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General Information Area: 272,045 sq km (105,037 sq miles). Population: 12,646,095 (official estimate 2000). Population Density: 46.5 per sq km. Capital: Quito. Population: 1,444,363 (1996). GEOGRAPHY: Ecuador is bounded to the north by Colombia, to the east and south by Peru, and to the west by the Pacific Ocean. There are three distinct zones: the Sierra or uplands of the Andes, running from the Colombian border in the north to Peru in the south, of which there are two main ranges, the Eastern and Western Cordilleras (divided by a long valley); the Costa, a coastal plain between the Andes and the Pacific with plantations of bananas, cacao, coffee and sugar; and the Oriente, the upper Amazon basin to the east, consisting of tropical jungles threaded by rivers. The latter, although comprising 36 per cent of Ecuador’s land area, contains only three per cent of the population. Colonisation is, however, increasing in the wake of the oil boom. Government: Republic since 1978. Head of State: President Lucio Edwin Gutiérrez Borbúa since 2003. Head of Government: Prime Minister Marcelo Lucio Gutiérrez since 2002. Language: Spanish is the official language but Quechua and other indigenous languages are common. Some English is spoken. Religion: More than 90 per cent are nominally Roman Catholic. Time: GMT - 5 (Galapagos Islands GMT - 6). Electricity: 110/120 volts AC, 60Hz. Communications:   Telephone International calls must be made through an operator. Country code: 593. Outgoing international code: 00. Mobile telephone AMPS network is operated by Otecel, and AMPS-TDMA network is operated by Conecel. Not compatible with GSM handsets. Internet ISPs include Interactive (website: www.interactive.net.ec). Telegram These may be sent from the chief telegraph office in main towns. There is a 24-hour service in Quito and a service until 2000 at some hotels. Post Airmail to western Europe and the USA takes up to a week, but incoming deliveries are less certain. Press Dailies are in Spanish and include El Comercio and Hoy, published in Quito; and El Telégrafo and El Universo, published in Guayaquil. There are two English-language newspapers, Q and Inside Ecuador, though both are published irregularly. International newspapers and magazines are available at international airports and in some bookshops. BBC World Service and Voice of America frequencies: From time to time these change. BBC (website: www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice): MHz 17.79 15.19 12.10 5.975 Voice of America (website: www.voa.gov): MHz 13.79 9.455 6.130 5.995 From www.columbusguides.com, Copyright © 2004 Highbury Columbus Travel Publishing Terms and Conditions apply.