Climate
Tropical along coast, becoming cooler inland at higher elevations; tropical in Amazonian jungle lowlands
Newspapers and magazines
Spanish-language newspapers and magazines can be purchased on the streets of cities but can be hard to find elsewhere. Some hotels catering to foreigners may have a small selection of English-language reading material.
Money
Ecuador adopted the United States dollar USD as its currency in 2000.
Radio and television
Radio and/or television is available in Spanish except in some of the particularly remote areas. English-language movies usually are shown in the original language with Spanish subtitles. Many hotels have cable television that may include English-language stations and/or premium movie channels that feature subtitled movies in their original languages.
Understand
The "Republic of the Ecuador" was one of three countries that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830 the others being Colombia and Venezuela. Between 1904 and 1942, Ecuador lost territories in a series of conflicts with its neighbors. A border war with Peru that flared in 1995 was resolved in 1999.