Opinions. I reserve the right to change them.

Well, I'm back from Ecuador and it was a blast.  It was a long long trip down and back but the kids did fine (portable DVD players make travel SO much easier :> ).  Highlights included:
 - Someone trying to break into our hotel room at 11:30pm! (that was in the US not Ecuador)
 - Galapagos turtles
 - Amazing varieties of hummingbirds high in the mountains
 - The people!

Some weird things to keep in mind if you ever make it down there:
 - The keep the toilet paper OUTSIDE the stalls, so you have to stock up before you go in
 - The two lane winding highways with a cliff on one side and a precipice on the other and a double yellow line in the middle are commonly treated as THREE lane highways (passing lane in the middle)
 - Traffic is insane, some wide highways don't even have lane markers at all
 - Air is thin

But despite the arduous driving and flying to get there, I highly recommend it as a fun destination!