Where to Be When Hell Breaks Loose

Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008

Read more about moving abroad in International Living Postcards—your daily escape

Dear International Living Reader,

There are places in the world where the simple, practical, cordial life still exists. In some of these places, the sound of modern civilization crashing and burning is just a distant rumble.

Recently, Suzan and I were standing on a rooftop in a little mountain town between two extinct volcanoes.

The nearby slopes were covered with a green patchwork of farm fields right up to where it became too steep to plow. Clouds wreathed the peaks, but in the valley where we stood, the clear air was filled with pure light.

You could get anywhere in that little town between the peaks on foot, including the local market, which was brimming over with fresh produce from the nearby fields.

It has never snowed in that town, but it’s never gotten so hot that anyone has even thought of putting in air conditioning.

There are no movie theaters there. The town does have one bar, but it’s closed more often than it’s open.

It’s a place where you meet friends in the park, take long evening walks, cook simple meals with fresh vegetables, and have conversations by the fire that go late into the night.

And we met people who were living well there for $600 per month.

“You know,” Suzan said as we stood on that rooftop looking up at the mountains, “if it all went to hell tomorrow, this would be a good place to be.”

I had to agree.

If the world did turn on its head...if the dollar became the next laughing-stock currency...if gas got so expensive that people couldn’t afford to drive to work...if banks failed and credit dried up completely...if all those hens finally came to roost...

Having a little place in this valley between the peaks would suit me fine.

Granted, a town this quiet is not for everybody. But for me, it was the kind of quiet that wouldn’t be disturbed too much by the crumbling of a distant empire.

That’s the kind of place I like, and it’s the kind of place we love telling you about every day in your International Living Postcards.

Dan Prescher
Publisher, International Living

P.S. You thought I wasn’t going to tell you the name of the town! It’s Cotacachi...and it sits in a fertile, green valley at about 8,000 feet above sea level between the extinct volcanoes of Imbabura and Cotacachi in northern Ecuador. Subscribers to International Living magazine get a full report on this part of Ecuador in the current issue (including where to have a four-course lunch for $2 and buy a new condo for less than $50,000).

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