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

Maddicks, Russell

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1857336836 ISBN 13: 9781857336832

Verlag: Kuperard, 2014

Inhaltsangabe

Squeezed between Colombia in the north and Peru in the south, Ecuador is named for its location on the Equator and has a landscape so varied that it has been described as a microcosm of every microclimate found in South America. This diversity makes it a magnet for tourists, mountain trekkers, volunteers, and increasing numbers of US retirees looking for a warm, culturally interesting, economical, and safe place to spend much of their time. The country is booming, thanks to high oil prices and investment in tourism, and a massive infrastructure program and the poverty-reduction measures launched by President Rafael Correa have endeared him to the poorest in society.

Ecuador's multiethnic population reflects a unique blend of cultures, from traditionally dressed mountain peoples, whose ancestors inhabited their highland villages before the arrival of the Incas, to the Afro-Ecuadorians of Esmeraldas and the Chota Valley and the tribal peoples of the Amazonian rainforest. The Ecuadorians are proud, friendly, hospitable, and hardworking, but to know them well the foreign visitor needs to understand the complex historical divisions between the highlands and the coast, and the rigid class and racial hierarchy that has shaped the country's history.

Culture Smart! Ecuador takes you beyond the usual descriptions of where to go and what to see, and gives you an insider's view of the people, their history, their food, and their culture. Special sections are designed to help food lovers get the most out of the menu, assist business travelers to gain an edge on the competition, and show expats, volunteers, and visitors how to meet and get on well with the Ecuadorians, who are as diverse and varied as the country's amazing geography.

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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 years traveling, living, and working in South and Central America, most recently as 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! Venezuela (2012) and the Bradt Guide to Venezuela (2011).

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Ecuador

By Russell Maddicks

Bravo Ltd

Copyright © 2015 Kuperard
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-85733-683-2

Contents

Cover, 
Title Page, 
Copyright, 
About the Authors, 
Map of Ecuador, 
Introduction, 
Key Facts, 
Chapter 1: LAND AND PEOPLE, 
Chapter 2: VALUES AND ATTITUDES, 
Chapter 3: CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS, 
Chapter 4: MAKING FRIENDS, 
Chapter 5: ECUADORIANS AT HOME, 
Chapter 6: TIME OUT, 
Chapter 7: TRAVEL, HEALTH, AND SAFETY, 
Chapter 8: BUSINESS BRIEFING, 
Chapter 9: COMMUNICATING, 
Further Reading, 
Acknowledgments, 

CHAPTER 1

LAND & PEOPLE

GEOGRAPHY

Covering 109,483 square miles (283,561 sq. km), Ecuador is the smallest of the Andean countries and the fourth-smallest country in South America, similar in size to the US state of Colorado. It straddles the Equator on South Americas western coast, and the long Pacific coastline stretches some 1,452 miles (2,337 km) from the border with Colombia in the north to the border with Peru in the east and south. Off the coast lie the Galápagos Islands.

Ecuador has a diverse geographic terrain that includes Andean mountains, active and inactive volcanoes, montane valleys, cloud forests, steamy Amazon jungle, arid deserts, and its long Pacific coast. The four main geographic regions are the Sierra, or Andean highlands, running from north to south in the center of the country; the Costa, or Pacific coast in the west; the Oriente, or Amazon region, in the east; and the Galápagos Islands.

La Sierra — the Andean Mountains and Valleys

The Ecuadorian Andes run from north to south along two mountain chains known as the Eastern Cordillera and the Western Cordillera. Between them is a high intermontane valley. The highest peaks are the volcanoes Chimborazo, at 20,702 feet (6,310 m), Cotopaxi, at 19,347 feet (5,897 m), and Cayambe, at 18,996 feet (5,790 m). Ecuadorians are proud to point out that, due to the bulge at the equator, Chimborazo is the farthest point on the planet from the center of the earth, making it technically higher than Mount Everest. One of the most active volcanoes is Tungurahua at 16,456 feet (5,016 m), which rises above the popular tourist town of Baños, named for its sulfurous hot springs, which are believed to have health-giving properties.

The capital, Quito, is in a mountain valley at 9,350 feet (2,850 m) above sea level. Overlooking Quito are the twin peaks of Guagua Pichincha, at 15,696 feet (4,784 m), and Rucu Pichincha, at 15,413 feet (4,698 m).

La Costa — the Pacific Coast

The Costa comprises a wide coastal belt that runs from the border of Colombia to the border of Peru, and from the sea to the foothills of the Andes. In the north, areas of tropical rain forest are maintained by the high rainfall associated with the warm waters of the El Niño current from Panama. Farther south, cattle ranching and the agricultural production of bananas have led to extensive deforestation that has seen 98 percent of the native forest cut down. What remains of the rain forest, cloud forest, and dry forest in the mountains along the coastal strip is part of the endangered Tumbes-Chocó- Magdalena biodiversity hotspot, which provides microclimates for hundreds of endemic bird species, rare howler and spider monkeys, and other mammals. Private reserves aim to preserve these last remaining areas of native forest.

In the south, scrub and deserts predominate on the southern coast due to the drying effects of the Humboldt Current, which brings cold, nutrient-rich water from southern Chile up to the Equator. Although it provides abundant stocks of sardines, anchovies, and mackerel, these are prone to periodic depletion caused by the El Niño phenomenon. Guayaquil is the dominant city on the coast and the country's largest port. All along the coast there are beach resorts catering to locals and foreign tourists.

El Oriente — the Amazonian Rain Forest

The east of Ecuador is known as El Oriente, a swath of hot and humid rain forest that covers nearly half of the country and teems with tropical wildlife and birds. It is also home to indigenous people, such as the Quechua-speaking Kichwa, who have been integrated into Ecuadorian society, and the remote Waorani who, despite the encroachment of loggers and oil companies, live very much as they did before the arrival of Europeans.

Running through this heavily forested region are major rivers, such as the mighty Napo, which starts as meltwater on the glaciers of volcanoes like Cotopaxi, Antisana, and Sichulawa, and is fed by the Coca River before joining the Amazon in Peru. In the lower Oriente around Puyo, the Pastaza River feeds into the Marañón River in Peru.

Oriente is home to Ecuador's most important nature parks, such as the Yasuni National Park, a designated UNESCO Biosphere Reserve that has been described by ecologists as the most biologically diverse spot on the planet. However, the region is also the location of the country's principal oil reserves, and past drilling of oil wells around Lago Agrio, the building of access roads into the region, and the poisoning of rivers with inadequately treated toxic waste and oil spills has shown how environmentally damaging oil extraction can be for these fragile forest environments.

The Galápagos Islands

The eighteen main islands and fifty or so smaller islets of the volcanic Galápagos archipelago have been described as a living museum and a showcase of evolution. Located some six hundred miles (1,000 km) off the mainland in the Pacific Ocean, the islands were formed from undersea volcanic eruptions from 8 million to 3.5 million years ago and cover an area of 3,090 square miles (8,010 sq. km).

The Galápagos Islands are home to plants, animals, and birds that evolved in isolation, making the archipelago a "natural laboratory of evolution." Charles Darwin featured their extraordinary diversity in his book The Voyage of the Beagle, which recounts his 1835 visit to the Galápagos, and he later used the example of adaptations among finches on the different islands to support his Theory of Evolution and Natural Selection. In 1978 the Galápagos was the first place on the planet to be declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

English pirates used the islands to hide out when targeting Spanish treasure ships, and early maps feature the English names for the islands. They were officially annexed by Ecuador on February 12, 1832. The main industry is tourism, and 170,000 visitors flock here each year to marvel at the blue-footed boobies, marine iguanas, tame sea lions, and giant tortoises. Recent fears that the growth of tourist infrastructure on the main islands of San Cristobal, Santa Cruz, Floreana, and Isabela, including the growing number of cars, is having an increasingly negative impact on the wildlife have prompted measures aimed at regulating the numbers. Most tourists still choose to visit the islands on cruise boats, which maximizes the number of islands and dive sites that can be seen.

CLIMATE

Despite its position on the Equator, Ecuador does not have typically tropical weather throughout the country as the climate depends on altitude. In the Sierra, the intermontane valleys enjoy a year-round spring, while in high mountain villages nights can dip below freezing. It's easy to get sunburned in Quito even when the days are cloudy, due to the altitude. The coast is hot, and the jungles of Oriente are...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Kuperard
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2014
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1857336836
• ISBN 13: 9781857336832
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 168
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar