Ecuador

His seventh-grade teacher was discussing family values last month when Jaime Castillo startled his classmates by bursting into tears. They knew that the 13-year-old hadn't seen his father since he left for the United States three years ago and that he was depressed about it, but he wasn't the kind of child to cry in public. The next day, his friends' surprise turned to shock when they learned he had gone home and swallowed a packet of rat poison.

The coolest place in Hollywood is a sauna inside the health center at El Centro and Selma that's been around since the mid-1980s. I was reminded of this the other day after a conversation with a Guatemalan maintenance man named Romulo and a retired auto mechanic from Ecuador named Victor. We sat sweating together as they discussed Victor's house in Ecuador. He wanted to sell it but couldn't. The idea pained Victor, as he'd bought the house hoping his kids might want to experience his home country.

THE BEST WAY TO MINDO, ECUADOR From LAX, connecting service (change of planes) is available to Quito, Ecuador, on Continental, American, Copa, Delta, LAN and Avianca. Restricted round-trip fares begin at $368. Regular bus service from Quito to Mindo is available hourly and costs $4 each way. Taxis charge about $50. Or visitors can arrange transportation from Quito as part of a package tour (see below). TELEPHONES To call the numbers below from the U.S., dial 011 (the international dialing code)

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are in Ecuador with the kids in the wake of their engagement news, but as usual it's something of a working vacation for Jolie, who last week was promoted from goodwill ambassador to special envoy in her continuing gig with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. It was destination Galapagos Islands for the six kids and their folks, with Mom making time to visit a refugee settlement as well. Over the weekend, Jolie met with Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino in the capital city, Quito, and also showed up at Providencia, a settlement in the rain forest near the banks of the San Miguel River, which forms Ecuador's border with Colombia.

For Mari, a 30-year-old Colombian mother of two small children, the choice was life or death: either flee to neighboring Ecuador or be killed by paramilitaries who were trying to extort $3,000 from her and her husband. So in October, she and her family fled their small farm in southern Colombia and became part of a rising tide of refugees streaming into Ecuador. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said last month that the number of Colombian refugees tripled in the last six months of 2009, compared with the same period the previous year.

The Galapagos Islands tour from Thomson Family Travel keeps the adventure quotient high -- orienteering, snorkeling, kayaking and camping on the beach -- and prices low for selected 10-day trips this summer. The Galapagos Multi-Sport Adventure begins in Quito, Ecuador, with two days in the Andean highlands that include a visit to Itchimbia Hill, 9,500 feet above sea level overlooking the city, and a stop at the Condor Project in Hacienda Zuleta to see the huge birds firsthand.

I've often fantasized about retracing the steps of such naturalists as Charles Darwin, Alexander von Humboldt and William Bartram, who saw exotic places and recorded, in detail, the plants and animals they described so vividly on their expeditions. But the armchair naturalist in me didn't want to work too hard or subject myself to the tribulations they suffered as they circumnavigated the globe, climbed the South American Andes or slogged through the swamps of the Southeastern United States, all places where one might encounter sharks, bugs, snakes, piranhas, jaguars and crocodiles.

The Galapagos Islands never go out of season. That's the pitch from Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic, which has created "prime-season" rates available now through March on selected 10-day tours of Ecuador's famed islands, which are temperate year-round. The drawing card here is the unparalleled opportunity to see wildlife up close. You can snorkel with sea turtles, photograph blue-footed boobies on the beach and hike to highland forest trails during this tour of the islands made famous by Darwin's voyage on the Beagle.

Ecuador's beauty shines through The beauty and "aliveness" of Mindo, Ecuador, came through clearly in "An Eden in the Clouds" [April 4], by Chris Kraul, who has reported for The Times on damage done in Ecuador by oil drilling. Beauty like Mindo's must be protected. Kraul is more than the armchair naturalist he says he is: He walked, saw, listened. And shared the beauty. -- Damiana Chavez, Los Angeles Coastal trip can be a bargain too I am surprised that in the current economic recession the L.A. Times highlighted a $1,185 overnight stay at Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur ["You, Me and Hwy. 1," by Sally Horchow, April 4]

Colombia pushed on with chemical spraying of the coca plants used to make cocaine along its border with Ecuador in a campaign stoking diplomatic tensions between the Andean neighbors. Ecuadorean President-elect Rafael Correa canceled a trip to Bogota to protest the fumigation with the herbicide glyphosate, which Ecuador says is harming crops and residents on its side of the border.

