Ecuador,
in
many
ways,
is
an
enigma.
Ask
the
average
person
where
or
what
it
is,
and
most
will
draw
a
blank.
For
instance,
most
people
don’t
know
that
the
fabled
Galapagos
Islands
make
up
part
of
its
territory,
or
that
its
capital,
Quito,
boasts
a
World
Heritage
Site-listed
Old
Town,
its
dreaming
spires
glinting
in
the
high
Andean
air.
It’s
is
one
of
the
smallest
countries
in
South
America,
semi-swallowed
up
by
its
larger
neighbors:
Colombia
to
the
north,
Peru
to
the
south
and
southeast,
and
mammoth
Brazil
to
the
east.
However,
as
you’ll
discover
soon
enough,
and
as
an
advertising
campaign
for
oranges
once
put
it,
the
small
ones
are
more
juicy.
Bisected
horizontally
by
the
equator
-
from
which
its
name
derives
-
and
vertically
by
the
young
volcanic
Andes
mountains,
at
only
270,670 sq km
[104,208 square
miles]
it
is
only
a
smidgen
larger
than
Great
Britain,
and
no
bigger
than
the
state
of
Nevada
in
the
United
States.
But
if
you
imagine
its
mountainous,
peak-and-trough
topography
as
a
crumpled
handkerchief,
and
then
smoothed
that
handkerchief
flat,
you
would
see
that
the
surface
area
of
the
country
is
far,
far
greater
than
it
appears
on
a
map.
Despite
this,
Ecuadorians
still
cultivate
a
deep
inferiority
complex.
Losing
some
half
of
its
territory
[in
the
Amazon]
to
Peru
in
1942
and
the
pervasive
influence
of
the
United
States
over
its
economy
and
politics
have
resulted
in
Ecuadorians
belittling
their
great
nation.
Ecuador’s
size
is
illusory
in
more
ways
than
one.
The
density
of
its
mountainous
areas,
its
equatorial
location
and
its
position
at
the
meeting
point
of
two
major
Pacific
currents
all
combine
to
create
a
diverse
pattern
of
microclimates
and
a
rich
repository
of
plant
and
animal
life.
If
countries
were
ranked
according
to
the
size
of
their
bird
population
rather
than
their
human
population,
Ecuador
-
with
some
1,600
recorded
avian
species
-
would
be
bigger
than
the
United
Sates
and
Canada
combined.
Measured
in
terms
of
the
populations
of
some
unique
species
of
large
turtles,
pink
dolphins,
marine
iguanas
and
other
endemic
creatures,
Ecuador
becomes
the
biggest
country
in
the
world
-
or
even
the
only
country
in
the
world.
Ecuador
is
enormously
wealthy
in
terms
of
biodiversity.
Some
areas
of
the
country,
particularly
where
the
slopes
of
the
Andes
meet
the
rim
of
the
Amazon
Basin,
are
considered
to
be
the
most
biodiverse
areas
on
earth.
Hiking
its
parks,
you
descend
from
snow-capped
peaks
and
bleak
paramo
moors,
through
dense
cloudforest
and
on
down
to
steamy
rain
forests.
You
come
from
the
land
of
the
swooping
condor
to
that
of
the
harpy
eagle,
from
the
redoubt
of
the
shy
spectacled
bear
to
that
of
the
revered
jaguar.
In
terms
of
people
too,
its
size
belies
its
wealth.
Along
with
Peru
and
Bolivia,
Ecuador’s
indigenous
population
ranks
among
the
Andes’
most
visible,
and
more
recently,
vociferous.
Traveling
along
the
country’s
“Avenue
of
Volcanoes”,
brightly-clad
Indians
muster
for
their
weekly
markets,
chattering
in
the
highland
language,
Quichua.
They
gather
for
their
festivals,
where
pre-Colombian
animist
beliefs
have
fused
with
Catholicism
over
the
centuries.
Nearly
every
province
or
region
in
the
country
is
inhabited
by
a
different
indigenous
community,
who
distinguish
themselves,
above
all,
by
their
dress.
Learning
to
recognize
the
often
subtle
differences
between
them,
and
to
learn
their
histories
and
heritages,
ranks
among
the
most
enriching
experiences
one
can
enjoy
in
the
country.
The
three
distinct
regions
which
divide
the
country
geographically
also
create
diverse
identities.
On
the
coast,
farmers
known
as
montubios
are
often
mixed-blood
Indians
and
the
descendants
of
African
slaves.
In
Esmeraldas
Province,
for
example,
marimba
music
and
voodoo
rites
are
still
very
much
alive.
On
the
coast
too
lies
the
country’s
largest
city,
Guayaquil,
a
hubbub
of
heat,
commerce
and
fast-talkers,
a
million
miles
from
the
more
sedate
Sierra.
Across
the
highlands
and
down
in
the
Amazon
Basin,
a
tiny
proportion
of
the
population
lives
in
its
expanses
of
rainforest.
Pastaza
Province,
for
instance,
is
the
country’s
largest,
yet
least-populated.
Here
the
various
Indian
peoples
have
been
dragged
from
their
Stone
Age
existences
into
the
twenty-first
century
by
the
encroachment
of
oil
companies,
loggers
and
colonizers.
The
more
remote
groups
however,
still
live
lives
little-changed
for
millennia.
From
the
Amazon
to
the
Andes
is
not
only
a
huge
change
in
altitude,
which
leaves
one
breathless
when
carrying
bags,
it’s
also
a
cultural
jump
from
a
culture
of
animist
hunter
gatherers,
in
some
parts
of
the
rainforest,
to
baroque
churches
and
slick
city
skyscrapers.
For
the
traveler,
Ecuador
offers
a
bottomless
wealth
of
possibilities:
from
adrenaline
sports
such
as
white-water
rafting,
mountain
climbing
and
cross-country
biking,
or
less
strenuous
horseback
rides
among
remote
villages,
birdwatching
in
cloudforests,
hiking
the
highlands
and
trekking
rainforest
trails.
More
sedate
still,
wander
its
colonial
churches
and
towns,
observe
the
unique
wildlife
of
the
Galapagos,
enjoy
its
cuisine
or
sink
into
the
lap
of
luxury
at
one
of
its
country
haciendas.
Beaches,
it
has
too,
aplenty.
Most
of
them
are
long,
wide
and
empty,
without
a
tourist
or
traveler,
or
even
a
local
to
be
seen.
About
the
only
thing
that
Ecuador
hasn’t
got
is
decent
golf
courses.
As
Charles
Darwin
wrote
of
the
Galapagos
Islands,
which
inspired
his
ground-breaking
theory
of
evolution,
Ecuador
“seems
to
be
a
little
world
within
itself.”
Little?
Certainly.
But,
as
the
saying
goes,
small
is
beautiful.
In
Ecuador’s
case,
size
isn’t
everything.
