 Couple $2,699 Save $496 single or $1,046 on a couple or more

Six Pack… 6 seminars courses & tours  $2,199 Couple $3,099 Save $795 single or $1,395 on a couple or more

If you plan to attend six or more seminars or tours in 2010 an International Club membership which allows you and a guest to attend as many of the 56 courses and tours we’ll sponsor and conduct in 2010  (fees would be $40,947 for all these courses individually) for only $2,999.

The International club fee rises to $3,500 this month  so enroll in the International Club now at the original fee of $2,999. Save $501.

International Club 2010

Attend our 56 investment, business, Spanish, real estate and export, courses and tours in 2010 with one small enrollment fee.

International Club 2010 Membership Enroll here

Here are the 56 courses and tours you can attend free. Plus there is even one more savings you will see below.

Jan.   8-11     Ecuador Export Tour
Jan. 13-14     Imbabura Real Estate Tour
Jan. 15-18     Coastal Real Estate Tour
Jan. 19-20    Quito-Mindo Real Estate Tour
Jan. 21-23    Cuenca Real Estate Tour

Join us in February or March.

Feb. 11-14   Quantum Wealth Florida -International Investing & Internet Business, Mt. Dora, Fl.

Feb. 15-16   Travel to and visit Quito
Feb  17         Travel to Manta
Feb. 18-19   Coastal Real Estate Tour
Feb. 20        Travel to Cotacachi
Feb. 21-22   Imbabura Real Estate Tour
Feb. 23-24  Quito-Mindo Real Estate Tour
Feb. 26-27  Cuenca Real Estate Tour

Mar. 11-14     Super Thinking + Spanish Course, Mt. Dora, Fl.
Mar. 15-16    Travel to Quito and Andes
Mar. 17-18     Imbabura Real Estate Tour
Mar. 19-20    Cotacachi Shamanic tour
Mar. 22-23    Coastal Real Estate Tour
Mar. 25-26    Cuenca Real Estate Tour
Mar. 28-29   South Coast Real Estate Tour

Apr. 12-15   Ecuador Export Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Apr. 17-18   Imbabura Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Apr. 20-21  Coastal Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Apr. 23-24  Quito-Mindo Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Apr. 26-27  Cuenca Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)

May  13-14     Ecuador Shamanic Minga  ($499 or couple $749)
May  16-17    Imbabura Real Estate Tour  ($499 or couple $749)
May  19-20    Coastal Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
May  22-23    Quito-Mindo Real Estate Tour  ($499 or couple $749)
May  25-26    Cuenca Real Estate Tour  ($499 or couple $749)
May  28-29    South Coast real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)

June 24         Quantum Wealth North Carolina
June 25-27    International Investing and Business North Carolina  ( $749 or couple $999)
June 28-29   Travel to Ecuador and Andes
June 30-Jy 1 Imbabura Real Estate Tour  ($499 or couple $749)
July 3-4          Coastal Real Estate Tour   ($499 or couple $749)
July 6-7          Quito-Mindo Real Estate Tour    ($499 or couple $749)
July 9-10        Cuenca Real Estate Tour   ($499 or couple $749)

Sept.   3-6      Ecuador Export Tour  ($499 or couple $749)
Sept.   8-9      Imbabura Real Estate Tour  ($499 or couple $749)
Sept. 11-12     Coastal Real Estate Tour   ($499 or couple $749)
Sept. 14-15     Cuenca Real Estate Tour    ($499 or couple $749)
Sept. 17-18     Ecuador Shamanic Minga  ($499 or couple $749)
Sept 20-21      South Coast Real Estate tour ($499 or couple $749)

Oct.    7          Quantum Wealth North Carolina
Oct.   8-10     International Investing & Business North Carolina ($749 or couple $999)
Oct.   11-12    Travel to Quito and Andes
Oct.  13-14     Imbabura Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Oct.  16-17     Coastal Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Oct.  19-20    Quito-Mindo Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Oct. 22-23     Cuenca Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)

