Ecuador Informa — Weekly Magazine — October 25, 2026

For a weekend in Guayaquil, the characters of Japanese animation seemed to step off the screen and into the Palacio de Cristal. Fans dressed as their favourite heroes, artists displayed their illustrations, and visitors gathered around video games, music and elaborate costumes.

Budokan, held October 17–18, brought together enthusiasts of anime, Korean entertainment and gaming. Among the international guests were South Korean actor Shin Hyun-joon, familiar to Ecuadorian audiences from the television drama Stairway to Heaven, and Japanese singer Maki Ōtsuki, whose songs are associated with One Piece. The convention also hosted Ecuador's national final for the World Cosplay Summit, whose winners will represent the country in Japan in 2027.

The enthusiasm extends well beyond Guayaquil.

In Cuenca, the South Korean Embassy organized a K-pop festival at Teatro Sucre on October 22, with singing and dancing competitions. The embassy offered travel assistance to qualifying participants from other provinces, helping make the event accessible beyond the host city.

Meanwhile, Quito's Plaza Cívica Quitumbe is hosting QAsianFest II from October 23–25. The free festival brings together K-pop dancing, cosplay, Asian food, games and local entrepreneurs selling their creations. It also includes Halloween costume competitions, illustrating how different international pop-culture traditions increasingly overlap.

These gatherings are more than opportunities to meet celebrities or buy collectibles. Cosplay requires costume design, sewing and performance skills. Artists and small businesses find customers, while dancers and musicians have opportunities to perform before an audience.

For young Ecuadorians, the appeal of Japanese and Korean entertainment has become something they can participate in and create themselves. What began with television programmes, comics and online videos now fills theatres, public squares and convention halls.

As October draws to a close, Halloween costumes, pumpkins and decorations are appearing in shops, restaurants and neighbourhood celebrations across Ecuador. But October 31 also marks an important date in the country's own history: National Coat of Arms Day.

Ecuador officially adopted its national coat of arms on October 31, 1900, during the presidency of Eloy Alfaro. The familiar emblem tells part of the country's story through its symbols: Chimborazo rising above the Guayas River, a steamship representing commerce and progress, and an Andean condor spreading its wings above the national colours.

The coincidence of the two celebrations has occasionally caused controversy. In 2003, Ecuador's Ministry of Education prohibited Halloween festivities in schools, instructing them instead to organize activities honouring the national emblem. The disagreement reflected concerns that an increasingly popular imported celebration might overshadow Ecuadorian history and identity. That decision was made more than two decades ago and should not be mistaken for a new nationwide ban.

Today, Halloween celebrations are also organized by Ecuadorians themselves, especially through entertainment venues, community events and youth activities. Enjoying an international tradition does not necessarily mean abandoning a national one.

For expatriates living in Ecuador, the occasion offers an opportunity to learn about the country they have chosen as home. Celebrating Halloween can coexist with acknowledging the significance of Ecuador's national symbols and respecting neighbours who observe different traditions.

Just two days later, on November 2, Ecuador commemorates Día de los Difuntos. Families visit cemeteries, remember loved ones and share traditional colada morada, a rich purple fruit-and-maize drink, accompanied by decorated guaguas de pan. Customs vary across the country's regions and communities.

Together, these observances offer a glimpse of Ecuador's cultural diversity, where traditions inherited from the past continue alongside newer influences.

Smaller than a fingernail, a newly described Ecuadorian poison frog has astonished scientists with its brilliant colours—and raised concerns about whether it can survive in the wild.

Named Excidobates perplexus, the frog lives in the forests of Azuay and Morona Santiago. One population is bright scarlet and black, while another is green and yellow. Their appearances are so different that researchers needed genetic analysis to confirm they belong to the same species.

The frog was formally described on October 2, but an October 21 interview with researcher Juan Carlos Sánchez-Nivicela revealed more about the discovery. He described finding the tiny animals among damp leaves and tree roots, guided partly by their faint calls, which can resemble insects.

The discovery comes with a warning. Mining, forest destruction and illegal wildlife collecting threaten the frog's limited habitat. Researchers have recommended classifying it as Critically Endangered and have withheld precise location information to discourage traffickers.

Indigenous leaders from Ecuador and three neighbouring Amazonian countries travelled to Vienna this week with a message: protecting the rainforest means confronting the criminal networks profiting from its destruction.

