Dollarization
After decades on the slide against the dollar, the national currency, the sucre , was fixed in early 2000 at an exchange rate of US$1 to 25,000 sucres. Both US dollars and Ecuadorian sucres were legal tender until 2000, by which time the sucre was to have been phased out and replaced by standard US dollar bills as the country's official currency. Small change was planned to be a mixture of US coinage and coins minted in Ecuador (such as the $0.2 piece, which doesn't exist in the US), probably with Ecuadorian national symbols and emblems. All costs in this guide are quoted in US dollars. However, as money matters are so unpredictable in Ecuador, not least due to significant opposition against the dollarization scheme, it's worth noting that the Ecuadorian sucre ("S/") comes in notes of 50,000, 20,000, 10,000 and 5000 denominations. Notes for 1000, 500, 100 and 50 sucres are largely extinct and have been replaced by coins. Whatever currency is in use, there's likely to be a shortage of small change and low-denomination notes, particularly in rural areas, so it's a good idea to break up larger notes whenever you have the opportunity
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