Everyday practical information for Ecuador

Electricity, which is the useful surprise

• Plugs are the American flat two-pin type A and three-pin type B, at 120 V, 60 Hz.
• North American devices work with no adapter at all.
• European and UK devices need an adapter and, for anything with a heating element, a voltage check. A 230 V hair dryer or travel kettle will simply not work.
• Power cuts happen, more so during drought years when the hydroelectric reservoirs are low.

Language

• Spanish, and Ecuadorian Spanish is among the clearest and slowest in Latin America - genuinely one of the best countries to learn it in.
• Kichwa is widely spoken in the sierra alongside Spanish.
• English is limited outside hotels and tour agencies. A phrasebook or an offline translation pack earns its keep here.
• Buenos dias before anything else. Walking up and starting with a question reads as rude.

Four countries in one

• The sierra is cool all year: 20 degrees by day, single figures at night, and it does not change much by season. Layers, always.
• The coast is hot and humid, with the wet season from January to April, which is also when the sea is warmest.
• The Amazon is hot, wet and constant, and the rain comes whatever the month.
• The Galapagos has a warm wet season from December to May and a cooler, rougher, richer-in-wildlife season from June to November.
• The weather changes within a day in the sierra. Sun, rain and cold in a single afternoon is the normal pattern, not bad luck.

Manners and habits

• Greetings matter. A handshake, or a kiss on one cheek between women and between a man and a woman who know each other.
• Punctuality is loose socially and strict for buses and tours.
• Lunch is the main meal, from about 13:00, and the almuerzo set menu is the best value food in the country at USD 3 to USD 5.
• Dress is conservative in the sierra and relaxed on the coast. Shorts in Quito mark you out.
• Photographing indigenous people at markets needs asking, and is often declined. Otavalo is a working market, not a set.

Practical odds and ends

• Toilet paper goes in the bin, not the bowl, throughout the country. The plumbing genuinely cannot take it.
• Sunday is quiet and many businesses close; markets, on the other hand, are at their best.
• Public holidays fill every bus and empty the cities. Carnival and the first days of November are the big ones.
• Carry a photocopy of your passport and leave the original in a safe.
• Altitude affects alcohol. One drink in Quito does the work of two at sea level.