Our temporary home away from home

We've been in Cuenca, Ecuador for a few weeks now and feel quite at home. We are enjoying the pleasant weather, the beautiful mountain views of the Andes and immersing in the culture of Ecuador. As budget travelers, one of the most important decisions we make is concerning housing. Since we planned on staying put for awhile, we decided on a short term apartment rental. Because Cuenca, Ecuador has become one of the most popular retirement destinations as well as being a must on the tourist circuit, it was very difficult to find a rental to accommodate our budget. Typically you can find a short term furnished rental between $250- $500. When we were here a year and a half ago, we had no problem renting an apartment and we paid $500 for the whole month. This time around there was nothing available in our price range at the time we needed it. Needless to say, we had to go with what we could get and ending up spending a little bit more than we wanted to again. We ended up finding our rental on Airbnb.com. I highly recommend it as your first resource when looking for short term rental. The site is secure, trusted and easy to use. Owner's of properties have listings online with photos and amenities as well as price per night, per week and per month. You can communicate via email with the owner to ask questions or even call them. You reserve the property of your choice by paying for the full rate by credit card. We've used this site several times and have been very satisfied. The apartment we are renting is a colonial style duplex in a quiet residential area. It's in a great location and the duplex has an electric security fence and an alarm. Although Cuenca is considered a safe area it's still nice to have the peace of mind. It is Ecuadorean owned and the hosts are very hospitable and accommodating. Here's the link to the website and listing of our temporary home if anyone is interested : https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1252433?guests=4&s=0QAb

We negotiated with the owner on the monthly rate and ended up paying $900 for the month, which comes out to be $30 a day. Once again, for a family of five traveling, it's almost impossible to find a hostel at that price, so we took it. For our second month in Ecuador, we did find an even cheaper rental, but I will share that in the near future.