Cultural Imaginaries In The Residential Migration To Cotacachi

How has the small Andean town in Ecuador, Cotacachi come to be "the paradise at the end of the rainbow" as constructed by the companies International Living and Internations as well as its developers and investors? Based on ethnographic analysis conducted in Cotacachi since 2013, I analyze the dominant imaginaries that helped shape the motivations of U.S. citizens who have relocated to live in Cotocachi against a backdrop of diminishing economic security for working class U.S. retirees. I argue that status mobility is an important part of these imaginings.