Quito’s cost of living breakdown is just one of the best kept secrets of Ecuador! For three months we explored the culture, cuisine & beauty of Quito while at the same time enjoying the economically friendly budget. Boy, did we have great adventures in Quito!
If you are budget minded as we are, Quito’s cost of living breakdown will answer some of your questions about visiting Ecuador! We were not ready to leave, I really meant “NOT READY TO LEAVE.” Quito, Ecuador has an amazing cost of living, but I didn’t realize this until I sat down & took stock of our budget! We had been to Quito a few years back but for only a month which was not enough time to really settle in & get to know all the wonderful things Quito had to offer. This time we decided we would stay three months in Ecuador to see what the Capital City of Ecuador had to offer these traveling seniors! This trip was turned into an awesome adventure with only a little glitch at the end (we will talk about that at end of post). We stayed in the Mariscal neighborhood in Quito, which is the same as during our first stay in Quito a few years back. We were – again – surprised by how friendly the people in this neighborhood were to us.
We met people that we now consider lifelong friends and will be forever grateful to them for making us a part of their lives. Let me just say to really get a feel for the people & the lay of the land you really more than just a month.
A Little History About Quito, Ecuador!
Quito is the capital of ‘Ecuador with a population of around 3.3 million! The city sits on the side of the Pichincha Volcano in the Andes Mountains at approximately 2850 meters (9350 ft) above sea level. Quito is the 2nd highest capital above sea level in the world (behind La Paz, Bolivia at 3650m/11954 feet) above sea level. Needless to say, altitude sickness is a real thing if you are not acclimated to the thin oxygen. It took us really a couple weeks to be able to walk without feeling like we were sucking air.
Quito is the oldest South American Capital city founded in 16th Century on Inca city ruins. The country was conquered by Spain in early 1500s. By 1800s Ecuadorians started their push for freedom & became its own country by May 13, 1830.
As the oldest capital of any South American country, Quito was the northern capital of the Incan Empire and in 1533 the Incas destroyed the city to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Spanish Conquistadors, but Quito was rebuilt a year later. The city became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978! If you take a walking tour of ‘Centro’ alone, it is easy to see why this award was granted. It is a photographers dream with its architecture & beauty. Ecuador got its name from being the country closest to the sun & sitting on the equator! Ecuadorians have a very high appreciation for nature.
Spanish is the spoken language but schools do teach English so it is not unusual to meet people fluent in both languages. The theme in many countries that we have visited outside the United States is that English is a requirement as a secondary language & we have met a number of people that have learned English during the educational studies or on their own by watching movies & listening to music. We are questioning the reason our younger generation has not put an emphasis on learning or becoming fluent in a second language…. Just saying. We have had students pass us on the street, hear us speaking to each other, then turn around & walk back to speak to us in English so they can ‘practice’.
Currency in Ecuador
A quick note, Ecuador runs on the U.S. dollar system which makes it nice not having to convert currency, etc BUT having said that, Ecuador can be expensive depending on what you buy. A lot of items are imported & taxes/tariffs can really raise the price & you can see that at the tourist malls but there is hope. We found El Jardin Mall which has a variety of stores, but the best part is that this Mall is located directly across the street from Las Carolinas park to chill in after a day of shopping. The mall also had quite the selection of coffee shops!
Food Shopping
Buying at the local Santa Maria vegetable/fruit/meat market in the area where we stayed saved us money on wonderful fresh fruits & vegetables. Fresh fruit juice is always available at a reasonable price. At Santa Maria, the vendors charge one set price for everyone including tourists. The building is huge with several floors & we didn’t even know we could also go there for local meals until our friend, Shihan, invited us for a Sunday breakfast.
The great thing about markets like this is that you can buy the exact amount or number of products you want! No receipts to show, but believe me when I say local markets are the best places to buy the freshest foods. The vendors take great pride in providing everyone with farm-fresh meats, fruits & vegetables. Many vegetables were unique to the tropical mountainous growing environment in Quito & the vendors explained how people cook/ate those vegetables.
Bottom line again Quito was easy on our budget. Groceries included staples/essentials we might need for when we wanted to just stay home & cook. This also included bottled water. Our monthly grocery allowance is 11% & came in under budget!
Eating Authentic Ecuadoran Food!
I can give you two reasons that we loved eating authentic Ecuadorian food. First, the price is very economical especially on a budget plus secondly, the food is fresh & amazingly tasty. We had our choice of local kitchens/Mom Pop cocinas to choose from so more than likely we spent most days going to a variety of restaurants to try the almuerzos (lunch special). Meals can range from $1 sandwiches to $2.50 or $3 USD for a full meal! The full meal would include soup, meat, rice, salad, sometimes beans, sometimes dessert (depending on which place we were that day) & a tall glass of fresh squeezed juice (limonada, pina, berry, etc). I could rarely finish the soup because I wanted to be able enjoy the main dish!
Bottom line although grocery expense was under budget we did go over on our 4% monthly allowance for dining out as we ate out for most meals = under budget for groceries vs over budget for eating out = ‘win win’! Also, on the dining out cost we included bakery & coffee shops which are a norm for us as a daily expense no matter where we might travel. Alameda Cafe on Avenida Amazonas had the absolute best bakery products!!!
And, if you aren’t up to authentic Ecuadorian food, there are the typical American fast food chains everywhere. Pizza, hamburgers & KFC seemed to be the popular choices as they were abundant. Be prepared to pay American prices if you eat at the Mall Food Court restaurants as they will happily charge you U.S. prices! You do you but for these two traveling seniors on a budget, local kitchens are the bomb!!
