Mail
Letters and postcards sent from Ecuador can take anything from five days to a month to reach their destination, though they're often faster to North America than anywhere else. Under 20g, it costs around $0.7 for the Americas, and $0.8 for the rest of the world for air mail (mark your letter por avion ). Prices rise steeply for personal mail that weighs more (around $3 for America, $5 for the rest of the world for a letter of 101g), though you might get away with sending a chunky letter in a big, brown envelope and calling it impresos (printed matter), for which you'll pay at substantially reduced rates (101g is roughly $1.7 for the Americas and $3.6 for everywhere else). When buying stamps it pays to check the clerk's arithmetic and to get your mail franked in front of you. Note that many envelopes ( sobres ) in Ecuador don't have a sticky back; you should find a pot of glue somewhere in the post office. For printed matter and small parcels sent airmail, it costs about $10 to send 2kg to the Americas with each additional kg costing $5 to a maximum of 10kg. For the rest of the world this is rather harshly marked up to $24 for 2kg and $12 for each extra kilo. Surface mail (SAL/APR) is naturally cheaper but much slower. Sending anything of value, you can have it certified ( con certificado ) for around $1 extra, but this can have the effect of alerting people to its value, so if you want to be sure that something gets home, a private courier such as DHL is the best option, even if it is a lot more expensive . Sending large packages means getting a box from a supermarket or a sack from a market, and turning up at the Correo Maritimo Aduana on Ulloa 273 and Ramirez Davalos in Quito, near the Santa Clara market. Take it unsealed but bring string or tape to seal it after it's been inspected by customs. Again you may find it easier to go through a private courier, or go to the airport and use the relevant airline shipping service - only worthwhile for packages of over 10kg as they charge around $7 per kg with a minimum of $70 per package. The SAE keeps up-to-date information on the best ways to send parcels home. You can receive poste restante at just about any post office in the country. Have it sent to "Lista de Correos, the town concerned, Ecuador", and make sure that your surname is written as obviously as possible ("Joe BLOGGS", for example), as it will be filed under what the clerk thinks your surname is; you'll need to have photo ID to pick it up. If there's a return address on it, it will be sent back if you don't manage to pick it up. In Quito, Lista de Correos mail usually ends up at the main office on Espejo and Guayaquil in the old town; if marked "Correo Central", it could well go to the head office on Eloy Alfaro 354 and Avenida 9 de Octubre. The most convenient post office for people staying in the new town is usually the Surcursal #7, at Torres de Almargo on Reina Victoria and Avenida Colon, which also has a poste restante service. American Express card holders can make use of AmEx offices for mail services, and some embassies also do poste restante. The SAE will take mail, phone messages (during club hours) and fax messages for members.
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