Nov.    4-7        Super Thinking + Spanish Course Florida ($749 or couple $999)
Nov.    8-9       Travel to Quito and Andes
Nov. 10-11       Imbabura Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Nov. 13-14      Coastal Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Nov. 16-17      Quito-Mindo Real Estate  ($499 or couple $749)
Nov. 19-20     Cuenca Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Nov  22-23      South Coast Real Estate Tour (($499 or couple $749)

Dec.   3-5       Ecuador Shamanic Mingo  ($499 or couple $749)
Dec.   7-8       Imbabura Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Dec.  10-11    Coastal Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Dec. 13-14     Quito-Mindo Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)
Dec. 16-17      Cuenca Real Estate Tour ($499 or couple $749)

If you join the International Club, the entrance fee for 2010 is $2,999 (until January 2010).  Your attendance fees at all courses will be waived. You and your guest can attend courses worth $40,947.

You can calculate the savings as our schedule of all 2010 courses is shown below.

Arrival dates are always one or two days earlier. Please double check with us before booking flights.

I invite you to be a member of the International Club which allows you and your guest of your choice to attend all of these courses which are valued at $40,947!

International Club 2010 Membership Enroll here

You may well wonder why I would make such an offer and ask why the cost is so low? Let me answer this question frankly and from the heart.

First, it helps us do a better job for you. We feel greatly enriched when we can really help our clients improve their lives. We have learned through years of experience the best way to do this is to meet with you regularly. We can best help you learn how to improve your health and wealth through continual expansion of knowledge.

Second, we gain enormous fulfillment from the many friendships we form through the years. Our friends have enriched our lives tremendously. Let me explain this in more detail.

As a member, you will be part of our international family that meets intensively over the next year to examine ways we can make our lives better. Our goal is beyond just having money. Our goal is to have quantum wealth… good health… wealth and fulfillment through service.

Though I give all course delegates my very best, I cannot help but to do a better job for those who come again and again. As we meet often; your particular wants, needs and desires become clear, and it is easier for me to point you in the right direction.

Another phenomenon is that repeat delegates help each other! They get to know one another, help each other learn, share their insights, make contacts and gain more wealth.

Out associates in Ecuador, are experienced business people who live or work and conduct our real estate and export courses.  They can also act as your local backup for the business.

Lifestyle for Two. There is more! I have learned at my courses that many repeat delegates were couples.

We want couples! As a member of the program, you are entitled to bring another person to every single course or tour. The cost for that extra person will be ZERO!  You can bring whomever you wish. Bring your spouse, a friend, son or daughter, partner, accountant, adviser. You can bring the same person each time or a different person, whomever you choose to accompany you. (Accommodations and air fares relating to the courses are not included for members, delegates or their guests.)

Won’t you join us in this exciting club and share Merri’s and my lifestyle for the next year? We look forward to seeing you at as many courses as possible and sharing this wonderful world of abundance and well being with you!

Gary

International Club 2010 Membership  Enroll here

Ecuador roses ready to ship, 50 Ecuador roses (25 per bundle) for only $79.

I learned last year that Ecuador roses can fill some shopping gaps and am sending roses to others for their holiday cheer.  Christmas shopping done..hooray!

You can have fresh Ecuador Christmas roses yourself or send them as gifts as well…plus help Ecuador’s poor.

You can have 50 fresh cut (four days) roses from Ecuador delivered to any zip code in the USA…including Hawaii or Alaska including shipping for only $79 or better still get 50 Ecuador Christmas roses free.

The Ecuador rose plantation offers two color choices,  farm choice assorted or red and white.  There is a $10 surcharge for the red and white rose selection.

Here I am with 250 fresh Ecuador roses I had delivered for Merri’s birthday last summer.

Merri and I love Ecuador for the warmth and friendliness in the hearts of its people. We also love Ecuador’s beauty.  When an opportunity to send Ecuador roses and raise money for the poor occurred earlier this year, we grabbed the chance.

Last year I wrote about the roses, made a special offer and sold over 20,000 roses that raised $8,000 to help Ecuador’s poor. The money was used to provide schooling for gifted indigenous children, to buy a  InFocus projector used in our free English classes for Ecuadorian children and help repair an Ecuadorian school.

So when the roses came to me yesterday, I thought, “Why not again”?

