Ecuador at the Globetrotters Club: Where to Visit After April's Earthquake

By Russell Maddicks

Ecuador is one of the most interesting and rewarding countries to visit in the Americas. A small country blessed with a hugely varied geography – encompassing Andean peaks, Amazon rainforest, Pacific beaches, and the wildlife-wonderland of the Galapagos Islands – it has been described as a microcosm of South America.

On 16 April a 7.8 magnitude earthquake devastated communities along the northern Pacific coast and a massive relief effort is still underway. Meanwhile, the rest of the country is operating normally and more than ever needs tourism revenue to help fund the rebuilding on the coast.

Russell Maddicks, the author of the “Culture Smart! Guide to Ecuador” will give an illustrated presentation on Saturday, 4 June, at the Globetrotters Club in London explaining the current situation on the ground, why you should visit Ecuador now, and giving a taste of the country's main tourism highlights. 

On 16 April a devastating 7.8 magnitude quake struck the Pacific coast of Ecuador killing some 660 people, injuring over 7,000 and destroying homes, businesses, schools and hospitals in Manabi and Esmeraldas provinces.

This is one of the worst disasters to hit the country in decades and an unprecedented time of need for Ecuadorians living along the northern Pacific coast. Millions of dollars have been raised by well-wishers around the world to help the relief efforts, and international groups like Oxfam, Care, and UNICEF are all operating in the country to assist the government in housing, feeding and providing medical attention to those most affected.

The rebuilding efforts will cost over $3 billion and maintaining tourism revenue, a key element of the Ecuadorian economy, is more important now than ever.

While the northern sector of the Pacific Coast is slowly coming back to life, the rest of the country is operating as normal and tourists can expect no difficulties visiting the Galapagos Islands, the Andean capital of Quito, the Amazon region, and the port city of Guayaquil (the gateway to the Galapagos) or many other parts of the country.

The message from Ecuador is if you really want to help the country rebuild come and visit. This talk will hopefully give you the information you need to plan your visit.

Admission to Globetrotters costs £3 for Members and £6 for Non-members. You do not need to be a member to attend, and they do not sell advanced tickets, so just come on the day to The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, off Russell Street (behind the Fortune Theatre), Covent Garden,WC2B 5EZ. Doors open at 2:15pm and the program starts around 2:30pm with each talk lasting approximately 40 minutes.

About the Speaker: Russell Maddicks is a BBC-trained writer, translator, and journalist. A graduate in Economic and Social History from the University of Hull, England, he has spent the last twenty years traveling, living, and working in South and Central America, most recently as Latin American Regional Specialist for BBC Monitoring.

A fluent Spanish speaker, he has made many extended trips to Ecuador, one of his favourite South American destinations, where he has explored the length and breadth of the country both for work and for pleasure.

He is the author of the Bradt Guide to Venezuela, Culture Smart! guides to Venezuela and Ecuador, and has guides to Cuba, Mexico and Nicaragua scheduled for release in 2016-2017.

Guayaquil Prepares for FITE 2015 - Ecuador's International Tourism Fair

By Russell Maddicks

Ecuador's Pacific port of Guayaquil - the country's largest city and the main hub for flights to the famed Galapagos Islands - is gearing up for a flood of visitors for the annual International Tourism Fair, FITE 2015, which will be held from 22-25 October.

This is the most important tourism fair in Ecuador and the four pavilions that will be erected for the event in Parque Samanes - the third biggest park in the Americas - are expected to attract some 60,000 visitors over the four days. 

FITE is aimed at locals trying to get a good deal for their next holiday, visitors and expatriates seeking inspiration and information about destinations in Ecuador, and tourism professionals and travel firms interested in making new business contacts. 

This year, the slogan for the event is "Life is a Journey: Live it at FITE" (La Vida es un Viaje, Vívelo en FITE).

Ecuador's top attractions from the Amazon, Andes, Pacific coast and Galapagos Islands will be represented by regional tourism boards, tour operators, travel agencies, hotels, guesthouses, and jungle lodges.

