How one couple found golden opportunities in Ecuador that changed their lives forever Author: Suzan Haskins
If it weren’t for Gary and Merri Scott I might be in a different place. In fact, I could still be living in Omaha, Nebraska, braving the miserable winters. Still writing annual reports and ad copy and only dreaming about what might be.
For more than 40 years, Gary has been writing a newsletter about international investing. He has been a contributing editor of International Living since its founding. He and Merri don’t just talk the talk. They’ve lived in Hong Kong and London, the Dominican Republic and Ecuador. Their curiosity has taken them around the world many times over. They’ve given countless seminars, spoken at myriad conferences, and written many columns and articles (and even a few books).
When Gary first started exploring and writing about Ecuador in 1995, International Living readers were among the first in the world to discover the opportunities this little South American country offers the foreign expat.
“When we started taking groups to Ecuador for seminars on real estate, business, and investing, we figured we would help people make money while at the same time helping the country,” Gary says. “We didn’t even begin to imagine the benefits we would gain beyond this, though. Our experiences in Ecuador have changed our entire way of life.”
Gary’s writing and Merri’s enthusiasm for Ecuador have affected many lives…including my husband’s and mine. We read those early articles Gary wrote…and in late 2001 we found ourselves living in Quito, Ecuador, as part of the International Living team.
Since then, we’ve gotten to know Gary and Merri well and we now count them among our closest friends. Their passion for the things that interest them can’t be ignored. In fact, I believe that if you visit Ecuador—and especially if you are lucky enough to spend time there with the Scotts—you, too, will fall under its spell.
Gary and Merri have a unique outlook on the world. They believe in socially responsible investing. They study Ayurvedic principles of thought and medicine and believe in the healing powers of Amazon shamans and supplements derived from jungle plants. Above all, they believe in instinct and destiny, and that when you follow your passions in life everything else falls into place.
It was this self-confidence that led them to Ecuador in the first place.
As part of his interest in investing in global currencies, Gary had been watching fluctuations of the sucre, which was then Ecuador’s official currency. (In 2000, the sucre was abandoned in favor of the U.S. dollar.) He saw opportunities emerging in Ecuador because of the country’s economic struggles.
As he did more research, though, he became more enamored with Ecuador. Just a four-hour flight from the U.S., he learned that because of its location on the equator and its geologic DNA, the country is environmentally rich. The towering Andean mountain range runs spine-like from north to south, dropping sharply to the Pacific coast on the west and the Amazon basin to the east, sheltering every imaginable climate and micro-system.
“It’s the closest country to the U.S. where you can find direct sunlight 365 days a year,” Gary says. “The opportunities for tourism and agriculture are practically unlimited. When I first started writing about Ecuador, the country was in the midst of an economic crisis. Real estate prices were rock bottom.”
Gary and Merri took their first trip to Ecuador in early 1995. They liked what they saw, and soon they were leading tours there, introducing others to the opportunities they found.
“We knew that 65% of Ecuador’s population are indigenous people,” Gary says. “And after several trips there, we learned that the spiritual leaders of the indigenous people lived in the Andes. We heard so many wonderful things about these philosophers and healers that we felt compelled to take a special trip to meet them.”
On their next trip, the Scotts and some friends found their way to a small mountain village where many of the Taita Yatchak (“father of fathers” in the Quichua dialect) shamans and their apprentices live. Often third- or fourth-generation healers, they begin their studies at an early age and travel around South and Central America (and elsewhere) to train with the greatest healers in each of these places.
A few months later the Scotts found themselves on yet another journey. This one would change their lives profoundly and forever link them with Ecuador.
“We were incredibly honored to be invited to go with the Taita Yatchaks into a hidden valley in the Andes,” Merri explains. “They told us no foreigners or outsiders had ever been there before. Only later did we find out that this valley is considered a spiritual center and that during colonial times, the Spanish thought it contained the fountain of youth.”
Since learning of the Scotts’ story I’ve done some research on this valley. Called the Llanganatis Valley, many of the indigenous people refuse to call it by name, believing that doing so brings the curse of immediate death. It is also rumored that the Incas hid an incredible treasure of gold, silver, and gemstones there centuries ago.
This legend seems to be based on some truth. A Spanish historian, writing soon after the conquest, says that when Pizarro captured the Inca chief Atahualpa in 1532, the two leaders made a deal. Pizarro would release his captive for a huge ransom of gold, silver, and emeralds. The treasure began pouring in and soon filled a large stateroom in Atahualpa’s palace.
In a dastardly double cross, Pizarro killed Atahualpa. Atahualpa’s half-brother, Rumi˜aui, then had the treasure spirited away and buried in the Llanganatis Valley. Many explorers and treasure seekers over the years have attempted to find it, including one named Juan de Valverde who left behind documents that supposedly map the way to its location. In the late 1800s and into recent times, many adventurers have sought and failed to find the treasure. And many have met with an early demise, fueling the legend.
Thankfully, no misadventure came to the Scotts on their expedition into the mysterious valley. In fact, says Gary, “None of us had ever had so much fun. On the first day we were more tired than I can describe. We were bone weary from our heavy packs, every muscle aching from fighting the altitude-thinned air and the sucking mud, which regularly pulled off our boots.
“We stayed in a floorless, leaky thatch hut, sleeping on dirt, no heat except the cooking fire and no running water. To our surprise, the next day we all felt wonderful. We explored the valley, which is perpetually wrapped in mist and fog. We swam in small icy, deep blue lagoons and did ancient exercises while the Taita Yatchak talked with us about longevity and health.”
Certain now that Ecuador was the place for them, Gary and Merri bought a 962-acre plantation in a valley in Ecuador called Rosapamba. (They also own a 250-acre farm near Lansing, North Carolina, where they spend the summer months.) Only accessible by horseback or a four-wheel-drive vehicle, Rosapamba was the perfect place for them to relax, meditate, and study further with the shamans.
With friends, they also founded Land of the Sun (www.landofthesun.org), a public charitable foundation, to help reduce global poverty. Concentrating their efforts in Ecuador, the group bought Hotel El Meson de las Flores in Cotacachi, a small village high in the Andes about two hours north of Quito by car.
Hotel El Meson is a comfortable and welcoming place for travelers, and it’s becoming the expat meeting place in Cotacachi. There’s a large free-lending library, where you’ll often hear children laughing and chattering. Volunteers give free English lessons there.
The local indigenous people who work in the hotel have received training in business development and tourism and want the experience of working in the hospitality industry.
Dressed in their colorful traditional clothes, they take much pride in their work, evident by all the special little details.
They happily keep the courtyard filled with fresh flowers, and hold back some to tuck on the pillow of your bed. They painstakingly carve tiny flowers from radishes and other vegetables to add a touch of whimsy to the generous portions of food served in the hotel restaurant.
The hotel’s Quinoa Café is one of the best restaurants in town. It serves reasonably priced, healthy meals made from local organic fruits and vegetables, fresh fish, and other products from local markets.
Every day, the restaurant prepares more than enough food…Merri has made it her goal to see that no one in town goes hungry. You’ll often see the town’s poorest people standing quietly outside with plastic containers, waiting patiently for the food that is warmly shared.
Land of the Sun has also been involved in reforestation and water projects, and supports many community efforts in Cotacachi. (If you go there looking for something to do, you won’t be disappointed.)
The library at Hotel El Meson is used for many of the courses and seminars Gary and Merri offer in Ecuador, like International Business Made EZ seminars and Lozanov-system Spanish-language learning retreats. El Meson is also the launching point for the shamanic tours, Import and Export expeditions, and real estate tours they offer.
Gary and Merri walk the walk with Ecuador real estate, too. “Real estate prices are still very low in Ecuador,” Gary says, “On our recent tours, we’ve seen new condos selling for less than $50,000 in the mountains and less than $80,000 on the beach. We’ve found 20-acres farms for $50,000 and custom-made hacienda-style homes for less than $100,000.”
In addition to Rosapamba, Gary and Merri have bought several condos and a casita in Cotacachi and are hard at work renovating a building around the corner from El Meson into a four-unit apartment building. Near the town of San Clemente on Ecuador’s Pacific Coast, they’ve just finished the construction and furnishing of an oceanfront penthouse condo.
Summers in North Carolina, winters in Ecuador…constantly incubating the next idea and working on the next project…will they ever slow down, I asked them recently?
No way, Gary says. “The mantra we have used in our business courses for over 20 years is to turn your passion into profit. And we do this. We do what we love and love whomever and whatever we write about. To us it is a privilege to be able to share what we experience. Truthfully, we feel like we’re just getting started. Each day we rise with anticipation with what we get to do. It’s better than golf or fishing to us, and we have no plans to stop. We feel the longer we do this the more experience we have and the better we get.”
Learn more about Gary Scott’s international investing ideas at: www.garyascott.com. To read more about Gary’s newsletter about multi-currency investing, see: www.internationalliving.com/multicurrency. To learn more about the Scott’s experience in Ecuador, see: www.ecuadorliving.com.
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