¡Bienvenidos y bienvenidas a Ecuador! Es un país caracterizado por su inmensa biodiversidad y sus paisajes impresionantes.
While Ecuador is one of the smallest countries in South America, it is by no means lacking in natural diversity. Located in northwestern South America, Ecuador sits along the Pacific Ring of Fire at the intersection of the North Andes and Nazca tectonic plates. The country is divided into four distinct geographic regions: the Andean Sierra (the result of tectonic collisions and where I am living!), the Amazon rainforest, the Pacific coastal lowlands and the Galapagos Islands (famously visited by Charles Darwin in the 1800s!).
Here in the northern Andes Mountains, the green hilly landscape is dotted with massive volcanoes. In fact, Ecuador is one of the world's most volcanically active countries. The Smithsonian Institute reports that it is home to 35 Holocene (meaning having erupted within the last 12,000 or so years) volcanoes! Thanks to all of these mountains, cities located in the Sierra region are situated at impressively high altitudes. Riobamba (where I am living) is located at over 9,000 feet of elevation, so the air is noticeably thinner due to the comparative lack of oxygen.
