Ecuador – The differences between New Zealand and Ecuador

Well for a starter the mountains in NZ are a very different shape and size and also we have been in Ecuador now for three weeks and we haven’t swum in any of the rivers and in the first two days in NZ we were swimming in dozens and dozens of rivers!!!!

Another difference is that here in Quito (the Capital) nearly all of the houses are made of cement and in New Zealand nearly all of the houses were made of wood, but apart from old Quito all of the houses here are quite ugly! Also NZ is very much like the UK, but Ecuador isn’t. As well, like in England they just wear jeans and t shirts but in Ecuador the ladies wear a lovely frilly embroidered top and an embroidered belt too. However the men are very different to us – they have long hair in plaits as black as soot and white trousers and black top hats and look very traditional!

Also here they plough their fields with oxen and horse and in NZ they use tractors and in New Zealand it was all green and all the moths pollinate at night so the flowers arent as colourful as here in Ecuador!

A similarity is that they both had indigenous  people but the Europeans arrived in New Zealand around 200 years ago and here the Spanish arrived around 500 years ago.

Ice bowl we make with flowers and grasses

Watching a video in our cosy Casita in front of the fire