There and then I decided to make a special offer. Here it is.

We will continue to donate $20 for each rose order to help the poor in Ecuador for every 50 roses that are shipped because of this note.

The minute I receive your order, I’ll put you directly in touch with the rose plantation so you can choose your color option which is either red and white, or farm’s choice.

There are three ways to obtain 50 fresh cut roses.

One. We provide a service called Ecuador Living to assist those with a genuine and immediate interest in Ecuador. This service shares our continual research and experiences in global business, living and investing in Ecuador plus our contacts. We feel the service is a bargain at $119 a year.  If you already subscribe you can take this choice and add two years to your subscription.

If you subscribe for two years, I’ll reduce the price from $238 to $159 and also send you 50 fresh cut, premium roses FREE.

Fedex will deliver the Ecuador roses directly to you from Ecuador.  Open them. If you are not satisfied that these are truly remarkable roses, give them back to the Fedex driver and let me know. I’ll give you a full $159 refund.

To assure the refund, your address must be correct and you must inspect the flowers with Fedex when they are delivered. If you are not satisfied, the roses must be returned at the time of delivery.   You must assure that someone is at the receiving address who is available to inspect and sign for the roses to assure the guarantee.

Subscribe to two years of Ecuador Living.  Save $79 plus receive 50 roses free.

If you do not have a great interest in Ecuador but just want these incredible, fresh roses. Simply buy them for $79 for 50 fresh cut roses including delivery by Fedex. ($10 surcharge for red & white roses).

This is not a deal that helps my pocketbook.  We are paying $60 ($70 for red  white roses) to deliver these roses to you. We donate $20 to the charity. We pay my credit card discount. At the $79 price ($89 for red & white), I lose two or three dollars for each 50 roses shipped.  That’s okay…the cause is worthy.  Merri and I will share the joy of the gifts you help make…Christmas gifts for poor children in Ecuador.

You can order the 50 fresh cut roses for $79 ($20 is donated to help Ecuador’s poor) here.

You can order 50 red and white fresh cut roses for $89 ($20 is donated to help Ecuador’s poor) here.

This is a batch of 100 fresh Ecuador roses that Merri and I enjoyed earlier this year.

Premium Quality Roses

Though this is perhaps the lowest price for roses you will see, these roses are special, not like anything offered in a store or even at most florists. These are premium roses with extra large heads that open fully.

Fresher Quality Roses

Most roses go from Ecuador to Miami by air are stored in Miami then shipped by truck until they sit in a store. They can be a week or more old when you see them.

The roses you receive come from this farm.

When you order, the Ecuador roses are cut.

They are graded and packed in this room.

The stored in packs of 25 roses.

and stored overnight in a refrigerated room.

Next day they are driven by refrigerated truck to Quito airport and flown to Miami to a special refrigerated Fedex facility until, then flown to your Fedex destination for immediate delivery to your home or office. This means they last longer.

Subscribe to two years of Ecuador Living.  Save $79 plus receive 50 roses free.

You can order the 50 fresh cut roses for $79 ($20 is donated to help Ecuador’s poor) here.

You can order 50 red and white fresh cut roses for $89 ($20 is donated to help Ecuador’s poor) here.

Learn more about environmentally sensitive, fair trade Ecuador Christmas Roses here

Cuenca real estate currently offers great potential and many readers are visiting Cuenca to look at Cuenca condos, Cuenca houses, Cuenca farms and Cuenca property on our Cuenca real estate tours,.

However there are other ways to earn income in Ecuador beyond property as an excerpt from the article Cuenca real estate and Ecuador income points out.

A subscriber wrote:  Gary We are doing very well in Cuenca.  We have recently become 40% non-operating partners of the local CURVES franchise which went into the black in its first month.

Next month sees the opening of VILLA NOVA INN, located on Avenue Third of December on the city side of the Tomebamba River.  It is about 20 yards  from SAKURA SUSHI, the best Japanese restaurant in Cuenca, perhaps in all of Ecuador.   This is  a new 12 bedroom hostel in which we are 25% non-operating partners that will open next month.

