¡Vamos a Ecuador!

Pat bought our tickets yesterday....we're going to ECUADOR!!! I'll be arriving in San Jose (CR) on October 30th in the afternoon, unpacking my things, and then on November 1st we leave for 3 weeks of fabulous fun in Ecuador! I'm so excited, and there is no one I'd rather be traveling through Ecuador with than the always adventurous PAT. I'm looking forward to the Amazon, the Andes, the Orient, the beach and the GALAPAGOS {all in this small small country...the 2nd smallest in the whole world!}. Here's a brief of Ecuador:

Population
13,032,000

Capital
Quito; 1,451,000

Area
283,560 square kilometers
(109,483 square miles)

Language
Spanish, Quechua

Religion
Roman Catholic

Currency
U.S. dollar

Life Expectancy
71

GDP per Capita
U.S. $3,200

Literacy Percent
93

Ecuador's name comes from the Equator, which divides it unequally, putting most of the country in the Southern Hemisphere. It may be the smallest Andean country, but it has four distinct and contrasting regions. The Costa, or coastal plain, grows enough bananas to make the country the world's largest exporter of the fruit. The Sierra, or Andean uplands, offers productive farmland. Oil from the Oriente, jungles east of the Andes, enriches the economy. The Galápagos Islands, volcanic islands 960 kilometers west of Ecuador, bring tourism revenue with its unique reptiles, birds, and plants.

The country is divided ethnically as well as regionally. About 10 percent of the population is of European descent, about a quarter belong to indigenous cultures, and the rest are of mostly mixed ethnicity. Those of Spanish descent often are engaged in administration and land ownership in Quito and the surrounding Andean uplands; this is also where most of the indigenous people live—many are subsistence farmers. As a result, land-tenure reform is an explosive issue. The city of Guayaquil dominates the coastal plain, largely populated by mestizos. Guayaquil—the country's largest city, major port, and leading commercial center—is a rival to Quito. This is the wealthiest part of Ecuador, and complaints that tax revenues are squandered in the capital are common.