There will also be music and costumed dancers from the country's many folk festivals to enliven proceedings, and stalls offering a diverse range of Ecuador's traditional culinary dishes and drinks for gastronauts.

If you want to try a coastal ceviche, for example, or a tasty plate of hornado (pork pulled from a whole roasted pig), served up with mote (hominy corn) and llapingachos (fried potato and cheese patties), then FITE is the perfect place to visit. 

You can also buy traditional handicrafts from around the country, including high-quality toquilla straw hats - erroneously known as Panama hats - and meet women from the small villages around Cuenca and Montecristi who spend months weaving them.

There will be stalls representing international airlines and tourism boards from 30 countries, including South American neighbours such as Peru, Colombia and Brazil, and far-flung nations like China.

According to Jaime Rull Mayoral, who has been organizing the FITE since 2002, this year there will be a special focus on adventure tourism, including hiking, mountain biking, abseiling, paragliding, bungee jumping, ziplining, and rafting, as well as equestrian and rural tourism options, and beach and water sports.

The four pavilions will be Adventure Tourism, Nautical Tourism and Water Sports, Equestrian and Rural Tourism, and a quiet space dedicated to business meetings, mini-conferences and talks aimed at those in the tourism trade. 

During FITE there will also be a two-day Extreme Sports and Adventure Tourism Congress bringing together tour companies, experts, and practitioners of extreme sports. The congress will offer an overview of new products and trends, highlight the importance of good practice and rigorous safety preparation to reduce risk, and stress the importance of sustainable, eco-friendly approaches to minimize the impact on the environment.

Ecuador has experienced a significant increase in tourist numbers over the last five years with over 1.5 million tourist arrivals in 2014 (200,000 more than in 2013), a record that the government predicts will be beaten in 2015. 

The country has built up a good reputation among travellers over the last five years due to the number of varied and interesting places that can be visited in a fairly short period. 

At the same time, new tourism initiatives like the Tren Crucero, the reopened train line between Quito to Guayaquil, and the Ruta de Spondylus, following mile upon mile of Pacific beaches, are further opening up the country to repeat visitors, who can now easily combine trips to the Galapagos Islands with mainland adventures in the Andes, the Amazon region, or along the Pacific coast.

Ecuador is also considered safe compared to its larger neighbours, has great food, brilliant birdwatching, fascinating colonial cities, good hiking, world-class surf, a historic railway system, and an efficient transport infrastructure that makes it easy to travel around.

Having the dollar as the national currency also makes Ecuador an attractive destination for travellers and expats, as it removes the bother of changing money and helps when transferring funds, budgeting and comparing prices. 

Nurturing this tourism boom, the government, through the Tourism Ministry, has invested heavily in a series of award-winning and highly successful international campaigns such as All You Need is Ecuador, which was launched around the world in 2014. The new campaign Feel Again!, looks like it will be just as successful.

For more information about FITE 2015 visit the FITE website or their page on Facebook.

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Purchase a copy of my book Culture Smart! Ecuador

Fabulous Fanesca - Ecuador's Easter Soup

By Russell Maddicks

It's Easter in Ecuador and that's good news for travelers looking for a unique culinary experience, because according to Ecuadorians the true flavour of Easter is a rich, creamy soup that comes so laden down with extras that it's more like an all-you-can-eat-meal.

Made from a base of zambo (gourd), zapallo (pumpkin), melloco (Ullucus tuberosus) and chunky lumps of bacalao (salted cod), fanesca is not only hearty but holy as well.

Following the Catholic tradition of abstaining from meat on Friday, fanesca was traditionally eaten for lunch on Good Friday but nowadays it's eaten for the whole of Semana Santa (Holy Week) and most almuerzo (lunch) bars will and market eateries will have a hearty fanesca on the menu for anything from $2-$10.

According to tradition, fanesca should include twelve types of grains or beans like chochos (Andean lupins), habas (faba beans), choclo (maize), arvejas (peas), and lentejas (lentils), among others. The beans and grains are meant to represent the twelve apostles and the fish symbolizes Jesus.