The five star Cuenca hostel Villa Nova Inn in Cuenca Ecuador is open and offers a discount to our Ecuador Living subscribers.

This is an attractive location overlooking Cuenca’s Tomebamba River and directly across from Parque de la Madre (Mother’s Park).

View from Cuenca Ecuador’s Hostel Villa Nova Inn

This Cuenca hostel is Ecuador’s newest intimate urban inn in this wonderful town.  Cuenca Ecuador is one of UNESCO’s World Cultural Heritage Cities.

This Cuenca hostel was developed and is run by a group of experienced Ecuadorian and American international travelers who have spent over 70 years experiencing the best in clean, friendly, comfortable, low-cost hotels, inns, and hostels throughout Ecuador, Europe, Canada, and the United States.  They put those years of experience to work in creating their motto  “Do It Right So The Guest May Sleep Tight!”

Learn more about this Cuenca hostel at Cuenca Ecuador Hostel.

The management of this Cuenca hostel  offer Ecuador Living subscribers a 20% discount.  When you subscribe to Ecuador Living, we provide you with a password that entitles you to the discount.

Cuenca is one of Ecuador’s most popular cities. Three hotels in Cuenca, Ecuador offer Ecuador Living subscribers discounts.

Gary

See the best Ecuador property for you.  Find the best real estate offers.  Know more of Ecuador. To help you experience a bigger adventure in this wonderful nation, to broaden your horizons, to expand your awareness of all Ecuador offers, we are providing deep discounts in 2010 for those who sign up for multiple tours.

Join us in Ecuador

Join us at our upcoming courses and tours.

December 6-8 Blaine Watson’s  Beyond Logic & Shamanic Tour

December 9-10 Imbabura Real Estate Tour

December 11-13 Ecuador Coastal Real Estate Tour

Join us in 2010. See our winter Ecuador real estate tours below.

Jan.   8-11     Ecuador Export Tour      $499  Couple  $749

Jan. 13-14     Imbabura Real Estate Tour   $499  Couple $749
Jan. 21-22     Coastal Real Estate Tour $499  Couple $749
Jan. 23-24    Quito-Mindo Real Estate Tour   $499  Couple $749
Jan. 22-23    Cuenca Real Estate Tour  $499  Couple $749

Enjoy extra savings with our special early bird fees (if you enroll in November 2009)

Join us in February or March.

Feb. 11-14   Quantum Wealth Florida -International Investing & Internet Business, Mt. Dora, Florida ($749) Couple $999

Feb. 15-16   Travel to and visit Quito
Feb  17         Travel to Manta
Feb. 18-19   Coastal Real Estate Tour   $499 Couple $999 or discounted fee for multiple tours below.
Feb. 20        Travel to Cotacachi
Feb. 21-22   Imbabura Real Estate Tour  $499 Couple $999 or discounted fee for multiple tours below.
Feb. 23-24  Quito-Mindo Real Estate Tour $499 Couple $999 or discounted fee for multiple tours below.
Feb. 26-27  Cuenca Real Estate Tour  $499 Couple $999 or discounted fee for multiple tours below.

Mar. 11-14     Super Thinking + Spanish Course, Mt. Dora, Florida ($749) Couple $999

Mar. 15-16    Travel to Quito and Andes
Mar. 17-18     Imbabura Real Estate Tour   $499 Couple $999 or discounted fee for multiple tours below.
Mar. 19-20    Cotacachi Shamanic Tour      $499 Couple $999 or discounted fee for multiple tours below.
Mar. 22-23    Coastal Real Estate Tour        $499 Couple $999 or discounted fee for multiple tours below.
Mar. 25-26    Cuenca Real Estate Tour        $499 Couple $999 or discounted fee for multiple tours below.

Enjoy extra savings with our special early bird fees (if you enroll in November 2009)

1 real estate tour  $499 Couple $749

2 seminar courses & tours $949 Couple  $1,399

3 seminar courses & tours   $1199 Couple  $1,749

4 seminar courses & tours   $1,399 Couple $2,149

5 seminar courses & tours  $1,599 Couple $2,499

(Be sure to show in the comments section which courses and tours you are attending)

International Club attend up to 52 courses and tours in 2010 free.

