Money Exchange in Ecuador
After arriving at Hotel San Francisco in old town Quito, I asked the young man at the hotel reception desk “Where can I get the best exchange for American travelers checks?” He directed me to the bank around the corner, about a 5-minute walk. Once inside the bank, I surveyed the scene and there must been at last 300 or more people waiting in line. I had never seen anything like this before in my life. Two minutes later, I bolted out of the bank and returned to my hotel. Shaking my head, I told myself that there was no way ‘in hell’ that I was going to wait in a line like this - it would take at least 2 hours to get serviced. Back at my hotel, I told Fernando, the young hotel clerk, about the mob scene at the bank and asked him if there wasn’t somewhere else I could exchange the monies.
Fernando directed me to a currency exchange bureau about one block from the bank. As it was getting close to closing time, I hurried over to the bureau. Presenting my travelers checks to the clerk, I asked him in my best Spanish - I would like to exchange some American Travelers checks? He asked me how many? I replied three hundred USD. He proceeded to cash my checks, giving me $294 in US dollars and explained to me in Spanish that there was a service fee of 6.00 ($2.00 per check). Shaking my head, I told him in broken Spanish that I did not want US dollars but the local currency. He shook his head, and insisted this was the proper exchange. I kept pleading that I wanted the local currency. In response, he said, “ Senor, I am giving you the local currency” shooting me a strange look. It was then that it dawned on me that the US dollar is the official currency in Ecuador. I was a little shocked to say the least. When I returned to the hotel, I did a little research on the Internet and discovered that the US dollar has been the official currency in Ecuador since 1999. Too bad, I didn’t do my research before I arrived in the country.
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