Spanish, Spanish, Spanish. Do not come to Ecuador without knowing Spanish, else you will feel like being stranded in a no man's land. Nobody speaks English or any other language. All speak Spanish.
All transactions in the offices too happen in Spanish, so perish the thought that you are going to be only in your office most of the times and are not going to have to converse in Spanish.
The people seem friendly enough and greet every passerby. And it is better that one learns to greet them back. When meeting a lady be ready to brush your right cheek with the lady's cheek and make a smacking sound with your lips. This is the form of greeting when one meets and when one takes leave of the person.
The sun sets by 6:00 PM and it gets dark by 6:30. All friends have told that Quito is not a safe place to go on your own after dark. There are incidents of violent muggings in the city of Quito. Apparently one needs no visa to get into Ecuador and this has meant that there are many poor immigrants from the neighbouring countries and this makes Quito an unsafe place.
Otherwise it seems to be a good place to live in. The weather so far has been great. The temperature varying between 10 and 22 degree Centigrade through the day till night. It does not get too windy either and so there is no worry of wind chill.
It does seem to rain quite often, but it has not rained the last few days. So will have to wait and see.
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