TanGoing Loco: 5 Fun Facts about Ecuador

While I rummage through literally thousands of photos from the Galapagos and try to make sense of what just happened to me, I will reward you with an exciting entry about some of the dozens of things I learned about Ecuador through the amazing people I met there.

Here's kinda how Ecuador is, a happy place:

1. The official currency of Ecuador is the US Dollar. Maybe you knew that. I didn't. What? Why? Isn't part of a being your own sovereign nation all about raising your own currency? I did some digging with our guides and friends we met along the way and found out that in 1999 the sucre lost 67% of its value and then 17% more in one week, ending at 25,000 sucre to the dollar. What! The president at the time changed the currency to the dollar and as a result, there were protests leading to his removal, but the next dude kept the dollar anyway. They still issue sucres under a dollar in coins, so you could get a handful of quarters and random foreign coin as change. They also love the Sacagawea dollar. LOVE.

2. The government heavily subsidizes the price of gas. For the last umpteen years, gas has been $1.50 a liter. Not bad. But people are worried about when the government runs out of money because...

3. Since Rafael Correa became president, the number of government agencies has quadrupled. Lots more social programs, social security, public health programs, which are good, but also a lot of money being funneled to random agencies that not everyone is behind and thinks are needed, but it's hard to do very much about it since...

4. Although it's mandatory to vote, there are dozens of candidates, fragmenting the vote. Yep, mandatory to vote (as it is in Argentina) and if you don't, you don't get your government issued ID, which like us, you need for a multitude of things. You can pay for it, but it's really expensive for the average citizen.

5. President Correa really doesn't like the press. Or free speech a lot of times. On May 28, for example, he asked the citizens of Ecuador to boycott the press. Recently before that, he took 2 journalists to trial for printing a book about things his own brother told them about Correa's corruption and when they were found guilty asked for $160 million (or thereabouts, I was on my 3rd glass of birthday wine when this conversation was happening) from each of them in damages. Huh?

All in all the Ecuadorians I met were very proud of their country and the progress its made in the last few years. There are problems, they all acknowledged, but overall, they are happy with their lives and passionate and proud about being from Ecuador. It was cool to be a part of for 10 days. What a cool place and a cool people.

Next up- Galapagos Review!!! Here's a sneak peak: