Ecuador is a small country on the north western part of South America. It is home to a great variety of species that makes Ecuador one of the seventeen megadiverse countries in the world, with more than 1,600 bird species, over 16, 000 species of plants, around 244 reptiles and amphibians and 6,000 species of butterfly.

This country has four main regions, including the beautiful Galapagos Islands well known for the birth of Darwin´s Theory of Evolution. There is great variety in the climate, largely determined by altitude:

• The Coast - comprises the low-lying land in the western part of the country, including the Pacific coastline. It has a tropical climate.
• The Highlands ¬– also called "la Sierra" is the high-altitude belt running north-south along the center of the country; it is dominated by the Andes mountain range. Here we have a mild dry temperate climate.
• The Amazon, or "el oriente" ("the east") comprises the rainforest areas, with a humid subtropical climate.
• The Galapagos Islands - 620 miles west of the mainland in the Pacific Ocean shares a tropical humid climate with the Ecuadorian coast.

Ecuador's main culture is defined by Mestizos (result between Spanish and Indian), but is also influenced in some cases with African elements. Also indigenous communities are integrated to varying degrees, particularly in the Amazon basin. Spanish is spoken as first language, and Amerindian languages are spoken by minorities.

Ecuador's capital is Quito in the highlands region. Cotopaxi volcano which is just south of Quito, features one of the world's highest active volcanoes. Chimborazo is considered to be the most distant point from the center of the earth.