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Regions of Ecuador
El Oriente (Amazon)
The Amazon jungle is without a doubt Creation's greatest
achievement, moreover, Eastern Ecuador, known as El
Oriente, is blessed with some of the Amazon's most biologically
diverse, pristine areas. Experience nature's most impressive
orchestration of life; canoe along meandering rivers;
climb into the canopy; hike along primary forest trails,
learn about medicinal rainforest plants, or just "be"
amidst the teeming forest.
Learn more about the Amazon!
La Sierra (Andes highlands)
Quintessential Ecuador, La Sierra is the most visited
region in the country. Boasting condors, glaciated volcanoes,
bustling Indian markets, grand old haciendas, cloudforests,
Incan ruins, and high-altitude paramo grasslands, it
is hard not to love.
The Andes form a mountaneous backbone that divides
Ecuador's lowland coastal plains and its treasured share
of the Amazon jungle. In addition to serving as the
physical middle, or spine, of Ecuador, La Sierra, as
home to nearly 50% of the country's population and Quito,
its capital city, occupies a place of chief political
and economic importance.
Learn more about the Andes!
La Costa (Coastal lowlands)
Almost a three-hundred-mile stretch, Ecuador's Pacific
coast is a combination of bikini-friendly beaches, mangrove
forests, marshes, estuaries, and small fishing villages.
The North is wet, wild, relatively undiscovered, and
renowned for its vibrant afro-Ecuadorian communities
who highlight the year with a Marimba dance festival.
The drier and cooler Central and Southern Coast regions
offer popular beach resort destinations. Furthermore,
the vigorous port city of Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest
city, sits tucked behind the Santa Elena Peninsula at
the mouth of the Guayas River.
Learn more about the Coast!
Galapagos Islands
A modern Garden of Eden and a living laboratory of
evolution, the Galapagos are nothing less than spectacular.
The Islands are peaks of enormous underwater volcanoes;
having never been connected with the South American
continent, Galapagos' flora and fauna developed in complete
isolation, a fact that in many ways allowed Charles
Darwin's to form his theory of evolution. The Galapagos
are truly a wonder that should not be missed. Where
else can you swim with hammerhead sharks, penguins,
sea lions, and hundreds of tropical reef fish, and sleep
on a volcanic peak?
Learn more about the Galapagos!
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