Book Review - K Kris Loomis - Thirty Days In Quito: Two Gringos and a Three-Legged Cat Move to Ecuador

 I was interested in reading this book, since I lived in Ecuador as a Catholic missionary from 1996 to 1999.  The first couple of months I lived at our mission headquarters in Quito, right in front of the Trolley stop 10 de agosto.  For the rest of the time in Ecuador, I lived in the village of Borbón, located in a rain forest jungle in the province of Esmeraldas on the northern coast of Ecuador.  Quito was quite a modern city compared to the rain forest jungle where I lived.  The author describes things that are very different in Ecuador compared to what we are used to in the United States.  She talks about having to go to the internet cafe to send emails when the internet was not working in their rented apartment.  I did not have access to a phone or direct mail service or the internet when I lived in Borbón.  In fact, when my dad passed away when I was there, the priest in Quito had to contact me through a chain of priests with CB radios - that is how we communicated.  When I was in Ecuador from 1996 to 1999, the country was going through a very difficult time economically and politically, a situation that is much better, but I know that with the current COVID pandemic, the economic situation there has gotten much worse.  Ecuador is a lovely country.  I can see where it would attract retirees from US.  However, part of the beauty of living in another country is experience a life that is different than our own.  This book was a very easy read and very interesting description of daily life of an American living in Quito.  

This book is a selection under Kindle Unlimited on AMAZON.