A courier just delivered a handwritten message to your door. It
reads:
My dear friend and intrepid traveler,
After much planning, I have prepared a new and exciting challenge
for you. Called Around the World in 80
Caches!, it requires patience, ingenuity, and the
ability to handle the unexpected. In this journey, you will be
venturing into several countries, 80 in all, in search of concealed
artifacts. The countries will lead you to continents, and the
continents will lead you to the ultimate prize, hereafter known as
"The World." Based on your experience and past adventures, I am
confident you will succeed. As always, travel safe and be sure to
document your findings. I look forward to hearing all about your
grand expedition.
Your great admirer,
Jules Verne
IMPORTANT NOTE: Information in this cache will help you
solve South America: ATW80
(GC1MGCB), a puzzle cache tied to the related countries.
Ecuador is a country on the west coast of South America that,
when the Galapagos Islands are included, is slightly smaller than
Nevada.
What is now Ecuador formed part of the northern Inca Empire
until the Spanish conquest in 1533.
Of note to geocachers is the fact that Ecuador lies on the
Equator and has a monument in its capital city of Quito that notes
the 0° coordinate. On my last visit to Quito, I took a
picture of the two plaques and the monument. There is a virtual
cache at this location that lists an interesting fact. Due to
the shifting of Magnetic North, the longitudinal and latitudinal
coordinates do not remain stationary. This monument was
placed in the early Twentieth Century and now does not sit on the
actual 0° latitudinal line.
Another interesting fact is that Ecuador is the only country,
other than the United States, that uses the U.S. Dollar as its
currency. The US$ replaced the Sucre and the Centavo in March
2000.