Quito - Post Report Question and Answers
What is the relative size of the expatriate community? How would you describe overall morale among expatriates?
Quito isn't an international business hub, so you won't find a lot of expats outside of the diplomatic/government agency community. - Jul 2023
Medium size expat community. The morale kind of ebbs and flows. When the weather is nice the morale is great. - Jul 2023
It's probably small to mid-range here and growing. I think overall Embassy morale is pretty good. I have seen Embassy politics that make the work culture difficult at times and sometimes there is social awkwardness because so many folks are in the same neighborhood and so have clear sightlines into their colleagues' personal lives. - Jul 2019
Decent size. Some Canadians, Brits, regular American expats. Morale within the embassy community is high. - Jul 2018
Medium in Quito, but Ecuador is a growing expat destination and there are clusters of Americans all over the country... mainly Cuenca but also on the coast. Morale is pretty good. It's kind of fun to travel around and stay in some of the hostels that expats have set up. They always have interesting stories. - Mar 2017
It is small compared to other posts and the morale is all over the place. Families that are bilingual with Spanish seem to settle in the fastest. - Sep 2016
Good. - Aug 2015
It's pretty small outside the Embassy. Morale is great in the Embassy though. - Aug 2014
Small. The U.S. Embassy is huge and there are many other missions and NGOs in the city, but it's not a cohesive community. - Jul 2012
Within our community, there are probably about forty that I know of. I think you could meet more if you go to the English-language churches, or hang out at bars in Mariscal. There are a lot of gringos in this city. - Jan 2011
Shrinking, due to most of the foreign oil companies pulling up stakes and leaving; the Colombian diplomats have also been booted out. The diplomatic community is sizable, if fragmented. Don't expect the Venezuelans and Cubans to be too friendly, though. - Jan 2009
