Ecuador has adopted the US dollar as its official currency, after several economic collapses and two former Presidents absconding with large slices of the national wealth. One is presently living in Miami with the full complicity of the US government. For most of the second half of the twentieth century Ecuador was, not to put too fine a point on it, a banana republic. Governments, revolutions and occasional flirtations with democracy came and went, without changing the fundamental nature of the country and its ruling elite. However, in the last decade or so it has experienced a period of relative stability, with peaceful and democratic transitions between one government and the next. You can find more detailed accounts here and here.

We saw a lot more poverty in the streets of Quito and the rest of Ecuador than we had in Costa Rica when we were there in February, but all the people we met were very friendly and helpful. Quite a significant proportion of the population is of indigenous or "Indian" stock, many of them living in tribal villages high in the mountains, or in the rainforests. They wear traditional costume, which is usually very colourful and attractive, all the women over the age of about seventeen seem to have a baby in a sling on their backs, and they speak Spanish as well as their own languages. Very little English is spoken anywhere in Ecuador, even in the big hotels and tourist offices, so without Jean's sub-'o' level Spanish we would have found the going very difficult. The tribal people were especially welcoming to strangers and helpful everywhere we met them. We were also impressed with the gentleness that the tribal people showed to one another. Parents were very loving towards their children (we saw a teenager of about fourteen or fifteen cuddling up to her mother on a bus, something I couldn't imagine a British teenager doing) and children practically never cried or seemed in distress. We also saw no harshness of any kind between husbands and wives. Tribal society seems to be very low on what Marx called "alienation".

Quito is not a beautiful city but its setting is, surrounded by towering mountains and dramatic ravines. It has a few interesting churches and monuments but nothing really outstanding. The first trip we made by bus was to a place outside town which is said to be exactly on the equator, where they have an observation tower, a planetarium and a few touristy

shops, restaurants and exhibits. You can take your photograph with one leg in the southern hemisphere and one in the northern hemisphere, which we duly did. We found out later from an archaeologist we spoke to that the marked equator is incorrect by a distance of about 200 metres, something they have learned from GPS technology, but it's the thought that counts.

The public transport in Quito is fantastic. For the main routes buses come every minute or so, for the minor routes such as the street that our hotel was in, every 20 mins. The city is long and thin and also has trolley buses which go from one end to the other for a fixed 25C fare. They run every few minutes and are wheelchair friendly. Longer haul buses are also very good and extremely cheap. We paid only $2 for a 2 hour journey.