Travels and Opportunities on the Coast

I recently had the opportunity to head to the Puerto Cayo and Jipijapa areas of Manabi Province to spend a few days at the beach and check out some properties – and I came away really impressed.

Puerto Cayo has some of the nicest beaches I’ve seen in Ecuador and it is significantly cheaper than those of coastal neighbors Salinas, Olon, Mantanita, Puerto Lopez, Manta, Playas and others.

The water even gets fairly turquoise there when the sun is shining! The town is old school – Small quiet, with polite and happy people. Very little security anywhere –indicating safety.

And the prices! Around 50-100 per square meter for beachfront!

I found one lot in particular, literally on the beach (but elevated enough) I could deliver with a simple but really nice bamboo house, fully landscaped with coconut trees, palms and flowers for under $80,000.

From Loja with stops to eat we made the trip in about 9 hours to Puerto Cayo (perhaps an hour or so further than Salinas).

A short drive inland, in the area surrounding Jipijapa, I found beautiful fincas with amazing, tall, healthy mango trees dripping with fruit for around $2,000/hectare!

Another lot I found of 5.5 hectares, perfect for any type of agriculture, with water, lots of flat, and great road access – perfect for healthy, clean, country living could be had under $20,000.

This is an area where you can cultivate anything – it is really green and lush. For that reason there are several permaculture practitioners already there. The roads are great, the people friendly and the climate not overbearingly hot.

On that same trip I traveled south along the coast towards Peru winding up in Arenillas. A town about 20 minutes from the Peruvian border. Hot hot hot.

And through my travels something occurred to me about the political situation in Ecuador.

While much, if not most, and certainly all the cities of Ecuador are absolutely not third world (great roads, infrastructure, services, etc), there are areas that really still are. And in those places the president’s proposals don’t bother people.

In Arenillas for example, lots are available for $2,000-$3,000. People there are not going to be affected by the Presidents tax proposals on capital gains and inheritance.

His cries of ‘soak the rich’ may ring true in places like Arenillas.

There has also been an unfortunate dichotomy created in peoples minds here between left and right. Basically socialism vs. the bankers.

For many years a handful of families owned all the land in Ecuador. The people were essentially surfs. Correa’s administration changed that and also did huge infrastructure projects. Hence his former popularity. And while he is no longer popular, people view the choice as him (or his policies) or back to being controlled by bankers and a handful elite.

It is a false paradigm, and an unfortunate one, but certainly an understandable trap to fall into.

If you want to chat about any of the opportunities I came across in Puerto Cayo or Jipijapa give us a ring today!