Santo Domingo de los Colorados

Situated between the highlands and the coast, Santo Domingo, a progressive town surrounded by lovely scenery, is a great place from which to explore tropical forests, rivers, and waterfalls in addition to being a great destination for wildlife watching especially for bird life. A natural crossroads between the nation's coast and highlands, Santo Domingo has first-class roads leading to Guayaquil, Manabí, Esmeraldas, and Quito. Its population lives primarily off of agriculture, growing banana, sugar cane, and African palm, among other products. The area is traditionally known for the Tsáchilas natives(also known as Indios Colorados or Red Indians), who live there, maintaing their way of life and customs, one of which is that the men dye their hair red with dye obtained from achiote, a small red fruit native to the area, the "Colorados" are also known to be powerfull shamans. The Toachi and Blanco rivers nearby are the most popular places for white water rafting in the country.