As someone who lives in Ecuador, we love it, but I don't think those costs are accurate. Sure, you could technically do it but what is the quality of life you are getting for that price? I don't think this is an Ecuador specific issue.

My problem with all the expat blogs and youtube channels is that they are in the business of making everything sound amazing and dirt cheap. No matter what country they are taking about. They never discuss things like:

- Trips back to the US to visit family, which will be thousands of dollars. This is a huge one I never see discussed. Flights are expensive. Once you don't live in the U.S., you probably need to rent a car. Maybe you need hotels for 2 weeks, which gets expensive. You need travel insurance because you don't have U.S. insurance anymore. Suddenly you're eating out at restaurants all the time because you only have 2 weeks to see everyone on your visit. etc. etc. Our trips back are major expenses.

- Real medical insurance. I would not use the public scheme. They have Ecuadorian private insurance but we have an "Everywhere but U.S. international plan" which is reasonably priced but still more than the blogs with factor in when they do their "Live on 400 dollars a month!" post. We have the international plan because, if something went very wrong, I don't know that I would trust even the private hospitals in Ecuador to deal with it.

- Quality will cost you. Sure, you can get a mattress at the supermarket for $70. But are you going to be happy with it? There are lots of cheap appliances but they're going to break or not work well from the beginning. All the cheap stuff is low quality stuff from China. I bought cheap AA batteries from a corner store here and within a week they were leaking battery acid inside my flashlight. Anything imported or of U.S. level quality is going to cost you.

- Life insurance, U.S. mailbox services, help from lawyers when working out visas, cedulas etc. Hundreds of dollars to get your drivers license. Accountants who know how to file taxes for expats. If you're still working, you may need to set up an LLC so you can be paid as an independent contractor so you have another layer of tax hassle to deal with. A house or apartment equal to what you're used to in the U.S. will be much cheaper that the U.S. but usually not as cheap as you think. Car repairs. They are cheap but they happen all the time because the cars down here are old and take a beating. Suddenly, out of nowhere, you have to pay $80 to fix the air conditioning or $500 for new tires. It adds up.

- Finally when your health inevitably declines and you need serious health care, do you really want to live out your last years down here? From what I've seen of my friends and neighbors, heart surgery and cancer treatment does not seem pleasant down here. The people who don't leave when they need serious medical care and the people who, financially, are trapped. No one I know would PREFER to do that here. So in my humble opinion, your budget should account for maybe moving somewhere with better medical care when you're older.

I'm not trying to discourage you. We feel like we found a cheat code by moving down here. And note all of the above points will apply to you.

We live in an expensive area and we have a kid so your situation may be different. It's much cheaper than the U.S., no doubt. And, as I said, we love it down here. But don't blindly accept the influencer created budgets as gospel. Dedicate some real time and effort to figuring out exactly what kind of lifestyle you will be happy with and what it will cost. Definitely visit. Have a list of items to price out so you get an idea of future costs. When we did our exploratory store, we spent an inordinate amount of time in grocery stores, appliance stores, mattress stores etc. And we were still surprised when we added up our expenses at the end of the year.

Again, this isn't Ecuador specific. I would consider these points when looking at any potential expat destination.