| Amazonian frontier towns, Pacific coast fishing villages, rambling old haciendas, packed markets, and colonial cities provide the stage on which Ecuador's cultures intermingle; each striving to maintain its own identity and history while also charting a meaningful path into the future. Even outside these cultural crossroads, in a day, because of Ecuador's compactness, one can experience any number of Ecuador's distinct cultures.
Eleven different peoples make up Ecuador's Indigenous population. By far the largest of these is the Andean Quichua, who number more than 2 million. In addition to the Quichua, the Otavalenos, Salasacas, and Saraguros - all modern-day couriers of the ancient tongue of the Incas - reside in the Ecuadorian Andes
Modernization has not robbed Ecuador's cities and towns of their distinct local flavors largely because it is people not just historic sites that give these places their character. Otavalo, long famous for its warm, enterprising indigenous people, continues its friendly tradition in the twenty-first century. Banos, with its hot springs and agreeable climate, welcomes visitors day in and day out with unwavering smiles.
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