Among them was Patricia Gualinga, a Kichwa leader from Sarayaku, Ecuador, who joined representatives from Peru, Brazil and Colombia at a United Nations conference on organized crime, held October 19–23. Their concerns included illegal gold mining, logging and drug trafficking, which threaten Indigenous territories and contaminate rivers that communities depend on for fishing and drinking water.

The delegation argued that arresting individual miners or conducting occasional police operations is not enough. Governments must also investigate the money, buyers and international trading networks that make these activities profitable.

On October 23, the conference approved a resolution to begin negotiating a new international agreement addressing environmental crimes. The resolution explicitly recognizes the contribution of Indigenous peoples and local communities to combating these activities. Ecuador was among the countries supporting the initiative.

But an important question remains unresolved: although the resolution acknowledges Indigenous communities, it does not guarantee them a place in the negotiations.

For Gualinga and her fellow delegates, the next challenge is ensuring that the people protecting the Amazon every day have a voice in the international decisions affecting their territories.

Visitors to Cuenca's San Blas park are encountering an unusual collection of bears—not the wild animals of the Andes, but 20 colourful sculptures transformed into works of art by Ecuadorian artists.

The outdoor exhibition, Ukumari: El Jardinero del Bosque (The Gardener of the Forest), was presented on October 19 by the Azuay Prefecture, the Cuenca Biennial and Fundación AMARU.

Quito sculptor Milton Estrella Gavidea created the original bear forms, which were then decorated by 20 artists from different provinces. Each artist donated their work to help draw attention to the spectacled bear and the mountain forests it inhabits.

The exhibition brings wildlife conservation into a public space where residents and visitors can encounter it through art. Its organizers hope the sculptures will encourage greater appreciation for the Andean bear and the forests and páramos that sustain it.

On Floreana Island in the Galápagos, wildlife cameras are watching day and night, helping park rangers protect animals in places that are difficult for people to reach.

The system combines cameras, wireless sensors and artificial intelligence to identify wildlife and alert conservation teams when something needs attention. Instead of spending days checking equipment and sorting through photographs, rangers can concentrate on protecting the island's fragile ecosystem.

Since January, the technology has collected more than 600,000 images. According to the conservation organizations operating it, the system has saved approximately 86 days of fieldwork and can help locate animals in hours rather than weeks.

Floreana's conservation programme is working to control invasive species and prepare for the return of 12 species that have disappeared locally. The technology helps scientists monitor wildlife and assess whether habitats are ready for their return.

On October 23, the project received international recognition when it was named among the 50 finalists for the 2026 Premios Verdes, selected from more than 2,000 projects.

For an island with a small human population and extraordinary wildlife, the system offers a new way to protect nature without requiring someone to be everywhere at once.

When Justin Alvo travelled from the United States to Ecuador's Amazon, he was following a family connection. According to his published interviews, his father had grown up in the remote community of Tres de Noviembre before leaving Ecuador, and Justin wanted to understand a part of his heritage he had never fully experienced.

What began as a journey of discovery became a new life.

Through his YouTube channel, Justin shares videos about his marriage, family and daily life in Ecuador's Amazon.

According to interviews published by UNILAD in July, Justin met María, a young Shuar woman working at an Amazonian restaurant, while planning to make documentary videos about Indigenous communities. Their friendship developed into a relationship, and the couple eventually married and settled near her family in Morona Santiago. In June 2026, they welcomed their son, Oliver.

Adjusting to life in the community was not always easy. Justin recalls that María's grandmother asked him to demonstrate his willingness to work by cutting down a particularly tough tree using only an axe. The task took him more than an hour and a half, far longer than an experienced local worker might need. According to his account, his effort helped him earn the family's respect.

He also discovered how much he had to learn. Justin says María's relatives taught him about plants, animals, hunting and the practical skills needed to live in the rainforest. In interviews published in July, he challenged the misconception that people living in remote Indigenous communities lack education or knowledge. He described the Shuar as highly skilled custodians of knowledge passed between generations.

His videos also show a community navigating change. Traditional farming, family responsibilities and knowledge of the forest coexist with smartphones, social media and younger people seeking employment in nearby towns. Justin says some elders worry that excessive time online draws young people away from community life.

For Justin, the journey has brought him closer to his family's Ecuadorian roots. For viewers, his videos offer an opportunity to see contemporary Shuar life through one family's experiences, beyond the stereotypes that often surround Indigenous peoples. His perspective is personal, and the customs he describes should not be taken as representative of every Shuar community.