An exquisite land on latitude 0'



Very few people in India would have heard about this small country in South America sharing its border in the north with Colombia, with Peru in east and south and towards the west the Pacific Ocean. Ecuador, the country which lies on the Equator at latitude 0 degree. Mr. Carlos Abad, the Ambassador of Ecuador to India, told THE BLUE MOON Editor, Amit Mittal some interesting facts about his country. Some excerpts :

"If you look at the map, Ecuador faces India direct from the Pacific Ocean side. Geographically the country can be divided into four regions - Amazonia, Andes, Costa and Galapagos. It was in the year 1870 that Charles Darwin landed on this archipelago. It is a Spanish word for a huge turtle which is found there. As big as a writing table this turtle lives for 400 years. We also have penguins in our country, of course they are different from the ones in the Arctic. We have this huge lizard which is almost 15 feet long which is a big attraction. It almost looks like a pre-historic animal. The Costa region is the coastal area which extends from north to south along the Pacific. Important ports and cities are located in this region. From April to September one can sight the whales near the beach. In Andes we have volcanoes and the snow capped peaks of these volcanoes make them ideal for mountain expeditions. Quito, the capital, lies in this region. Amazonia is the rain forest which is a home to hundreds of species of birds, animals and also tribals who live there."

So you have the mountains, volcanoes, rain forests, beaches and islands all in one country. Must be excellent weather and different seasons. "No we do not have different seasons.

Being on the equator, we have a constant season, but we do have rainy season from December to April in the coastal areas and from December to June in the highlands.

Ecuador must be producing lot of sea food and wood?

  "Well of the total exports that we make, 60 to 70% is crude oil. We produce about 560000 barrels of crude oil a day, this is heavy crude. We have shrimp farming where we produce shrimps as big as 12 inches. We export about half a billion Dollar worth shrimps. Ecuadorian chocolate is famous round the world. Prominent chocolate producers in Europe add the dark and bitter chocolate from Ecuador to give it color and taste. We produce coffee, but only aroma coffee. We export heart of palm. There is a huge quantity of bananas exported to the United States and European Union. We also produce large quantity of teak wood. We produce 500 different varieties of potatoes."

Ecuador has a rich cultural heritage. Ceramics found on the Ecuadorian coast date back to 3500 B.C. There must be a lot more relating to ancient cultures?

 "After independence from Spain in 1809 capital Quito was the first city to be declared a World Cultural Heritage Site by UNESCO. In downtown Quito there are restored churches of Spanish legacy. Many churches are coated with gold leaf and have preserved valuable works of religious art. Ecuador has more painters than any other country."

How does Ecuador connect itself to India in terms of trade?

"We import machinery from India; buy mills for molasses. As we are developing alternative sources of energy, we are producing sugarcane to make ethanol. We produce sugarcane double than our requirement and we plan to have 10% of all cars running on ethanol. We are looking for transfer of technology. We have helicopters for military purposes from HAL, India. Even our President uses one of the HAL helicopters."

Trade with India must be difficult as I see no direct links with Quito or the ports?

"Though we have five ports and also special economic zones, the biggest hurdle is the sailing time. It takes 58 days for a ship to reach Asia."

Then it must be terribly difficult to reach by air too?

  "Of course there is no direct flight to or from India, but there are possible flights starting New Delhi to Dubai then Sao Polo (Brazil) and to Quito. One could also come to the US and there are airlines in the US which fly direct to Quito. There are tourists coming from Mumbai to Quito. For Indian citizens we have visa on arrival for 90 days. We have 500 to 600 tourists from Ecuador traveling to India. There are almost 3000 followers of Sai Baba and ISKCON in India. We have Ecuadorians living in Kolkatta."

 What is the rate of literacy in Ecuador ?

  We have a 95% literacy rate which is expected to reach 99 per cent.
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