Practical guides from people who actually live here.
Founded in 2019 by the team behind YapaTree, a small bilingual real estate agency in Cuenca. Practical, lived-experience guides for people moving to or living in Ecuador. Written from a kitchen in Cuenca.
ExpatsEcuador launched fresh in 2019. Our sister site YapaTree carries forward an older archive, GringoTree, founded in Cuenca in 2009 and rolled into YapaTree in 2021. So if you're hunting for a thread that goes back further, visas, neighborhoods, healthcare, where to buy eggs that aren't refrigerated, which notary is actually open on a Tuesday afternoon, the answer is probably already written somewhere across the two sites.
Who's behind it.
Jason Scott
Australian. Has a law degree and a civil engineering degree he barely uses. Started his first business in university, worked at digital agencies in Sydney and then Dubai, and eventually hit the road as a digital nomad. Came to Ecuador for the kitesurfing in Santa Marianita, fell in love with the country, met Michelle in Quito, and never left. Nine years in Cuenca now. He runs YapaTree's real estate practice and writes most of what you'll read here.
Michelle
From Quito. Spent fifteen years in Ecuador's tourism industry designing Galápagos experiences for serious travelers, the kind of trips where quality control mattered. Now leads YapaTree's real estate and relocation services and still curates custom Ecuador itineraries for a handful of long-time clients. Co-founded the Latin American Network of Death and Dying, a longer story than this page can carry.
They know the city. They know everything about the city. They know who to put you in touch with.
A content site. The library.
We write about the practical realities of moving to and living in Ecuador, not the glossy brochure version. What it actually costs. What the visa process actually looks like. Which neighborhood fits which kind of person. Where the healthcare system is good and where it's better to have backup.
Written in English, targeted at English-speaking expats, North Americans, Europeans, Australians, anyone else thinking about making the move. A Spanish-language version is on the roadmap for later.
Not a real estate agency. Not a law firm.
Two different things, and worth being clear about both.
Property listings, buyer's agent work, short-term rentals: that's YapaTree, our sister real-estate agency. If you click a "Properties" link here, you're seeing YapaTree's listings with extra context for people moving here.
For visas, wills, property law, family law (anything actually legal), our recommended provider is Expat Law Group (ELG). They review our visa content, and they're who we'd call ourselves. We may earn a small referral fee when readers engage them; we tell you up front, every time.
The articles here are honest, specific, and written from experience. But Ecuador's rules change, and your situation isn't ours. Verify anything critical with a professional before acting on it.
WhatsApp first. Email second.
WhatsApp is fastest: +593 99 257 0693. Email works too: info@yapatree.com. Most replies come within a business day. We have a small office in Cuenca's Primero de Mayo neighborhood near the Yanuncay River, but most of our day is spent in the field with clients or at a café with laptops, so please message ahead instead of walking in.
Questions? Corrections? Something you wish we'd written about? Message us. Genuinely.