Americans Discover Utopia Abroad
C H I R U S C O, Ecuador, Aug. 27 -- Astride his horse, John Ham chews on a blade of grass and takes a minute to marvel at his tropical valley of bean fields, sweet-smelling avocado trees and weathered Inca ruins.
The valley is sacred to locals who boast of its fertile land, constant spring-like temperatures and long-living residents.
To Ham, a blond Californian who looks like a sun-kissed surfer, the valley is home.
Reversing the well-traveled route of immigrants who flock to the United States in search of freedom and better lives, Ham chose to carve his American dream in the Andean foothills of southern Ecuador.
Away From ‘Pit of Consumerism’
Ham’s ramshackle estate lacks a telephone, indoor toilet and hot water. But he insists the property has everything he needs or wants — neighbors who know his name, blossoming crops and shelter far from a country he calls “a pit of consumerism.”
Ham is part of a growing movement of pioneers who pool resources and take their expertise abroad to build idealized communities in places such as Ecuador, Mexico, Scotland and India.
The settlements are part commune and part business venture with a mission: to pick up where the American dream left off.
“In the 1960s, starting a community was about what people were against,” says Laird Schaub at Fellowship for Intentional Community in Rutledge, Mo., an organization that provides information to people who want to set up or join communities.
“Today, these communities are about what people want out of life, and there’s a growing number of people who are finding that it is easier and more affordable to get it overseas.”
The U.S. State Department says more than 3.8 million Americans lived abroad last year, the highest number in three decades.
Ham and others say their reasons for quitting the United States are simple: expensive housing, scarcity of prime farm land and, especially, the emphasis on material things.
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