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Interesting Facts
- Quito has no fewer than 86 churches. Among the notable are La Compañía, which is the wealthiest church in South America, and Basílica del Voto Nacional, which is the tallest church in Ecuador.
- Tucked along the Plaza San Francisco in Quito, the Iglesia and Monasterio de San Francisco is South America's largest religious complex. The church and monastery grounds include seven courtyards. The church was established by the Franciscans in 1536, and is said to be the oldest church in the Americas.
- Quito, Ecuador's capital city, has a population of 1.5 million inhabitants. But Guayaquil, with almost 2 million residents, is actually larger.
- Though located very near the equator, Quito's location in a mountain valley affords wonderful, spring-like weather year-round, which is how it gets the moniker "land of eternal spring." Most days are between 47 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit, and there is often a warm, light breeze. Afternoon showers are common, but they tend to be short and the evenings are cool rather than cold.
- Quito is located in Ecuador's Pichincha Province. Pichincha is also the name of the volcano that looms over the city.
- "Ecuador" means "equator" in Spanish. Not surprisingly, the Republic of Ecuador straddles this line.
- The official language in Ecuador is Spanish, however many natives also speak an indigenous language as well. Quichua, which was spoken by the Incas, is the most common indigenous tongue.
- More than 95% of Ecuadorians are Roman Catholics. However some people practice a Catholicism that includes animistic practices that derive from the ancient Incan ways. Many of Quito's Catholic churches include carvings of the sun and moon, and harvest symbols along with their cherubs and saints.
- Due to its unique combination of tropical location and mountainous terrain, Ecuador has one of the highest levels of ecological diversity in the world. The Ecuadorian Amazon – only 2% of the entire Amazon Basin – is home to 33% of its bird species and 10% of its tree species.
- UNESCO started declaring World Heritage Sites in 1978. Twelve sites were initially added to the ever-expanding list, and the city of Quito was one of those first sites.
