Learning about Ecuador, One Page at a Time (Ecuador Unfolds Series)

When traveling, there are so many preparations that need to take place before the plane reaches the sky. Laundry, cleaning, shopping, doctor appointments, packing etc. Most of these I hate doing. My favorite travel prep I do is reading. When I travel I try to learn about the places I go and I particularly love to learn about the history and culture of the place.

In preparing for Ecuador I anticipated having hundreds of books to choose from in order to learn more about the country, but I was heartbroken when I discovered this was not the case. I began to wonder why there are not many books about Ecuador. I soon learned that for many, including Latin American scholars, “Ecuador is… often the South American country they know least about”. If this is about SCHOLARS, what does that say about your average person, let alone the average, American person? Along with that, “fragmentary images, stereotypes and fantasies about Ecuador are less readily available”. (de la Torre and Striffler, 1).

Luckily I came across The Ecuador Reader: History, Culture, Politics (The Latin America Readers) with editors Carlos de la Torre and Steve Striffler. This reader is a series of essays about Ecuador that covers a wide range of topics. In short, I loved reading it! It was great to learn about a country I didn’t know much about and the information helped bring a deeper aspect of appreciation to my time in Ecuador.

To say I learned a lot from this book would be an understatement and my learning was brought to life through my travels. My favorite example of this involved Ecuador’s Independence Day. They celebrate their independence on August 10 and we were going to have a family BBQ that day. During our first official day in Ecuador, around a week before August 10, we had dinner with family and were discussing the plans for the BBQ. My sister-in-law asked what country did Ecuador get their independence from and no one seemed to know. I suggested Spain, based on my readings, and was greeted with laughter. My sister-in-law then suggested Peru and was dismissed. A week later, during a walking tour of Quito, we learned that both of us had been correct about where Ecuador got its independence from! My reading gave me bragging rights.

I would say that the main thing that stood out to me the most in my readings was how the geography (the highlands/mountains vs the coast) played a huge role in Ecuador’s history, cultural and political developments. For example:

“In the southern Andes of Peru and Bolivia, where higher elevations, lower temperatures, and a dryer climate limit food production, indigenous people were forced to develop methods of food preservation and storage. Such an endeavor required significant political organization, state systems, roads and other forms of physical and social infrastructure. The norther Andes of Ecuador, by contrast, with lower elevation, higher temperatures, and constant humidity–permitted year-round crop production hereby eliminating the need for highly developed systems of political organization (9-10)”.

Other interesting facts that I learned and really got me thinking:

• The Incas had political control over an area larger than the Roman Empire (10).
• Ecuador’s incorporation into the Inca Empire lasted less than 50 years (9).
• The highlands/mountain region tends to be more conservative in politics, whereas the coastal regions tend to be more liberal (100).
• Spanish missionaries had a large influence on society, starting when they first arrived (early 1530s). It is because of their influence that the mountain regions tend to be more conservative. The country is still very Catholic to this day.
• The Ingenious and African people of the country have long been mistreated.
• Ecuador experienced two major export booms: cacao boom (late 19th & early 20th centuries) and the bananas boom (after World War II). Both booms had significant influence on the social and political structure of the country.
• Beginning around 2000, due to economic crisis in the country, Ecuador switched to using the US dollar as its currency (337).

Even though The Ecuador Reader is around 400 pages, I am so glad that I took the time to read it before my travels. By learning about the country before I arrived, it gave me a solid foundation and framework of the country so when I learned additional new information, I already had context for it. For example, from my readings I was able to identify a Mangrove plant and knew that this was important for shrimp and that shrimp had been important to Ecuador’s economy for a time. I enjoyed being able to see a Mangrove plant on the Galapagos Islands and wonder if there were any shrimp around the plants while we swam nearby.

If you don’t already, I would highly recommend learning about the history and culture of the places you are going to. This will add to the appreciation of your travels and open your mind to new wonders.

In the comments share with me your favorite way to learn about the places you travel to!