Power Crisis in Ecuador & Reflections on Two Years of Expat Life 

I guess most views go to the liars-to the people spouting views people want to believe. I hang out with you to get the truth.

I don't know about their availability in Ecuador, but portable power banks have gotten pretty popular here in the US. Most can be charged via three different methods: grid power; solar power; or the 12 volt outlet from your car. They range in capacity from a few hundred watt-hours to several kilowatt-hours or more. If you use grid power, many of these units can also serve as an uninterrupted power supply. Depending upon your energy usage, one of these units might allow you to bridge these outtages with little to no disruption? Most of these power banks store energy with lithium iron phosphate batteries too. Much safer than the lithium ion technology and many makes are advertised to last for thousands of cycles before degrading to 80% of their listed capacity. Just a thought. These devices may be useful to the folks who dont want the hassle of using a gas-powered generator but would like to have backup power for lights, fans, or computers? Hope this all passes soon...

Hey Don, what I learned about the meat there, is that the cattle eat grass down there, which makes the meat leaner/tougher, and US meat is force-fed corn, so the meat is fattier and tastier. But as you said, if you're in Manta, seafood is where it's at.

71 % of Ecuador power hydroelectric. Drought has minimized output. You need lots of rain .

Don, we thank you for the update. We're appreciative for your time in enabling Spanish subtitles. We're Like # 134. Hang in there my friend.

power out....do you have food in freezer? in USA we do,,,,,

Txs for the updates.

Yet another fine video from Don. You really added realism to it when you said you’d better have a “swig of beer.” 😂 If my feeble memory serves me correctly, you had previously done a video where you got a good steak from a butcher. I don’t doubt that one bit since I think the supermarkets in Equador probably sell the same grade of meat as they do in Costa Rica and Mexico: Crappy! Keep up the good work and I look forward to the next one.

There are a lot of fires going on right now. That's a concern for the Whole world it seems...

On the other side of the border , Peru is building a powerline to supply Ecuador with cheap electricity. Overproduction of energy coming fron different sources hydro , wind , solar and natural gas

Can one bid down the rents with real estate rentals?

I am cooling off about moving to Ecuador as I follow your experiences of living there. I know that no country is perfect but some offer more than others. Electricity is an essential need in this century and any country that cannot supply that has deeper problems.

Hey Don, can you give me a little more information about those Banks over there that you say they are paying 9% monthly on CD I’m really interested to deposit some money there to later on buying some property. Thank you.

Looked it up, 2024 inflation for Ecuador has been estimated to be around 1.28% for the year.

Does the internet go completely down with the electricity off, or is it just the pc's go without power.

Excellent follow up! Thank you

Don, thanks for the update. Can you get portable generators there? I have one here in FL to power my fridge and a small window a/c unit, just in case. Also, do your internet and cell services work during the outages? I work remotely, so just trying to get a handle on this latest monkey wrench. Thanks as always!

Ecuador has hydroelectric power. Ecuador is currently experiencing a drought along with increased electric usage. That's why the power outages. This inflation is part of global economics. The U.S. has higher inflation.

Don, power is off 9 hrs per day? Is that everyday? How do you keep food in your fridge? Do you have any plans on moving?

The energy situation is pretty wild to be honest, I’m not even sure how to talk about it in a positive way other than “at least we have power”. The rationing in some parts of the country (according to articles) can go up to 14 hours. I just hope we get crazy amounts of rain out of nowhere to temporarily resolve this situation and that in that process we (the government) starts moving at light speed (assuming they aren’t already) to give us alternative power sources and maintenance to our current ones.

@Grumpy hey! Love your channel! Thank you for being you! I have a suggestion for your tough red meat. I have lived places with grass, fed cows, and grass starved cows were the meat was closer to leather than tender. I don’t know if you care or if you would like the outcome, but I found that there are several different ways to tenderize. One is canned milk. so your meat in the fridge for almost 24 hours and canned milk and it will remove any gaming flavor at the same same time as tenderizing it. More economical way is to crush Kia over the top of the meat and then bed it in some crushed papaya for several hours. That’s the best. The enzymes in the papaya breakdown the muscle tissue and soften it right up. Just a thought because I can’t live without some red meat and I’m sure when I’m there with you bro, I’ll be stocking up on papaya

Do you know how long these outages will last? Will there be more outages in the next few months?

It means your in a third world country!