Yeah lots of that is true although i do buy food from street vendors and meat from markets often.  When i first came here my sister said to me that Ecuadorians are compulsive liars!  What she meant is that they will tell you what they think you want to hear.  This is true in a lot of countries I have been to: they just have a different cultural attitude to the truth than I do.  What I want to hear is the truth, not "yes teacher we'll come tomorrow for your carefully prepared lesson because we really want to pass our exam next week" (often a bare face lie) or other arrangements they make that they just forget all about the next minute.  I'm used to it now: I wait a bit and if they don't show up I just go elsewhere, it's only what they'd do to you; they don't see it as being rude.  They are also incredibly hospitable and if you stay with them they will be so generous it makes you feel guilty and don't offer to do the washing up!  They are tactile, friendly and affectionate.  They aren't embarrassed to dance and sing at any time and in fact they love it.  They are full of life.  But also there are some very conservative people:  hardly any women in Ecuador have tattoos and I often get funny looks.  Men will beep at you from cars all the time - I even get chatted up by men considerably younger than myself, but this might well be because women over 40 here don't go nightclubbing, so they just assume i'm younger.

All countries are different, and as you say Kallen, this one is beautiful and agree with you that people should visit as it certainly is a worthwhile experience.