The Galapagos Islands tour from Thomson Family Travel keeps the adventure quotient high -- orienteering, snorkeling, kayaking and camping on the beach -- and prices low for selected 10-day trips this summer. The Galapagos Multi-Sport Adventure begins in Quito, Ecuador, with two days in the Andean highlands that include a visit to Itchimbia Hill, 9,500 feet above sea level overlooking the city, and a stop at the Condor Project in Hacienda Zuleta to see the huge birds firsthand.

  Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa on Monday pardoned three owner-editors and a columnist at the El Universo newspaper who had been convicted of defaming him in a controversial press freedom case. Brothers Carlos, Cesar and Nicolas Perez and columnist Emilio Palacio had been ordered to pay $42 million in fines and serve three years in prison for publishing an allegedly libelous opinion piece by Palacio in February 2011 in the Guayaquil-based paper, the nation's second-largest.

Since taking office in 2007, Ecuador's President Rafael Correa has been in a war of words with the media in his country. He's used archaic libel laws to pursue criminal charges against the owners of El Universo and a columnist at the newspaper. His government has pushed through a law that severely restricts the media's ability to cover political campaigns and elections; indeed, it goes so far as to ban any media reports that can benefit or hurt a candidate. And now he's set his sights on international media observers.

The Galapagos Islands never go out of season. That's the pitch from Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic, which has created "prime-season" rates available now through March on selected 10-day tours of Ecuador's famed islands, which are temperate year-round. The drawing card here is the unparalleled opportunity to see wildlife up close. You can snorkel with sea turtles, photograph blue-footed boobies on the beach and hike to highland forest trails during this tour of the islands made famous by Darwin's voyage on the Beagle.

ECUADOR Slide show Tour guide Summer Davis presents photos and anecdotes about Ecuador's lesser-known Sierra, jungle and coastal regions. When, where: 7:30 p.m. Monday at Distant Lands, 20 S. Raymond Ave., Pasadena. Admission, info: Free. RSVP to (626) 449-3220. ATLANTIC OCEAN Slide show Mort Loveman will present the Bermuda Triangle When, where: 1 p.m. Wednesday at Roxbury Park Community Center, 471 S. Roxbury Drive, Beverly Hills.

ECUADOR Chocoholics tour Equatortrekking's "Gourmet Journey Along the Cacao Route" follows the path of the recently released documentary "El Cacao" by visiting chocolate factories, family-owned cocoa plantations and restaurants that use it in indigenous dishes. Also included is a walking tour of Quito, Ecuador's capital. Itinerary: Guayaquil to Vinces, Hacienda Cañas, Rio Muchacho, Quito and Baños Dates: Departures July 15 and 30, Aug. 15 and 30 and Sept.

Occidental Petroleum Corp. confirmed Thursday that it had dropped an arbitration claim against Ecuador's state oil company in a dispute over a seized field in the country. The decision was made to "move things along" as Occidental pursues $1 billion in damages from Ecuador. In May, Ecuador terminated its contract with Occidental over accusations that the Westwood-based company sold part of an oil block without government authorization.

To hear a 20-year veteran of the force tell it, the streets of Ecuador are a lot meaner for undercover cops these days. The anti-drug officer says narcotics are flooding in, a fellow detective was killed during a recent sting operation, and months of painstaking investigative work are routinely squandered by corrupt or threatened judges who let suspects go. "Many of my colleagues are extremely discouraged and worried. But we're fighting on. We're doing it for our children," said the longtime officer, who asked that his name not be published for security reasons.

Ecuador said it was expelling the American ambassador, making her the latest U.S. official to become embroiled in a diplomatic dispute after disclosures by the WikiLeaks website. Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said at a news conference Tuesday that Ambassador Heather Hodges was to be expelled because, in one of the diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks, she accused the just-retired national police commander of corruption and speculated that his alleged misdeeds were known to President Rafael Correa.