It’s been more than two years since we dreamed about moving down to Ecuador to start a hostel brewery! It’s been a funky, long, and tiring trip and we still have a long way to go. But only recently this year have we started to feel more at ease. Sometimes we have to surrender and accept that there are things we can’t control and that it’s okay.
Feb 2015: Finding a town with a good vibe and place we’d call home.
In 2015 Malena backpacked Ecuador for 6 weeks to find the perfect town and along the way discovered Cotacachi. Right before she left Canada, we got a third cat. Although she was sad she couldn’t bond with Athena as a kitten she was excited to discover Ecuador. Fast forward to December 2015, we both came down to Ecuador to finalize a place we’d call home. Finalizing actually took one more trip that Malena took in early 2016.
May 2016 – August 2016: We met biking, we biked on our first date, we biked to a bar and got engaged, then we biked into our wedding ceremony.
Then in May 2016 we got engaged, Malena was doing extra contract work and Roger got a second job. On August 19th 2016 we surprised our guests by biking into our ceremony and exchanging vows while overlooking Lake Ontario on a beautiful sunny day. Several drinks later, we biked over to a brew pub restaurant and continued drinking and eating. It was so much damn fun. Three days earlier we bought a house.
June 2016: Sick of living surrounded by boxes, we start renting a storage room.
At this point we are living in what seems like a storage room, packing our stuff in boxes, looking out for Canadian Tire deals, buying more stuff and then eventually moving that stuff into a storage room close to our apartment. It took more than 10 trips to the storage room, walking with a dolly carrying over heavy boxes. We occasionally took over some beer and snacks because the 12 minute walk in the summer heat carting all our stuff was exhausting.
September 2016: Malena and Roger divide and conquer in Ecuador and in Canada.
On September 12th we got possession of our house and 2 days later we flew back to Ecuador to sort out living arrangements. We also brought Jupiter(cat) down with us. We learned internet isn’t great, electricity and water sometimes shut off randomly during the day and we started figuring out what would be useful to bring from Canada. Jupiter learned he isn’t the fearless escape artist he thinks he is when large dogs are outside.
September 2016: Move #1 by amazing friends and family.
Since we are in Ecuador for more than a month, Malena’s sister and some friends move our stuff from the storage room to save us from renting out space we don’t need. It was a success and we feel so lucky to have people we can count on for shit like this.
October 2016: Roger fly’s back to Canada and does Move #2
One month later Roger goes back to Canada while Malena stays behind to get architectural plans and construction permits rolling. Roger rents a truck to move all of our stuff from the apartment to our new house in Toronto with help of yet again amazing friends. Roger then begins living in a house full of boxes, packing and sorting stuff. On top of everything, basement was a disaster and needed tiling so Roger spent weeks looking for contractors to re-do the basement tiling. Somehow Roger found time to brew two batches of beer for the wedding party we were planning because you know, we weren’t busy enough.
November 2016: Back to shipping logistics and more headaches.
While Malena sorted out logistics of shipping our stuff from Canada to Ecuador, Roger found out the location of our house was on a street too narrow for the shipping truck. So he had to find and book adequate storage space … again. So everything had to be moved. Again. We had stopped counting moves at this point.
December 2016: Roger says goodbye to the hospital.
Then after almost 17 years at the hospital, the impossible happened. Roger left the only job he’d ever had since college. That weekend Malena came back to Toronto to celebrate and help pack and plan that wedding party we never did when we got married.
December 2016: A sad goodbye to our furry familia.
Sadly, on December 30th Eddy (Malena’s family dog) had to be euthanized. He was suffering from multiple health concerns and treating to prolong his life would only prolong his pain. Malena, her mom, and sister buried him while sobbing. We all took turns digging his grave under a tree. His age had caught up to him but he was his usual smiling self right until the end, surrounded by his family.
