The Only Gringa in Town

The Only Gringa in Town

Gringo: The term Gringo is mainly used in Latin countries, to refer to an English speaking foreigner, especially Americans. Word Gringo is not necessarily used to offend a person. Originally word Gringo was used in Spain to point any foreign from the Spanish speakers. 

There are many expats living in Ecuador, especially from the USA. Biggest expat communities are found from Quito and Cuenca. I’m living far away from the other expats in the Amazon region. I thought it’s about the time to tell you how I came to live in Ecuador from Finland and became the only Gringa in town.

I’m living in a town called Lago Agrio, with my Ecuadorian husband and our daughter. Lago Agrio isn’t touristic and the tourists come here only to travel to the jungle, some stay one night, most travel directly to the rainforest. Lago Agrio, or Nueva Loja both are fine to use, is the capital of Sucumbios province. It’s quite new town, founded in the 60’s for a base camp of Texaco because the area is rich in oil. We are living near to the border of Colombia and many Colombians live in Lago Agrio.

My story how I came here starts last year, 2013, in February. First time I came here was with a friend for a holiday. Our plan was to visit the Cuyabeno Reserve, two days in Quito and then take a cruise to the Galapagos Islands. My friend flied back to Finland after the cruise and I was supposed to continue my travel to Panama, but something happened and I never got there.

So, I´ll start from the beginning. It was second day of our holiday in Ecuador when I and my friend arrived to Lago Agrio. At the airport was waiting our tour guide and the bus driver. After meeting the guide we travelled to the Siona lodge in Cuyabeno Reserve. Our group was only me and my friend so the first day was a private tour (the next day arrived more people).

The second day of our stay in the jungle, I was sitting alone at the sundeck of the lodge. There is always a break after lunch from the activities. Our guide, I´m going to call him W in the rest of the story, came to the sun deck too and we started talking. He had just been on a trip to Europe and he showed me some photos from his laptop about the trip and from the Galapagos, because it was my next destination. I thought that he was really interesting person, and after that we spend all the free time together at the lodge. After five days in Cuyabeno, it was time to leave to Quito and the Galapagos Islands, so we said goodbye and exchanged e-mails.

In Quito I wrote to W an e-mail and later when I was at the Galapagos, I noticed that he had wrote me back. He said he could come to Quito to meet me, as I had two days in Quito before my flight to Panama. So we agreed to meet in Quito on the day I arrived from the Galapagos. I had misfortune with the flight as it was over two hours late and I couldn’t inform him that I was late, so he waited me for two hours in front of my hotel! He suspected something was wrong with the flight, but anyway I was happily surprised to see him. I was feeling really sorry for being late, I am punctual and also I don´t like to keep people waiting for me.

So we spend two days in Quito, but then I had to leave because I had already booked a flight to Panama. We said goodbye again and I went to the airport. I was at the airport two hours before my flight, but there was already a long line at the check in.

At the check in I gave my printed e-ticket for the airport officer. I noticed something was wrong, as the officer was checking my reservation long time and finally she told me to go to another airlines check in. So I went to the other counter, and they told me to go back to the place where I had been before. I told them I was told to come here from there and they gave me third counter to go to. At the third counter I was again told that I was at the wrong place. At that moment I started to be quite pissed off and went back to the second place. They couldn’t do anything to help me and told me to go to the customer service.

At the customer service they finally told me what was wrong, apparently I hadn´t pay my ticket, which wasn’t true, I had bought the ticket from internet with a credit card. Anyway, they told me if I wanted to go on that flight I would have to pay again (at that point the fight was already leaving). So I said no thanks and travelled back to Quito by bus. I knew that W was still in Quito so I send him a message that I was back to Quito, because I had problems with my flight. He replied to me and ten minutes later we met again at Plaza Foch.

I had still many weeks holiday left, before going back to Finland and we decided that I could spend the rest of my holiday in Ecuador. We went to buy me a flight to Costa Rica for the end of my holiday, because I had flight from there back home. During that time we did some travelling together and also I met his family and visited Cuyabeno again, because he had to work too. We had really great time together and we started to think what if I would move to live in Ecuador. So I thought why not, I had nothing that would keep me in Finland and also I had fallen in love with him.

Anyway I traveled back to Finland for six weeks, during that time I quit my job and sold my stuff. People took my moving in many ways, some said great for you, some asked me to stay and some thought I was stupid. Anyway, my mind had been made and I returned to Ecuador as soon as possible. W came to pick me up from Quito airport.

We had been talking with W about starting a family, so we were really happy when I made a positive pregnancy test. Now we are married and we have a beautiful baby girl everyone loves. My husband is a great person who, I love with all of my heart and I know he is there for me, as I am there for him too.

It wasn’t easy to move away from Finland, but I´m happy I did. I have a family now here in Ecuador and it´s the best thing ever happened to me. With my story I want to encourage everyone to step out of their comfort zone and live their life’s without fear, something good can happen from that and your life will became richer with the experiences. And yes, I had paid for my flight from Quito to Panama, the travel agency later returned me my money back.

So this is my story, how I came to live in Ecuador and became the only Gringa in town!

PS. all the Ecuadorians call me Gringa, you´ll get used to it after a while…