See our entire 2010 seminar and tour schedule here

There are many pieces of Cuenca real estate surrounding the city of Cuenca.

Cayo Tambo (in Quichua, a place to rest), is an example of beautiful Cuenca property, a huge shark’s tooth peak that bites at the powder blue sky. White waters of the Paute River dash over giant river rock smoother than marble as they rush to the valley floor below the brand new road.  This is a land of opportunity for those who wish to be near Cuenca but not in Cuenca.

We have been living and investing in Ecuador for more than a decade, but  it has been several years since we visited Cuenca, this tile roofed, colonial city which sits in a broad valley surrounded by a rump of mountainous green.  We however have added Cuenca real estate tours because of the opportunity in Cuenca condos houses and homes.

See more on Cuenca condos here.

See more on Cuenca Hotels here.

See more on Cuenca real estate here.

We like we about Cuenca homes as we prepare for the first Cuenca real estate tour that we have conducted in several years.

First I was reminded that Cuenca is easily Ecuador’s (and perhaps all of South America’s) most beautiful city. This is an aristocratic town with hard workers and a solid middle class. The down town area is really clean, built around a huge golden cathedral with brilliant ceramic domes. There is a sense of order in the narrow cobblestone streets. The markets are filled with color and exotic design, and there is no sense of crime, or poverty found here.

Tall willows weep into the Tomebamba river that cuts through the middle of town. Red tiles on white stucco sparkling in the brilliant sun is the common scene.

Cuenca has perhaps the largest North American population in Ecuador though it is a much smaller city (350,000) than Quito (or Guayaquil) which have millions.

The beautiful sites and uncongested new roads were not the only joys Merri and I experienced in Cuenca. Property prices were startlingly low.  Cuenca property prices of curse are much higher than when we brought readers to Cuenca ten years ago.  Yet asking prices still seem like bargains to me. For example brand new apartments just down the road from the luxury Oro Verde Hotel were offered at just $42,000.

There are superb country homes on a large (an acre or more) lots in an area between the San Juaquin and Saya Usi areas . Here houses sit above the city on gentle slopes with commanding views offering tile, hardwoods and marble, plus exquisite workmanship not found in the U.S….yet prices are still low.

In the country we found perhaps the best buys. There are beautiful farm in the Tarqui area with five acres, rustic hacienda farm house in really good shape and incredible gardens that overlook a gorgeous green valley.

A little further out in the valley of Jungilla there are many small farms of 5 to 20 acres. Jungilla is one of the most beautiful valleys in the world, like a Swiss mountain valley covered in Irish emerald green! Explosions of white pampas grass line the road and paisley swaths of forest and cotton wool clouds cover the broad valley floor. Huge waterfalls spring from the hillsides like gigantic white snakes crashing hundreds of feet.   This is a wonderful alternative to Vilcabamba.

Further out there are haciendas like Hacienda San Francisco.  We walked this on one trip, an entrance lined with sugar cane, bananas, mango, papaya, mango, naranjilla, babaco, orange, lemon, lime, yucca, coffee plants, bread fruit, guavas, achote, grapefruit, coconuts and all the vegetables you could eat. Avocado, bamboo, corn , potatoes, tomatoes, this veritable garden led to a rustic old farm house with eleven rooms and two workers houses. The land goes on forever (about 1,250 acres) and a huge waterfall cascading through the middle of this green paradise graces the picture perfectly. There are birds of every type, humming birds, toucan, choco, bromeliad fly catchers, tanagers, finches and animals include agouti, tapir, fox and deer.

The land comes with four horses, five saddles, ten cows and pigs, numerous dogs, chickens and a lot of furniture. Plus San Francisco has it own .7 kilowatt hydro electric turbine and sugar cane crusher and distillery where they have traditional distilled 50,000 liters of schnapps a year. The San Francisco river, a broad cascading mountain stream bounds the land and the smaller Sarayunga river runs through it.

I believe that many who have visited Ecuador to look at property will like Cuenca best when they attend our many Ecuador real estate tours in 2010.

