Travels In Ecuador And Dollar Extraction

[Alicia karr]

Hi fellow travelers. I'm panning a trip to Ecuador and want to know two primary things. First: how safe is it in Quito for two Spanish speaking females,, is it worth seeing? (Right now I'm planning on Galapagos and Salinas with a side trip to either Cuenca and the national park nearby or Quito with the national parks nearby there.)
Second question has to do with dollars. I know that US dollars re the official currency there and so I'm assuming there's no problem in extracting them from the ATMS using my US ATM card. But is there a way that I can actually make a withdrawal from my account in the US and receive the money there, bypassing ATM daily limits? Thanks!

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Hi fellow travelers. I'm panning a trip to Ecuador and want to know two primary things. First: how safe is it in Quito for two Spanish speaking females,, is it worth seeing? (Right now I'm planning on Galapagos and Salinas with a side trip to either Cuenca and the national park nearby or Quito with the national parks nearby there.)
Second question has to do with dollars. I know that US dollars re the official currency there and so I'm assuming there's no problem in extracting them from the ATMS using my US ATM card. But is there a way that I can actually make a withdrawal from my account in the US and receive the money there, bypassing ATM daily limits? Thanks!

I haven't been to Ecuador for a long time but, if you have a US ATM card, you should have no problem withdrawing money from it. As far as personal safety, I would expect the Galápagos to be no problem, but I might take the usual precautions everywhere else.

 

[Rich One]

The question is the daily limit for ATM extractions?

 

[internationalguy]

No, the question is about bypassing ATMs altogether.

You can try Xoom in Ecuador. They won't give you a special rate but they will let you send yourself larger amounts. If that doesn't work, Western Union will let you send money to yourself while you're there,

 

[Hybrid Ambassador]

Western Union very expensive, best is to have Schwab ATM cards fee free + Capital One CC does not charge fee for foreign usage ( reimbursement for Schwab ATM cash drawing usage fees )

 

[internationalguy]

True Hybrid-san but her concern is daily limits, not fees. She can do Xoom for a very low fee. If she only has a few days she wouldn't be able to manage to bring as many Franklins back to BA as she would want to. Schwab would waive the fees but there's nothing that could be done about the daily withdrawal limit.

 

[PhilipDT]

How much do you want to withdraw I called my bank and asked them to raías my daily limit to 10k and they did it with out questions

 

[Alicia karr]

Yes, the issue was bypassing the daily limits...but a simple solution of a phone call, duh me! I have an HSBC card which, if there's HSBC banks in Ecuador, won't charge me any fees. So seems that part of my question is answered. Many thanks to you all for that. Now what about the question of how safe is Ecuador--particularly Quito, salinas, Cuenca? Lets use BsAs as the baseline--safer than? Less safe? If one stays on beaten trails?
On the plus side, travel stuff is looking pretty cheap(outside of Galapagos--but that's a different story)--a lot better than Punta to be sure!

 

[Hybrid Ambassador]

I say it is safer than being in Manhattan! As a Japanese we get targeted very easily in outside world, due to in Japan we grow accustomed to walking the nights worry-less. There is virtually no crime in Japan, one can have and only cash in his/her persona due to Japan being a cash paying society. So when we travel in the foreign countries,despite the travellers manual saz,and noted to be aware of; many references...But we soon forget whilst in the foreign, thus very easy prey from moto-chorros and the cartelistas there. So my travelled countries of Ecuador and Peru, to my experience I have never felt the danger being doing the tourists choirs...Just have the common sense and be on alert would be advisable..

 

[caitij]

I lived in Quito for a little bit and had no issues at all. Just be alert, be aware, and dont carry lots of valuables in case something were to happen. At night, take cabs rather than walking and try and stay on lit streets. Quito is beautiful and has a lot of cool things to see. I highly recommend it!