Chapter 118: 12 Interesting things about Ecuador

08.24.21

My 25 days in Ecuador were much different than I expected. When I started my nomadic journey, I made a list of places I wanted to go; Latin America was at the bottom. Nothing personal, but I guess I am more drawn to Europe than South/ Central America, and after living next to Mexico for decades I wasn’t that enamored with the country. And here I ended up living in Mexico for 15 months and loving Ecuador- Go Figure!

Anyway, here’s some things I didn’t know before:

They use US currency, mostly $1 coins, but they are only good in Ecuador and are different than the ones in the US. I saw just one $1.00 bill and I gave it back to him! Panama also uses US currency but, likewise, only between its borders.
The Andes mountains are actually two mountain chains that parallel each other. Many cities fall in between them including the city of Quito. They go from north to south and converge right by Banos, the city that I visited on my bike ride.
I naively thought that a country on the equator would be hot, especially in summer, but not so. This country actually goes from the high, high mountains to the plains, to the ocean. That gives it an incredible range of wildlife and vegetation and the most diversity in one country in the world in certain categories.
Speaking of the Equator, this latitude intersection here between north and south is the highest elevation in the world, at 9,000+ ft. elevation. I have a video of the Coriolis force which shows water draining STRAIGHT, with no rotation, immediately on the line.
The effects of being on the equator, Part II: when you live equidistant (more or less) from the equator, things don’t change too much: weather, hours of daylight, etc… What DOES matter is elevation since that effects temps more than the latitude. BUT, one of the benes of being elevated is…no (or few) bugs! I have not seen an ant, mosquito, or cockroach since I’ve been in Ecuador. Mind you, at lower elevations and near the Amazon, scratch that rule!
Volcanoes! Chimborazo, at 20,548 ft., which is just a few hours from Quito, is the tallest mountain in the world when measured from the center of the earth. It is currently dormant, has been for about 1500 years, and is taller than Mount Everest by 1811 meters. That is mostly due to what they call the equatorial bulge.
There are 47 volcanoes in Ecuador, yes, I had to look that up, including 15 alone on the Galapagos Islands, which is a whole ‘nother conversation that I’m not getting into.
Food: lots of pork! They tell me that the beef is not as good as it is in other countries, but with great seafood and freshwater fish. It’s interesting when you look at the carcass of the pork up on the counter, and they just cut pieces out of it. Guinea pigs of all things are a delicacy here, and they like their sweets like sugarcane and other nationally grown products.
More food. Lunch, called comida, is the big meal of the day and you can get a standard setup which includes juice, soup, and main course, for as little as $2.50. They really don’t take siestas here so most restaurants are open all afternoon.
A special note about tacos and tortillas. In the US we know tacos, and in Mexico I certainly had my share, but other countries in Latin America do not do conventional tacos. Other parts of Mexico make them out of corn, and here, in Ecuador, they make them from potatoes, but they are not the same. I haven’t seen a Taco Bell, but I’d be curious to see what they sell!
Being relatively close to the US there are many expats from there living in Ecuador, and I understand that Cuenca has one of the largest expat community outside the United States. Even in Quito there is a solid expat community. I got to know many of them and heard many stories.
Travel time: beauty verses time efficiency. From Quito to Cuenca I took the bus which took 8 hours. My return flight was less than an hour. So which is the better option? I think it’s a matter of what drives you the most. In my case I wanted to see the beauty so endured the long bus ride, but there was no reason to do it again! So the one hour that it took me to fly made a lot more sense. Just food for thought..