Whatever your choice, the beach, a huge mountain city or a charming colonial town, you will learn how to own a piece of Ecuador real estate at really bargain prices during our 2010 Ecuador real estate tours.  We hope to see you there!

Gary

Join us in Ecuador or Florida or Both. See the best Ecuador property for you.  Find the best real estate offers.  Know more of Ecuador. To help you experience a bigger adventure in this wonderful nation, to broaden your horizons, to expand your awareness of all Ecuador offers, we are providing deep discounts in 2010 for those who sign up for multiple tours.

Join us at our upcoming courses and tours.

December 6-8 Blaine Watson’s  Beyond Logic & Shamanic Tour

December 9-10 Imbabura Real Estate Tour

December 11-13 Ecuador Coastal Real Estate Tour

Join us in 2010. See our winter Ecuador real estate tours below.

Jan.   8-11     Ecuador Export Tour $499 Couple  $749

Jan. 13-14     Imbabura Real Estate Tour   $499 Couple $749
Jan. 21-22     Coastal Real Estate Tour $499 Couple $749
Jan. 23-24    Quito-Mindo Real Estate Tour  $499 Couple $749
Jan. 22-23    Cuenca Real Estate Tour  $499 Couple $749

Enjoy extra savings with our special early bird fees (if you enroll in November 2009)

Join us in February or March.

Feb. 11-14   Quantum Wealth Florida -International Investing & Internet Business, Mt. Dora, Florida ($749) Couple $999

Feb. 15-16   Travel to and visit Quito
Feb  17         Travel to Manta
Feb. 18-19   Coastal Real Estate Tour   $499 Couple $749 or discounted fee for multiple tours below.
Feb. 20        Travel to Cotacachi
Feb. 21-22   Imbabura Real Estate Tour  $499 Couple $749 or discounted fee for multiple tours below.
Feb. 23-24  Quito-Mindo Real Estate Tour $499 Couple $749 or discounted fee for multiple tours below.
Feb. 26-27  Cuenca Real Estate Tour  $499 Couple $749 or discounted fee for multiple tours below.

Mar. 11-14     Super Thinking + Spanish Course, Mt. Dora, Florida $749 Couple $999

Mar. 15-16    Travel to Quito and Andes
Mar. 17-18     Imbabura Real Estate Tour   $499 Couple $749 or discounted fee for multiple tours below.
Mar. 19-20    Cotacachi Shamanic Tour      $499 Couple $749 or discounted fee for multiple tours below.
Mar. 22-23    Coastal Real Estate Tour        $499 Couple $749 or discounted fee for multiple tours below.
Mar. 25-26    Cuenca Real Estate Tour        $499 Couple $749 or discounted fee for multiple tours below.

Enjoy extra savings with our special early bird fees (if you enroll in November 2009)

2 seminar courses & tours $949 Couple  $1,399

3 seminar courses & tours   $1199 Couple  $1,749

4 seminar courses & tours   $1,399 Couple $2,149

5 seminar courses & tours  $1,599 Couple $2,499

6 seminars courses & tours  $1,999 Couple $2,999

(Be sure to show in the comments section which courses and tours you are attending)

International Club attend up to 52 courses and tours in 2010 free.

See our entire 2010 seminar and tour schedule here

Cuenca real estate can be profitable… but there are many Ecuador business opportunities.

Turn your passion into profit… earn extra income… become independent… and do more then just make money…do some extra good as the reader above is.

The four ways to profit in this economic era are to:

#1: Invest in shares.
#2: Invest in real estate.
#3: Invest in commodities.
#4: Invest in your own business.

One of our subscribers and his wife are doing all four recommendations.

They began by investing in Cuenca real estate.

Cuenca real estate is hot now. After a decade of searching, Merri and I settled on Cotacachi and San Clemente as the places where we would live and focus.   However, many want a more urban atmosphere and the city we find our delegates like most is Cuenca.

Cuenca is a forty minute flight south of Quito and there are to 2 to 3 flights a day, although no late evening flights. It is some 8 to 12 hours south of Quito driving depending on the state of the roads. It is a beautiful drive that Merri and I have taken many many times. For many years, Cuenca was isolated from the rest of the country so it has followed its own course all these years, which gives it a unique flavor. Here is Cuenca.

