Sunny Ecuador — not only the main supplier of bananas and mangoes to Europe, it is also an amazingly colorful country, hospitable and open. Of course, it’s not very safe here, like everywhere else in Latin America, but what to do — each region has its own characteristics.
Facts about Ecuador
- In Spanish, the name of the state means “equator”.
- In the middle of the 15th century, the land, where Ecuador is now located, was conquered by the Incas. The war between the Inca army and local tribes lasted about 15 years.
- In the 1940s, the country of Peru conquered a disputed territory of 280 thousand square kilometers from Ecuador, which is comparable to the area of all modern Ecuadorian lands.
- In the late 1990s, the Parliament removed Ecuadorian President Abdal Bucaram from office, deeming him “mentally incapable” of governing the country.
- Ecuador’s Cotopaxi volcano, at a height of 5911 meters, is one of the highest active volcanoes on the planet. The last time this fiery mountain erupted was in 1877 (interesting facts about volcanoes).
- There are no seasons, seasons or temperature fluctuations in this country.
- Ecuador is the largest exporter on the planet bananas.
- Ecuadorians inherited many of their cuisine from the Indians who once inhabited these territories. For example, in Ecuador they like to eat potato soup with blood, broth with fried calf hooves and raw seafood marinated in lime juice.
- Restaurants throughout Ecuador serve cuy – a dish of fried guinea pigs.
- Ecuadorian beer is considered one of the best on the South American continent.
- Ecuador is the smallest of the South American countries that gained independence (interesting facts about South America).
- To preserve the nature and ecology of their country in 2015, 13 million Ecuadorians took part in a mass planting of young trees – more than 650 thousand plants were planted in total, which is a world record.
- Panama straw hats for protection from the sun were invented in Ecuador.
- In Ecuador, at the sites of fatal accidents, it is customary to draw blue hearts reaching a meter in diameter.
- The most expensive dark heart on the planet is produced here chocolate, 45 grams of which cost almost 170 euros.
- In Ecuador, a monument to the equator has been erected, after visiting which a commemorative stamp is put on a postcard or even in a passport.
- This country has one of the most dangerous railway lines on the planet, which is called the “Devil’s Nose”. Trains move along narrow tracks between sheer cliffs and a cliff.
- A cemetery in the Ecuadorian city of Tulcane is decorated with 300 green sculptures created by local gardeners from bushes and other plants.
- The top of an extinct Ecuadorian volcano Chimborazo is the most distant point on the Earth’s surface from the center of the Earth.
- Charles Darwin began to develop his theory of natural selection, having become acquainted with the unique ecosystem of the Galapagos Islands, which are part of Ecuador.