I decided it was a good idea to sum up a handy list of cultural peculiarities thus far collected in my time here.
Social: in Ecuador it is customary to shake hands with every single person of the already-present group when arriving at a social event. Then, when beer or other alcohol is served, it is rude to take a beer just for oneself, and rather several beers are bought by the group, and small amounts are poured into each glass. If you then want more, you are too offer it to every other person on the table before pouring your own. ¡salud! is rarely bothered with. I was also told that answering the question 'do you want to go to a bar tonight?' with the question 'sure, what time?' is so European.
Commercial: bartering is commonplace in all but the biggest chain stores, and it is actually considered rather rude if you don't barter on price. I was recently told by a friend that one of the best ways to win the respect of an Ecuadorian is to barter with him. They also seem to be a lot more accepting of dodgy travelling salesmen, and willing to fork out for whatever crap the guy who's ambushed us on the bus with a 30 minute speech is peddling. That could just be down to the Ecuadorian mild-mannered nature of course.
Manners: little emphasis is placed here on the manners that we hold so dear in blighty. Please and thank you are used sparingly, and people would rather barge past you than utter a simple 'perdón'. Despite this, they are a very warm (if slightly reserved) race of people, and any friendship will be greatly repaid.
Hygiene: one aspect of life here that I've found unusual is the fact that used toilet paper is not flushed down the toilet, but rather placed in a designated bin at arm's length of the toilet. Inevitably, this usually reaches the point of overflowing before anyone bites the bullet and empties the container of shitty paper out. As such, the relative benefits of this system are surely outweighed by the mankiness of the overflowing shit-bin. A teacher from England told me once that the thing he loves about Ecuador is the freedom to urinate where he wants without fear of being judged, and yes, I have seen plenty of evidence, male and female, to back that statement up.
Relationships: not got any personal experience in this field but from what I've seen latino men live up to their less-than-positive reputation. It is widely accepted that men are scumbags who can't keep it in their trousers, and cheating between couples (married or unmarried) seems to be fairly accepted. Someone one told me that her father's unfaithfulness is actually a running joke in the family, and many nights after tea he'll pop out to 'meet a business partner' with a knowing wink. Everyone knows what this means and it's accepted as long as he crawls back into the marital bed at the end and doesn't take drugs. As Ecuador is quite a conservative catholic country, teenage marriage is quite common and some people seemed surprised that I was unmarried at 24.
Environment: fair play to the president, Rafael Correa, in this department, as he seems to be someone who actually cares about the environment. There exists something in Ecuadorian law called the 'law of nature' where the beautiful nature of the country is protected by law. The Galapagos are a bit too touristy but at least travel to the islands is highly restricted by the park entry fee. He tried an unusual policy of promising to leave the vast reserves of oil under the Ecuadorian jungle alone if the international community would come up with the $3.5bn that they could earn by exploiting 0.1% of the national park. In the end they only received a few million so the scheme was a abandoned, but a bit more cooperativeness from more well-off countries or individuals and it could have worked. Here in Loja I don't really see a lot of love for the environment, despite the beautiful natural location. I've yet to even encounter anywhere that you can recycle anything here.
I'll continue to add to this post as and when I think of more stuff. Contributions and suggestions gratefully received.
