TRAVEL TIPS

Preparing For Your Trip

•  Try to travel light. Bring a light jacket for rain and comfortable shoes for walking. Carry the minimum amount of valuables necessary for your trip. As you have to carry your passport, cash and credit cards, we recommend to conceal them in several places rather than putting them in one wallet or pouch. Avoid hand - bags, fanny packs and outside pockets which are easy targets for thieves. Inside pockets and a sturdy shoulder bag with the strap worn across your chest are somewhat safer. The safest place to carry valuables is probably a pouch or money belt that you wear under your clothing. 

•  Carry your glasses and medicines in your carry-on luggage. To avoid problems when passing through customs, keep medicines in their original labeled containers. Bring a copy of your prescriptions and the generic names for the drugs. If a medication is unusual or contains narcotics, carry a letter from your doctor attesting to your need to take the drug. If you have any doubt about the legality of carrying a certain drug into a country, consult the embassy or consulate of that country first. 

•  Obtain and maintain appropriate insurance coverage of safety and health. If you have any health problems provide Fundación Cimas and the Foreign Study Office of your University with any relevant information and other personal data that may be necessary to make your experience a safe and healthy one  

•  Make at least 2 photocopies of the identification page of your passport, airline tickets, and credit cards that you will bring with you. Leave one with family or friends at home; pack the other in a place separate from where you carry your valuables. Also leave a copy of the serial numbers of your travelers checks at home. Carry your copy with you in a separate place and, as you cash the checks, cross them off the list.  

•  Pack an extra set of passport photos along with a photocopy of your passport information page to make replacement of your passport easier in case it is lost or stolen. We need those pictures for Immigration purposes the first working day in Quito . Please remember to bring your passport and visa documents. 

•  Bring a calling card with you, this will really help with your personal communications with USA . Although MCI and SPRINT cards are accepted, current students consider that ATT cards are better, and could be obtained with a student discount price.

•  Leave behind anything you would hate to lose, like irreplaceable family objects, expensive or expensive-looking jewelry 

•  Put your name, address and telephone numbers inside and outside of each piece of luggage. Use covered luggage tads to avoid casual observation of your identity or nationality.

•  Provide your friends and relatives with the Fundación Cimas del Ecuador address: your mail will arrive 3-4 days sooner than at your host family's address:

YOUR NAME

c/o Fundación Cimas del Ecuador

Ave. América N34-274 y Abelardo Moncayo

P.O.Box 17-21-942

Quito, Ecuador

Phones (593-2) 2452300 – 2452509

If your family and friends would like to send you a package, PLEASE ASK THEM NOT TO DECLARE A COMERCIAL VALUE FOR THE GOODS , otherwise you will have to pay custom taxes in Ecuador .

Living Costs

Past students have helped CIMAS compile the following cost estimates of some sample items as of Spring, 2003. Please take them as a rough index to the cost of living rather than a precise statement of what specific items will actually cost you. Prices given in dollars.