Cuenca (the actual full name is Santa Ana de los cuatro ríos de Cuenca) is the third most populous city in Ecuador and is the capital of the Azuay Province.

It sits at about 8,000 feet altitude and is a most beautiful small city. The center of Cuenca  is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Trust site because of its may historical buildings.

Ecuador Real Estate & Global Business Curves

Ecuador property, house and condos and global business ideas are important because the recent economic downturn has thrown many curves at most investment and business plans.

For years my advice to young people who have asked me for a good way to earn in a business has been to buy a fixer upper… fix it, live in it for two years and sell it on.  Then do this again and again.

US tax law allows for an exemption of $250,000 on one’s residence  ($500,000 for couple filing jointly).  Where else can you earn up to $250,000 a year tax free?

I double checked with my friend and tax attorney Joe Cox to make sure this exemption still works.   He replied:

Gary:  You are correct.  One or two projects at a time will not make them a
“developer”.   If they have too many projects, at the same time, they can become a developer and would be subject to ordinary income tax.   There is a $500,000 exemption.  There is  capital gain tax on excess.  This is still lower than ordinary income tax which maybe is going to 39.5%.   Joe

There are some excellent additional tax benefits for those who conduct genuine business abroad.  You can read details in my “International Business Made EZ” course which comes free with our “Tangled Web… How to Have a Web Business” course.  See how to get this course at the end of this message.

My advice to retirees who wish to live in Ecuador is live on your pension and overseas income which is not taxed in Ecuador. Then if you need extra income buy, fix up and sell a bit of Ecuador real estate.  This is tax free income as well… if like in the US you are not involved in too many projects… and become a developer.

For example, on our last real estate tour we saw these houses in Otavalo… brand new.  This Ecuador real estate ranges between $65,000 and $95,000 for very nice houses overlooking Otavalo.  New import regulations in Ecuador and inflation mean that like in the US new homes will cost substantially more.

The house we visited was 3.5 bathrooms, 4 bedrooms, two dens, living, dining and kitchen areas plus small back yard. The one we saw was of a very high standard,  about 2,300 square feet and had a $95,000 asking price.

Here is our group inspecting the kitchen. There are also great views.

This is the type of Ecuador house you could buy and live in, or rent, then sell for a profit in a couple of years. I suspect that if this is your residence there would not be US tax (up to $250,000 or $500,000 for a couple filing jointly) either.

You can get direct tax advice about this the US tax law and benefits of an overseas business from Joe Cox at JCOX@COXNICI.COM

In addition we recommend that everyone become involved in a business that they have a passion for. Here is an example of a reader who moved to Cuenca Ecuador and is doing just this.  He sent me this note. 

Hi Gary,

The last two days of columns about Ecuador and the dollar have been extremely informative and I believe accurate.  That is not just because I agree with you.

We are doing very well in Cuenca.  We have recently become 40% non-operating partners of the local CURVES franchise which went into the black in its first month.

Next month sees the opening of VILLA NOVA INN, located on Avenue Third of December on the city side of the Tomebamba River.  It is about 20 yards  from SAKURA SUSHI, the best Japanese restaurant in Cuenca, perhaps in all of Ecuador.   This is  a new 12 bedroom hostal in which we are 25% non-operating partners that will open next month.

VILLA NOVA INN will have two suites w. cable TV, 9 double/single rooms, and 1 dormitory w. 4 bunk beds.  Prices will range from $8 a night for a bunk bed to $45 a night for a suite.  There will be cable TV and high-speed Internet in the lobby.  The entire hostal overlooks the Rio Tomebamba and has a large outdoor deck with tables overlooking the river.  Breakfast is included in the price of the room or bunk.

You can get more information on the inn from Fernanda Cueva at fercuevav@hotmail.com

These small cash generating businesses along with fully paid for condos in Cuenca and Puerto Gaviota, an adequate amount of gold & silver coins and bullion, and government secured US pension funds make us feel very secure and capable of handling whatever the present financial/economic crisis throws at us.

