11 Things to Know about Ecuador

The CNN report erroneously lists Eloy Alfaro's years in office as 1842-1912, which, if true, would have been longer than Fidel Castro's leadership in Cuba or Queen Elizabeth's even longer reign (63 years and counting).

Actually, those were Alfaro's life dates.  He served as Presidente de Ecuador from 1895-1901 and again from 1906-1911.  He first took power as dictator in a "liberal" coup and became Constitutional president in 1897.

"El Viejo Luchador" (Old Warrior) was known for modernizing EC, including construction of the original railroad line between Quito and Guayaquil.

His political intrigues did not end upon his ouster from office in 1911.  Alfaro was exiled to Panama,  subsequently returning to Ecuador, and meeting a grisly end in early 1912 after trying to re-take power in a failed coup attempt.

source: Wikipedia

cccmedia in Quito

I also take issue with the description of active volcano Tungurahua as being "just south of Quito."

The distance from the capital to the volcano is 87 miles or 140 kilometers, so, while it's a dangerous volcano and there's sometimes seismic activity between the two locations, it's not as if molten lava is about to pour into Mariscal sector this weekend.

cccmedia in Quito

BobH wrote:

This is from CNN.
http://m.wptz.com/travel/11-things-to-k … r/32682902

If you take #8 (The sharks are friendly) on faith and things don't work out, don't blame me.

Of course not, Bob.  We know you wouldn't lead us astray.

The CNN reporter, however, is a different matter.

Fortunately, the readers on this forum are smart enough to know not to take his word stating that supposedly these sharks would never  bite us!

cccmedia in Quito