Ecuador is a relatively small country on the Equator, located in the northwest of South America and is bordered by Colombia, Peru, and the Pacific Ocean. The physical geography of Ecuador is quite diverse and is divided into three different regions: the Costa, the Sierra, and the Oriente. The Costa region includes the lowlands along Ecuador’s western coast. The land is dotted with small mountain ranges. Moving east into the Sierra region are Ecuador’s highlands. In the highlands are the Cordillera Occidental and Oriental mountains. These mountainous chains are formed by the Andes mountains that come down from Colombia and into Ecuador. Most notable among the Sierra peaks is Mount Chimborazo, a rugged mountain with a peak of 20,561 feet. East of the Sierra mountains is the Oriente, the third region in Ecuador. The Oriente contains the eastern slopes of the Andes, including the lowlands of rainforest in the Amazon Basin. Its 50,000 square miles are mostly covered with tropical rainforest, home to a wide variety of monkeys along with jaguars, the unusual tapir, and the adorable raccoon-related coatis and kinkajous. Beyond these regions are the Galápagos Islands, located 600 miles west of Ecuador’s coast. The Galápagos is an archipelago that includes nineteen tropical islands and many other islets, home to endemic and unusual animal life. In contrast to the rainforest of the Oriente, the Islands are covered in a cactus forest, featuring shield volcanoes, craters, and cliffs. Ecuador’s geographic diversity results in a wide variation in its climate.