Ecuador is a relatively small country in South America, about the size of Colorado. It has 4 regions: the Sierra, Costa, Amazonia, and the Galápagos Islands. Each region has its own unique climate, flora and fauna, but more important to our story, culture. In addition to this, each region has its sub regions and cultures.

There is a lot of rivalry between the different regions. You will find regionalisms can be very bitter. Esmeraldas is a province on the Coast in the northwest of the country bordering with Colombia and the Pacific Ocean. The population of the mountain regions figuratively looked down on people from the coast, especially those from Esmeraldas! It is the most disparaged province in Ecuador.

On top of the regionalism in Ecuador, racism is a big factor. Spanish descent is still the top dog, mestizo comes next, then indigenous, and by far the lowest ethnic group in Ecuador is Afro-Ecuadorian. Esmeraldas is the center of the Afro Ecuadorian population.

In addition to ethnicity, in many rural communities being a woman or a child is even more undervalued. Traditionally there has been low value placed on education. In many subsistence farming communities, children are generally seen as manual labor .

Now at this point I have to say that Esmeraldas and its people are beautiful, with deep cultural heritage, fantastic food and music. The Esmeraldeños, despite their many hardships, are warm and welcoming with good teeth and beautiful smiles!

For more info on Esmeraldas here is a link:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esmeraldas_Province