Airbnb Rental in Quito
Airbnb rental in Quito can vary depending on time of your travel & your personal preferences. We prefer low season since prices will be lower so April & May were the perfect choice for us although rent did increase for June as it considered a “busy” time. For this three month trip, we rented a beautiful Airbnb that we had previously stayed for the first two months of our trip. Since this was our second stay at this Airbnb & again low season, we had a 3 bedroom/2 bath apartment with a penthouse terrace which equaled to $400 USD per month, plus all utilities paid. The penthouse was in the Pichincha area & we were quite happy being able to walk almost everywhere – grocers, coffee shops, salons, parks! Awesome right? Well when we went to rent for the third month – June – we were told this was busy season & the rent doubled. Needless to say, we moved to another apartment more conducive to our budget, newer & still a great area but rent was $750.
Bottom line we have 26% in our budget designated to cover monthly rental wherever we may be. In Quito for the three months, we were extremely happy to see “under budget” for housing!! That’s definitely a plus for us!
While We Are Discussing Airbnb Rental – Lets Talk Airbnb Nightmare in Quito!
Let me say we stay in Airbnbs 85% of the time & have walked away with many happy experiences. The last month of the Quito stay we moved to another apartment to save $. All was great in every way UNTIL we moved out & received notice from Airbnb & the host that had filed a “property damage claim.” The Airbnb host filed a fraudulent claim thinking that older Americans are feeble/weak and would not take the time to challenge his fraudulent damage claims. He had a plan to replace his well worn microwave & rice cooker on the back on these retired seniors. It took almost 3 weeks & a strongly worded appeal to Airbnb, but the matter was eventually closed in our favor.
Lesson Learned from above:
Some people mistake kindness for weakness: Really, I think that because we ended our stay by buying lunch for (5 people) security & maintenance, the owner decided we could buy him some new appliances. Wrong! Lesson learned, we no longer will give security or maintenance people “gifts” no matter how small. Also, since this last issue, we video the whole apartment & then we photograph EVERYTHING including pots/pans, dishes, silverware, linens, etc. just to be sure we are covered in the future.
Transportation in Quito, Ecuador
Transportation in Quito can be very economical. Taxis run on meters, but beware there is always someone who may try to take advantage & take you around the city just to go a few blocks. My suggestion is to have your map on your phone & let the driver know that you know where you are going. This happened to us when a friend got the number of a taxi driver & called them for a short ride home one night. What should have been a $2 USD fare turned into a $6 USD fare, that was enough for us to stop using taxi’s & only use Ubers (unless traveling with a local). To us Uber was super easy & comparable to taxis in fares. Buses were pretty nice & cost us each .40 cents to ride. The buses do travel like a bat out of hell on the streets so just be warned. Ha.
A pleasant surprise for us since out last visit was the new underground Metro! Wow, beautiful, clean, fast & .50 U.S. p/p to ride!
Walking in Quito
Wide sidewalks, beautiful architecture, SAFE, coffee shops, FRESH AIR (once you get use to altitude). Here are some photos but it is up to you to step out of your safe zone to meet people. I can’t say enough about the Ecuadorians. Super welcoming but we also met many other nationalities that were really nice & accepting of us.
If you have a chance to get out of the city for a Quito day trip – TAKE IT!
Our friends Milly & Marcelo with Shihan showed us some amazing sights just an hour or so outside of the city. Cotacahi Lagoon, Otavalo Waterfalls, mountain ‘climbing’ Canton Ruminawi, our first sugar cane juice….we talk about these trips to whoever will listen. So much fun but I have to admit the first mountain climbing excursion was tough on this broad but happy to say the second mountain was so much easier.
Our monthly budget for entertainment is 4% & we were under budget by $75. That included any time we shared fuel bill for car or meals out with friends. We have found that there are many ways to enjoy day trips. You find guides online for just about anything you want to see. We have been fortunate that our int’l families wanted to share the beauty of their country(s) with us that are so much more, I think, interesting as you hear their stories. Now of course you can’t just hop into anyone’s car who wants to take you on a trip…if it is not a legit guide, I would say NO. If you care to build a relationship with anyone, you may be surprised at the invites you receive. We cherish every day our coffee chats with friends, exercising with Shihan in the parks, day tripping with Milly & Marcello…awesome memories.
Spanish Lessons
We are on a continual path to learn Spanish which is why we decided to stay 2024 in South America. In Quito we found the Beraca Spanish School & took lessons during our stay in Quito. This was worked into our budget as a Personal so it made us go over our budget in that category but in the end did not effect our average for the three month stay.
In closing…
Quito should definitely be on your Bucket List to visit. I would suggest a longer visit vs short so you can really get the feel of the neighborhood, people & the food! We really felt accepted & enjoyed our stay so much. Was it an “extended vacation” as a acquaintance called our travels? Nada but then someone who doesn’t know us – doesn’t understand our life plan… It definitely gave us something to think about…could we live here? I think we could but we are not done checking out other places yet…Oh did I say there was an earthquake during the end of our stay? That was a bit scary for a couple minutes but they all took it in stride. Ha.
A friend took us up on our “open door” policy for visitors & flew down for a couple weeks. So much fun & so great to have the time to show her a piece of this beautiful country. Here are a few shots of her visit.
Next stop, we are off to Bucaramanga, Colombia!!! Stay tuned!!
