This billboard proclaims Ecuador’s success in reducing its homicide rate to 12.40 per 100,000 inhabitants.

That compares pretty favourably with world homicide leaders Honduras (90.4 per 100,000 inhabitants) and Venezuela (53.7). Colombia is way down in 12th place (30.8) just behind South Africa (31.0). The UK has 1.

In its darkest hour (1991) Medellín had a homicide rate of 381 murders per 100,000.

In 2014 it was 26.7.

An obligatory part of every tourist’s visit to Ecuador is to the Middle of the World or La Mitad del Mundo, where you can have your photo taken with one foot in the northern hemisphere and one in the south (see above).

I was tickled that there was a church nearby called “The Church of the Two Hemispheres”.

And impressed that they had a Family Restaurant. (Restaurante Familiar).

So impressed, that I pointed it out to the people I was travelling with.

It doesn’t say family restaurant, I was told. It says family restoration. (Restauración famiilar).

But I still think a family restaurant in a church is a nice idea.

One of Ecuador’s curiosities is that they have used the US dollar there since the year 2000.

A Colombian businessman, living in Ecuador, explained the consequences to me like this:

“Ecuador started off with a certain amount of dollars [he named some huge sum, like several hundred billion] and that’s all the dollars they can ever have unless they can export. Not like Colombia, say, where if the government runs short of pesos, they can just print more. So if someone buys a fridge made in China, the dollars go to China and stay there.”

Which explains why, everywhere we went, we saw billboards encouraging Ecuadorians to buy local – food, clothes, appliances.

Ecuadorian cowboy

So I’m back in Medellín after 10 amazing days in Ecuador.

Everywhere we went we met Colombians and they all said, “It’s so peaceful here, and so safe!”

Of course, I would love you to visit Colombia, but if that seems a bit of a stretch, I suggest you consider Ecuador as the destination for your next holiday.