$14 for the links, $8 for the burger patties - that's steep for Ecuador, where the minimum wage is $2,95 per hour (but exploitation is common, some people work for $1,25 or $1,50.
I like to learn more about it. Clearly local can't pay for $14 links.
How is the "upward mobility"? Is there some of that for the locals?
Some locals can - there are a few richer families in Cotacachi, especially those who own land or owned and sold in the Expat-Boom. They can afford a lot. The regular worker can't. Most customers of those products are expats anyway, since the concept of not eating meat is still not commonly known, so the idea of meat replacement is somewhat weird to them.
Upward mobility - Not so good. There was a lot of it between 2010 and 2020, when the oil prices were high and the government spent a lot on education, especially towards lower-income-pupils. Now, that budget is almost in-existent. There are a few other factors as well, like the deterioration of the value of university titles, general unemployment due to several crisis (drug wars, energy crisis,...).
It's not much mobility, a lot of stagnation.
That is very interesting indeed!
You see, you can write about so many things.
There are ideas of multiple posts in your own comment. We are eager to learn!
I have recently created a community
https://peakd.com/c/hive-180505/created
Please feel to post these things there.
Thank you :-)
I already subscribed to that one actually, thinking about posting some personal finance and stock things. And yes, I always get ideas while answering or reading. Just have to prioritize with the rest of life :-D