The final flourish is to decorate the hot soup with slices of boiled egg, mini empanadas, slices of white cheese, palmitos (palm hearts), maní (peanuts), and plátano maduro frito (fried ripe plantain).

No wonder people eat it at lunchtime. Even the Man-V.-Food guy Adam Richman would need a siesta after a bowl of Ecuador's holy soup.

Making fanesca is a tradition in many families who have their own closely-guarded recipes handed down from the abuela (grandma). It's a huge process that can take days, as the grains, dried beans and lupins must all be soaked and cooked individually before being combined in the soup. The bacalao is bought dried and salted and is prepared by soaking and cooking it in milk.

They even hold competitions in Quito and Cuenca, with highly-coveted prizes for the best fanesca. 

Despite its massive popularity, there has been little serious investigation into the origins of this singular dish. The first known printed reference to fanesca only occurs in 1882, when it appears in Juan Pablo Sanz's book “El Manual de la Cocinera” (The Cook's Manual).

Some investigators maintain that it was named after "faneca" a type of fish popular in Spain and Portugal and that the recipe arrived with the Spanish conquistadors.in the 16th century.

Others have said it was cooked up in a Quito monastery by a woman called Juana and was originally called Juanesca,

However, more recently, Ecuadorian researchers have suggested the fanesca tradition could date back more than 4,000 years, to an ancient harvest festival that the Incas adopted and called Muchuc Nina (which in Quechua means Day of New Fire).

On that day a meal of boiled Andean maize and grains called Uchucuta, (or Uchukuta) was cooked with chilis and herbs and served alongside roast cuy (guinea pig) to mark the first fruits of the harvest.

As a way to aid the religious conversion of the Highland Quichua and other indigenous tribes, the Spanish conquistadors incorporated elements of Muchuc Nina, which was celebrated in March, with the Catholic rituals marking Semana Santa, or so the theory goes.

The syncretic combination of Indigenous and European beliefs found in modern Ecuador is echoed in the combination of indigenous and European ingredients used to make fanesca, making it such a unique expression of Ecuadorian culture.

However ancient its origins, its popularity shows no signs of waning. Not everybody in Ecuador takes part in the many religious festivals during Semana Santa, but few miss out on the opportunity to tuck in to a bowl of this filling pumpkin and fish soup.

So what are you waiting for? A comer... fanesca! 

I'm Off to Discover Ecuador

I thought the best way to launch this blog was to post a new video from the Ecuador Tourism Ministry that captures the essence of the Ecuador I discovered many years ago when I traveled overland from Caracas through Colombia to Quito.

Far from the postcard images of stately churches and big-eyed llamas I found a land of contrasts; tiny mountain hamlets seemingly unchanged since the days of the Incas, steamy jungles full of colorful butterflies and birds, and crazy cities like Guayaquil where the parties last all night.

I also discovered remote beaches with salt-encrusted surf dudes just as cool and laid back as the ones I'd left behind in Caribbean Colombia and Venezuela.

Back then I had no guidebook or any real clue what I would find in Ecuador but the offer of a free bed and a few weeks of freedom to explore was enough to get me on the bus.

Once there I just followed my instincts and went with the flow: Quito, Otavalo, Mindo, San Rafael, San Vicente, Cuenca, Vilcambamba, Guayaquil, Galapagos - each place different to the one before, like a microcosm of South America squeezed into one tiny country.

That first adventure and the people I met on it has set the tone for all subsequent trips.

And now I'm setting off again for the land of volcanoes, beaches and jungles and all I can think about is chowing down on a cuy (roast guinea pig), sipping on a cool juice made from tomate de arbol, and meeting heaps of local peeps who can help me get a deeper understanding of this amazing country.

If you want to help me gather research for my new book "Culture Smart! Ecuador" send me an email at newzvision@hotmail.com or leave a comment below.

In the meantime, I'll be posting photos and videos and recipes and anything interesting that I stumble across on my travels.