The International Schools Review Forum

I have a job offer in Quito. I really enjoyed my interview with the principal so that's a plus. I feel like I would like the city (I'm currently in another Latin American capitol). My main concern is the ability to save. The salary would be 30,000 usd minus 8% in taxes. Anyone have experience living in Ecuador? Thoughts on Quito? Thoughts on savings potential (single teacher)?

Of course it depends on lifestyle (and assuming you also get a housing allowance), but anywhere between 0 and 10,000 a year I'd say, 5,000 being the average for most.
Check Numbeo.com or Expatistan for cost of living numbers.

The thing I'd find frustrating about working in Ecuador is the number of contact days. They work long school years for those low salaries. It's government mandated (something that happened about 8 years ago or so).

Eion

I would carefully review the contract and see how many service and contract days and hours you have for that salary.
It really depends hat your lifestyle is. You could save a third or even half of that salary if you were frugal, and depending what benefits the IS provides. You could also travel and have a lot of fun and save nothing.

It's sort of like musical chairs in South America these days. I would steer clear of all of it until a few of the democracies fully collapse and recycle into command and control dictatorships again. At that point, I would shimmy on in.