The official language here is Spanish. Some people also speak kichwa, the language of the indigenous people. While I don’t hear it much in Ibarra because there isn’t a large indigenous population here, its influence can be seen easily. For example, in this post I mention Yahuarcocha and Cuicocha, two nearby lakes. Cocha means "lake" in kichwa, and you can see that word in the names of these two lakes!
Ecuador uses the American dollar, so it’s very convenient - I don’t have to deal with exchange rates! One thing that is different though is that they use the gold dollar coin here instead of the dollar bill. They also use 50¢ coins here, which I haven’t seen in the U.S.
The prices can change based on where you are in Ecuador. Similar to the U.S., things tend to be more expensive in big cities. A bottle of water when I visited the capital usually cost between $1 and $2, but 50¢ to $1 in a smaller city like Ibarra.