January 2017: New year and a wedding party disaster, saved by some awesome people
Day of the wedding party on January 6th, 2017 and we had to load more than 10 boxes of food, booze and decorations into a cab. And as all that loading is almost done, almost as though they planned it, our remaining cats Max and Athena decided to bolt out of the house and disappear. You could almost hear them yell “NOW!! GO GO GO!!!!”. It had to be -15C out. Roger stayed behind to look for Max and Athena so we didn’t come home to kittycicles, while Malena with her mom and sister head out to the party running late.
Then the wedding party happens. We realize how lucky we are to have so many awesome friends willing to help out during the initial chaos. Seriously we won’t forget how fast people gave a helping hand. It was amazing how everyone rallied to get the party rolling. We owe you all a huge debt of gratitude, glad everyone had a good time and happy Roger’s beer all disappeared very quickly.
January 2017: Move #3, moving our stuff from the house to second storage room
One week later we move stuff from the house to a nearby storage warehouse. Shit starts to feel more real as we start measuring how much space we have. Up until that point we were estimating what would fit in a container. Oh and that same week the basement get’s tiled. So we had no access to our shower. Yay.
January 2017: Burned out but happy finally live in a place without boxes.
Another week later the truck with our container comes by, but the space in front of the loading dock is limited. Luckily the truck driver was in a good mood and has mad driving skills to dock the container. He actually jackknifed it to get in place. For almost 8 hours Ken, Savanah, Natalie, Teresa and us pack the container with all of our belongings. We ended up with 162 marked boxes/wraps/furniture. We prayed we packed it tight enough that nothing would break in transport.
January 2017: Goodbye friends and family, oh wait.. not yet!
Two weeks later we say our goodbye’s to friends and family. The night before our flight Malena realizes she left her passport and citizenship ID in our scanner, which was packed into the container (box # 67). We are forced to miss our flight the next day and sort out a new passport that week.
January 2017: Then finally, on January 26th we head out with our two remaining cats to Ecuador for a furry reunion.
For the first few months in Ecuador we live without a fridge, washing machine and other stuff but we get used to it. It’s amazing how little you need to get by but we do miss the creature comforts. We try to sort out construction permits but seem to be delayed by the architect, paperwork needed and processing time. Even more paperwork to clear our container through customs.
March 2017: Our stuff has made it all the way from Canada, but wait, we don’t have a hostel built!
The day the container arrived was a bittersweet day, it was great having all of our stuff arrive, mostly intact. But not having the hostel built we had to stack all our things in “the storage room” or outside under tarps. Took a while to organize enough to have space, empty boxes, find items we needed and be able to eat off real dishes using real utensils. Roger’s plastic camping cutlery was getting tiresome.
March 2017: Learning to be patient.
We thought by March we’d have construction started but the delays have been on going. Nothing seems to go our way, new laws and rules being enforced forcing us to re-submit documents, each time having to wait 2 or 3 weeks to find out something is missing. It has honestly been gut wrenching and frustrating. Like getting told by a government office that paperwork from another government office of the same Ministry somehow wasn’t adequate, then the other office that makes it right telling us it was correct already. Basically making us take two separate trips to Quito (a 3 hour bus ride away) and running all over town (because why put Ministry offices anywhere near each other?) for literally no reason at all. We did have some amazing beer and pizza though.
March 2017: Tali the super anxious happy dog, another reason to just chill.
It is now April 2017, we have a dog named Tali (after Tali’Zorah from Mass Effect) and we are still waiting for documents. Our Tali does not have a shotgun but she has a hell of a bark.
Looking back and reflecting.
2016 was one of the most stressful years of our life because there was so much to do in such little time. But also an amazing year because we pulled through it all marking the beginning of our journey together. We somehow managed to cram years worth of life events into the span of months.
2017 has been a year of emotional growth, letting go, surrendering to what you can’t control and accepting what life brings to the table.
It is so easy to get angry, frustrated, or sad. We sometimes need to catch ourselves from loosing our grip to find that positive energy that helps us move forward. It has been a long journey with bumps and delays. But we now see those delays as opportunities to evolve slowly with ease and thought instead of plowing through our ambitious goals looking simply to accomplish things and find peace with this whole process.
And now at least we can make our own beer again.