Like you, I believe that Ecuador is actually one of the few ideal places in the world that will handle this crisis with relative ease and grace.  To support that belief we are looking for additional small local business investments.

All this investment activity helps support our South American Fund for Enlightenment which in addition to supporting students in Ibarra has just completed its first significant project in Cuenca.  We recently completed the delivery of 12 new full sized computers to Escuela Adbdon Calderon.  The computers with 17″ flat screen monitors were assembled by skilled local labor right here in Cuenca.  The project which cost just over $5,000 was a wonderful joint effort by contributors from the United States along with ex-pats and locals here in Cuenca.

The Fund is now working to raise the final $1,500 which will supply the Escuela with a much needed copier and projector plus a couple of printers which H-P locally will toss into the mix.  We hope to finish this aspect of the project before we take off to spend the summer cruising the Greek Isles, driving around Greece and Italy and finally spending most of July and August in our condo in Puerto Gaviota.

All the best to both you and Merri.

So if you choose to invest or live in Cuenca… there are many ways to earn income there.

See more about Cuenca condos here

Gary

See the best Ecuador property for you.  Find the best real estate offers.  Know more of Ecuador. To help you experience a bigger adventure in this wonderful nation, to broaden your horizons, to expand your awareness of all Ecuador offers, we are providing deep discounts in 2010 for those who sign up for multiple tours.

Join us in Ecuador

Join us at our upcoming courses and tours.

December 6-8 Blaine Watson’s  Beyond Logic & Shamanic Tour

December 9-10 Imbabura Real Estate Tour

December 11-13 Ecuador Coastal Real Estate Tour

Join us in 2010. See our winter Ecuador real estate tours below.

Jan.   8-11     Ecuador Export Tour      $499  Couple  $749

Jan. 13-14     Imbabura Real Estate Tour   $499  Couple $749
Jan. 21-22     Coastal Real Estate Tour $499  Couple $749
Jan. 23-24    Quito-Mindo Real Estate Tour   $499  Couple $749
Jan. 22-23    Cuenca Real Estate Tour  $499  Couple $749

Enjoy extra savings with our special early bird fees (if you enroll in November 2009)

Join us in February or March.

Feb. 11-14   Quantum Wealth Florida -International Investing & Internet Business, Mt. Dora, Florida ($749) Couple $999

Feb. 15-16   Travel to and visit Quito
Feb  17         Travel to Manta
Feb. 18-19   Coastal Real Estate Tour   $499 Couple $999 or discounted fee for multiple tours below.
Feb. 20        Travel to Cotacachi
Feb. 21-22   Imbabura Real Estate Tour  $499 Couple $999 or discounted fee for multiple tours below.
Feb. 23-24  Quito-Mindo Real Estate Tour $499 Couple $999 or discounted fee for multiple tours below.
Feb. 26-27  Cuenca Real Estate Tour  $499 Couple $999 or discounted fee for multiple tours below.

Mar. 11-14     Super Thinking + Spanish Course, Mt. Dora, Florida ($749) Couple $999

Mar. 15-16    Travel to Quito and Andes
Mar. 17-18     Imbabura Real Estate Tour   $499 Couple $999 or discounted fee for multiple tours below.
Mar. 19-20    Cotacachi Shamanic Tour      $499 Couple $999 or discounted fee for multiple tours below.
Mar. 22-23    Coastal Real Estate Tour        $499 Couple $999 or discounted fee for multiple tours below.
Mar. 25-26    Cuenca Real Estate Tour        $499 Couple $999 or discounted fee for multiple tours below.

Enjoy extra savings with our special early bird fees (if you enroll in November 2009)

1 real estate tour  $499 Couple $749

2 seminar courses & tours $949 Couple  $1,399

3 seminar courses & tours   $1199 Couple  $1,749

4 seminar courses & tours   $1,399 Couple $2,149

5 seminar courses & tours  $1,599 Couple $2,499

(Be sure to show in the comments section which courses and tours you are attending)

International Club attend up to 52 courses and tours in 2010 free.

See our entire 2010 seminar and tour schedule here