EcuadorA Few Basics

A Brief Overview

• Population: 13,922,000 (2008 estimate)

• Official language is Spanish but Quichua is spoken by the Indigenous population

• Ten native languages spoken• Currency: US dollar• GDP per capita: $3,927 (2008

estimate)• Religion: approximately 95% of

the population is Catholic, about 4% are protestant

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Location• Located on the West coast of South

America, borders Pacific Ocean• Bordered by Columbia and Peru• Mostly in the Southern Hemisphere

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• Andes mountain range runs the length of Ecuador

• 4 geographical regions: Andes highlands, coastal lowlands, jungles of the Amazon basin and the Galapagos Islands

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Economy

• 2 main industries:• Oil • Agriculture: fruits and vegetables,

flowers

• Primary exports are oil, bananas, shrimp, coffee and cocoa

• Produce hydroelectricity http://media.lonelyplanet.com/lpi/17724/17724-26/681x454.jpg

• Ecuador has a democratically elected president

Government

Food• Primarily eat rice, potatoes and

meat (beef or chicken are most common)

• Roasted guinea pig (cuy)• Aji – a traditional hot sauce• Patacones – “squashed, fried, green

bananas”• At street vendors:

• Tortillas de maiz (thin corn pancakes) • choclo (barbecued Andean corn)

• restaurants: • seco de pollo (a stew made of chicken,

accompanied by rice and avocado slices) • lomo salteado (thin beef steaks

smothered in onions and tomatoes) • seco de chivo (goat stew served with rice)

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Festivals

• Carnaval • Usually begins the second week of February• Ends with large celebrations during the last week of February• “The base of this event is more of less to go crazy before the

restrictions of Lent” (Ecuador Travel).

• Independance Day• August 10th

• Gained independance from Spain in 1822

• Fiesta del Yamor• First two weeks of September• People from all over the world come

to celebrate• Lots of dancing and festivities,

traditional food and drink

Tourism

• Galapagos Islands and national parks

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References• National Geographic website, travel and cultures:

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/countries/country_ecuador.html

• InfoEcuador website: http://www.hacienda-ecuador.com/Ecuador/Ecuador_3.html

• Encyclopedia of the Nations website: http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Americas/Ecuador-OVERVIEW-OF-ECONOMY.html

• Lonely Planet website: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/ecuador

• Ecuador Travel.info website: http://www.ecuador-travel-guide.org/

• The Ecuador Channel: http://www.ecuador.com/cuisine/

• Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecuador