Features

Ecuador’s Exports – Fruit Galore

Ecuador is the place for anyone who loves fruit. Here are so many varieties you may never even have heard of – each delicious beyond words. The country has so many different altitudes that there are wide climatic variations from one part of the country to another. As a result this lovely country grows different fruit from tropical to temperate.

Ecuador - Health Spas Par Excellence

A trip to Ecuador is incomplete without a stay at one of the superb spas in the country. The rich, fertile soil, biodiversity and pure waters have together encouraged a range of indigenous therapies to flourish. The eco-friendly surroundings make the spas of Ecuador a perfect place for relaxation. Age old techniques are still practiced here, making the entire experience extremely enriching.

The Cotacachi Cayapas Ecological Reserve

A significant portion of Ecuador’s land area has been set aside as parkland, preserves and reserves that do not allow any human exploitation of their copious floral and faunal resources. One of the most important of these regions is the Cotacachi Cayapas Ecological Reserve, located in Imbabura Province in the northwest part of the country. The isolation of this region has helped to ensure its preservation. Although relatively close to Quito (about 85 miles north), the area is poorly served by roads and is more than 100 miles from the populated Pacific coast.

Giant Tortoises of the Galápagos

It is said that Ecuador’s greatest treasure is the group of islands off its coast called the Galápagos. Discovered by accident when a Spanish ship making the Panama-Peru run was blown off course in 1535, this group of 13 large and many more small islands first became widely known in the 19th century when Charles Darwin based his groundbreaking book on the theory of evolution, “The Origin of Species”, on the flora and fauna of the Galápagos Islands.

Eloy Alfaro, the Greatest Ecuadorian

Like many of South America’s fledgling nations, Ecuador in the 19th century sought to find stability amid contesting conservative and liberal forces. In general, periods of harsh conservative rule were punctuated by years of chaos and anarchy that led, in a sort of vicious circle, back to more rigid conservatism. Such was the situation in Ecuador when, in 1860, Gabriel García Moreno came to power. Moreno saw in the Roman Catholic Church a means to control and unify Ecuadorians that surpassed anything politicians could devise.

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