Ecuador
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Contents |
Country Information
- AFS Country Code: ECU
- See http://www.usa.afs.org/usa_en/view/8262 for more information on Ecuador.
Placement
- Age requirement: 15.6-18.6 years for school programs; 18.6-28.0 for community service programs.
- Language requirement: Some Spanish will be helpful.
- Health restrictions: Cannot place students with severe handicaps, due to lack of facilities.
- Graduates: Yes.
- Smoking: Most families have at least one member who smokes, but in spite of this, many Ecuadorian families object to teenage smoking, and/or smoking inside the house.
- Dietary Restrictions: ECU will automatically accept all vegetarian students whose applications are sent to ECU, provided that they do not have any other major limitation in placement, and that they comply with the internationally accepted guidelines for guaranteed status, and ECU's own country-specific guidelines. These students, however, should be made aware of the following: A typical Ecuadorian diet calls for some kind of meat (beef, pork, chicken, fish or other seafood, cold cuts) twice a day, at lunch and dinner. Meat portions are not necessarily large, and are always accompanied by rice and some cooked vegetable or salad. Many times, meat is cooked as a stew, which will also be accompanied of rice. Besides rice, other main staples are potatoes, noodles, and, on the coast, beans, yucca and plantains. Carbohydrates constitute a major intake, and it's not unusual to have 2 or 3 (rice, potatoes, noodles) in a same meal. Vegetables, on the other hand, are not that popular, and will mostly come in cooked form, rather than in fresh salads. In any case, vegetables are never at the center of a meal. Most Ecuadorian housewives (even those who have hired help to do the cooking, as would be the case of most AFS host mothers) are very territorial when it comes to their kitchens, and will seldom allow someone who is not meant to do the cooking prepare his/her own meals. Besides, doing this would be considered rude of someone living in a family situation. Snacking between meals is not customary. For vegetarians (especially strict ones, or even ovo-lacto vegetarians) all this means that, while they definitely have to assume responsibility over their dietary needs, they will have limitations, and most of the time, they will have to eat everything else in the meal but the meat. Particularly for those who do not eat any kind of meat at all, a balanced diet may be impossible, unless they provide for themselves food products that may compensate a lack of proteins from a diet of mostly starch.
- Dress:
- Other: Predominantly Roman Catholic, but we can accommodate all different beliefs since, in spite of general conservatism, most Ecuadorians show a good deal of religious tolerance.
Travel Information
- Visa:
- Departure Preparation:
- Arrival & Orientation:
- Departure:
Host Families
- Transportation:
- Hosted-in:
- Extracurricular:
Support Information
Information needed.
Academics
- Transcript/Diploma: Cannot guarantee; participants will need to investigate themselves.
- School:
Scholarships & Sponsored Programs
See Scholarships or Sponsored Programs for Sending for more information.
General Country Information
- Description:
- Language:
- Religion: Predominantly Roman Catholic.
- Climate:
- Politics:
Return to the Country Information page.
For information, questions or concerns, contact the Program Information Specialist or countryinfo@afs.org.
