|
First Some Geography!!!
Esmeraldas is the north western province of Ecuador. Ecuador
lies on the north west coast of south America and is one of the
smallest countries with an area of 272,000
km²
. Columbia borders Esmeraldas in the
North and the Pacific ocean is west. Ecuador lies on the
Equator. the province of Esmeraldas is north of the line and the
rest is in the south.
Ecuador is divided into three climatic zones. Leading to ethnic
groupings of the population in different parts:
-
The coast
- The Andes and the encircled high valley
- The Amazon low lands
Click
here to
see an animated tour of Ecuador http://www.purecuador.com/
Ecuador's population is divided into four
ethnic groups:
-
30 % Indian (found mainly in the highlands
and in the Amazon)
- 50 % Mestizen and Cholos (widely
distributed over the whole country)
- 8 % "Blacks", Mulatten and Zambos
(mainly living in the coastal region)
- 10 % Whites (mainly settled
in Quito(the capital) and Guayaquil. This group is mainly the
upper social level and include several Europeans)
6 0% of the total population live on 24.6% of the land (67,930
km²). Towns/cities are well populated with 63% of the population
found in these urban areas.
Ecuador is divided into 22 governor managed
provinces. Governors
are selected by the country's president. The government is
financed almost exclusively from the sale of oil found deep in
the Amazon and in Esmeraldas.
Ecuador is the world's biggest banana exporter.
Other exports include cocoa, shrimps, cut flowers, fish and
coffee.
Deliveries to Germany are approximately 5% of the total export
volume. There are few imports out of Germany.
Ecuador has two international airports and three international
harbours. The road network spans over 43.000 km but only
10,000 km actually have an apshalt surface.
450,000 people live in the
province of Esmeraldas which spans 15,200 km², this accounts
for 3.2 % of the Ecuadorian population on 5.9% of land. 48.4%
live in towns where the national average is 63%.
Esmeraldas is the Spanish word for the jewel Smaragd. Esmeraldas is
historicaly the most neglected province of Ecuador.
She is
divided into 8 administrative districts (Cantons):
• San Lorenzo
• Eloy Alfaro
• Rioverde
• Esmeralda
• Atacames
• Muisne
• Quininde
• La Concordia.
The province's capital Esmeraldas has
approx. 250,000 residents, half of the provinces
population.
The distance between the Esmeraldas city and the capital Quito
is about 340 km. It has one of the three international harbours.
In the close by Oil terminal the black gold is loaded onto ships
that is pumped out of the Amazon valley over the Andes via a
pipeline.
The provincial capital was finally connected to the main road
network in 1961. Until then it was only reachable via
waterways from Manta or Guayaquil or by foot from Santo Domingo
to Quininde and from there - mostly on rafts - along the river
Rio Esmeraldas, which flows into the pacific ocean close to the
city. There are two main asphalt roads the rest are gravel
tracks of second grade quality.
Esmeraldas is the birth place of the Afro-Ecuadorian people.
They are now distribured throughout the country, larger numbers
have settled in Guayaquil. In the North live the rest of an
indigenous population that belong to the tribes of Chachi, Epera
und Awá-Indians.
There are approx. 26.2 residents per km².
Esmeraldas is the least populated coastal province, compared
with Guayas which has 160.8 residents per km². In recent years
there has been a greater movement from more densely populated
provinces into Esmeraldas, which means an above average
population growth.
Whats the weather like?
As
Esmeraldas lies on the Equator, it is HOT and Humid!!!! The
province sees up to 3000 mm of rain per year in the north but the
average is about 2000 mm / year.
The rainy season between December and May is the called “invierno”
(Winter). The subsequent dry season is called “verano”
(Summer).
Average temperatures lie between
23 °C and 26 °C.
Combined with some nice beaches and low cost
of living its not a bad place to visit for some Sun.
So what is the Problem?
Ecuador belongs to one of the poor countries
on our planet. There are of course a portion of the population
that is very wealthy - however the gap between them is
very large.
Ecuador is a developing nation quite low in
the rich stakes, Esmeraldas, is the province that has seen the
least amount of investment and is largely populated by the
ethnic minority that is consider by others population groups as
second rate.
The fishing community is considered within
this group as the bottom of this pile.
According to a recent UN report, 65% of the Ecuadorian
population live below the
poverty line and this could be higher in Esmeraldas as it
is seen as the poorest Ecuadorian province. The
worst hit
- are
those in the towns or the distant rural areas which show
high levels of child
mortality and a below average life expectancy.
Problems are relative and we all have them -
there are also parts of the world that are much worse off!! At
least we are not dealing with a war zone!!
It is not a life that we desire, although Lothar is confronted with it every
day!!.
Some of the issues arising from their
situation are:
The
medical services
are at best
inadequate. The Medical facilities are
undermanned and
poorly equipped.
Schools are for many
reasons irregularly
visited and
education
is rarely completed. In the rural areas there is often
a lack of teachers
and the children have to take
big marches along
dangerous roads to get to school this is really horrific!!!!.
Children are also often required to work on the farms.
A
big social problem is
child labour. The majority of children leave school
after primary education to get work often on Banana, flower
farms and rubbish dumps.
Unemployment as in all
of Ecuador is about
50%,and
a large number of the population earn their living doing
whatever they can.
Take Time to Reflect On What
It Must Be Living With This Situation!!
How do the people
make a living?
The province has no industrial development of any sort.
Even the area used for plantations is relatively small.
There is some tourism
such as bathing resorts at - Muisne, Same, Sua, Atacames,
Tonsupa, Las Peñas -, with accommodation from hostels to luxury
hotels with a golf course. These places are usually visited by
national - Ecuadorian - tourists.
The majority of the population of Esmeraldas are busy with small
farm agriculture,
growing for their own purposes or for the local market. In the
rural areas forestry has important economic value but are not
sustainably
managed. This has led to an 85% loss of the
rainforests in
the north. This fact is worrying as Esmeraldas is, due to its
great diversity of plants and wildlife a biological hot spot.
A
significant amount of people in Esmeraldas survive through fishing
Shrimp breeding was in
the 90s an important source of income for the region, but due to
the outbreak of the
white spot virus it broke down completely. The
disease has been cured
and shrimp production is gaining back some of its previous
importance as an export product - as a more
sustainable organic type of aquaculture is developing.
Esmeraldas also produces some of the finest cocoa
beans.
|
|
|
Here are some Photos that we took to give you some idea of the
country - We hope you like them. |
Visit our partners
here
and check out all the possible products and services
We Thank You For That Extra Help Today.
We ask of you one
small favour? (or perhaps two)
|
