Fun fact#689
Ecuador is named after the equator
Ecuador is the only country named for a line of latitude, and the true equator sits slightly off the famous monument.
Ecuador
The only country named after a line of latitude, and the point on Earth furthest from its centre.
7 entries · 3 stories, 4 fun facts
Ecuador at a glance
The practical numbers, before the stories.
- Capital
- Quito
- Currency
- US dollar (USD)
- Official language
- Spanish, with Kichwa and Shuar official in intercultural contexts
- Climate
- Set by altitude, not season. Hot and humid on the coast and in the Amazon, spring-like in the highlands all year.
- Best time to go
- June–September, and December–January in the highlands
- Time zone
- UTC−5 on the mainland, UTC−6 in the Galápagos
- Driving side
- Right
- Plugs and voltage
- Type A / B, 120 V
Worth knowing: Ecuador abandoned its own currency in 2000 and uses the US dollar, so bring small notes.
Planning a trip to Ecuador
The decisions that determine whether the trip works, whichever country you are going to.
Ecuador is the only country named for a line of latitude, and the true equator sits slightly off the famous monument. Because the planet bulges at the equator, the summit of Chimborazo is the furthest point on Earth from the centre of the planet, even though it is nowhere near the tallest mountain.
In the Galápagos nothing runs away: a sea lion sleeps on a bench, a bird walks over your boot, a marine iguana sneezes salt at you without moving. Darwin's finches, each with a beak suited to different food, helped shape the theory of natural selection.
Entries from Ecuador
Fun fact#691
Chimborazo is closest to space
Because the Earth bulges at the equator, Chimborazo's summit is the furthest point from the planet's centre.
Fun fact#693
Galapagos finches shaped a theory
Darwin's finches, each with a beak suited to different food, helped shape the theory of natural selection.
Fun fact#695
Quito is the closest capital to the equator
Quito sits almost exactly on the equator at 2,850 metres, giving it spring-like weather all year.
Story#839
Galapagos indifference
Nothing runs away. A sea lion slept on a bench, a bird walked over my boot, and a marine iguana sneezed salt at me without moving.
Story#842
Market day in Otavalo
The animal market starts at six and finishes by nine. Everything else is for tourists and the sellers say so themselves, cheerfully.
Story#846
The night bus and the puncture
We stopped on a mountain road at two in the morning. The driver, the conductor and six passengers changed the wheel by phone torch in eleven minutes.
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Ecuador is one of 36 countries in the library. Read straight through a continent, or start from the map of everywhere we have written about.