Culture Smart! - Ecuador - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.

Adapted from Marcel Proust, Remembrance of Things Past.

ISBN 978 1 78702 300 0

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A CIP catalogue entry for this book is available

from the British Library

First published in Great Britain

by Kuperard, an imprint of Bravo Ltd

59 Hutton Grove, London N12 8DS

Tel: +44 (0) 20 8446 2440

www.culturesmart.co.uk

Inquiries:

Design Bobby Birchall

Printed in Turkey

The Culture Smart! series is continuing to expand. All Culture Smart! guides are available as e-books, and many as audio books. For further information and latest titles visit www.culturesmart.co.uk

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

RUSSELL MADDICKS is a BBC-trained writer, translator, and journalist. A graduate in Economic and Social History from the University of Hull, England, he has spent the last twenty-five years traveling, living, and working in Central and South America, and worked as a Latin American Regional Specialist for BBC Monitoring. A fluent Spanish speaker, he has made many extended trips to Ecuador, one of his favorite South American destinations, where he has explored the length and breadth of the country both for work and for pleasure. He is also the author of Culture Smart! guides to Cuba, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Venezuela and the Bradt Guide to Venezuela.

Ecuador may be the fourth-smallest country in South America, but this compact Andean nation punches above its weight in terms of diversity, with a geographical landscape so varied it has been called a microcosm of every micro-climate found in South America.

Squeezed between Colombia and Peru, Ecuador is named for its location on the Equator. It has some of the highest and most active volcanoes in the world; steamy Amazon jungles in the east; a Pacific coast dotted with beach resorts; and, out to sea, the jewel in the countrys crownthe fabled Galpagos Islands. Named after giant tortoises that can live for more than 150 years, the Galpagos is where a young Charles Darwin first had the seed of an idea that germinated into the Theory of Natural Selection and Evolution. All this diversity makes Ecuador a magnet for tourists, birdwatchers, mountain trekkers, volunteers, and US retirees looking for a warm, culturally interesting, affordable, and safe place to spend their retirement dollars.

A food lovers dream, the countrys cuisine is as diverse as its geography, with village markets offering traditional country-style comfort food, seafood stalls on the beaches of the Pacific serving up delicious ceviches, and gourmet restaurants delivering exquisite fine dining in the cities of Quito, Cuenca, and Guayaquil. Scientists have now firmly established that Ecuadornot Mexicois the true birthplace of chocolate and that cacao cultivation first began 5,000 years ago in the Amazonian area of Zamora-Chinchipe. So it is no surprise that its premium Arriba cocoa beans are highly coveted by the worlds chocolate makers.

Ecuadorians are proud, friendly, hospitable, and hardworking. The countrys diverse population reflects a unique blend of cultures, from the traditionally dressed villagers of the Sierra mountains, to the tribal peoples of the Amazonian rainforest, and AfroEcuadorians in Esmeraldas and the Chota Valley. To understand the culture in any depth, however, you need to know the complex historical divisions between the highlands and the coast, and the rigid class and racial hierarchy that has dominated the countrys history.

In recent years, the far-reaching economic and social progress won under former President Rafael Correa has faltered, while the effects of the coronavirus pandemic exacerbated an economic downturn by halting one of the countrys leading sources of incometourism. There is optimism for the future, however; travelers are returning to Ecuador once more and there is a feeling of anticipation as the country finds its footing under new political leadership.

This updated edition of Culture Smart! Ecuador takes you to the heart of this diverse nation to give you an insiders view of the people, their history, and their way of life. It describes the customs and traditions that people hold dear and the attitudes that you are most likely to encounter. Once the ice has been broken, Ecuadorians are fun-loving and extremely sociable. Any effort made to get to know them will be welcomed and reciprocated many times over.