CAPITAL QUITO - POPULATION 13.8 MILLION - AREA 283,560 SQ KM -OFFICIAL LANGUAGE SPANISH
Though diminutive for an Andean nation, the biodiversity of Ecuador (with 6000 types of butterfly and 15% of the world's entire species of birds represented) is astonishing. Add active volcanoes, stunning beaches, land-lost-in-time cloud forests and the World Heritage-listed Galapagos Islands, and you've got a place well worth visiting…and preserving. Tragically, the delicate Galapagos ecosystem is being rapidly damaged by a number of human factors, including tourism. Several organizations, including the Galapagos Conservancy, are working to reverse the flow. Visitors are encouraged to make their environmental impact a positive one, with the islands' current US$100 entrance fee being put to use for this very purpose.
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