Such as? It'd be interesting to see what else he's known for
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5984041
I think it's still a good comparison: Correa was his country's Bismark. He was in the right place at the right time -- Bismark himself famously having said that the job of the politician is to listen for God's footsteps and grab onto His coattails as he passes by -- and he legitimately did build a massive amount of eg. roads, hospitals (some decent multiple of the previous N presidencies combined), reformed the tax service, got a ton of small businesses paying taxes for the first time ever (by making it incredibly cheap for even the very poorest small businesses to get into the system) ... and was pretty much like Bismark in relations with the opposition press, too.
I loved the only street noise being the occasional donkey. I worked over a tiny EDGE connection for years until real connectivity got to my area, working over a 'screen' session to a beefy VPS in the states.
I can't help but agree with some of the characterizations of the cities in Ecuador. But then again, personally I wouldn't understand someone who would come to the country with the primary intention of seeing those cities, saying to themselves "oh, wow, I want to see Quito or Guayaquil." I wouldn't get it. Guayaquil is kinda like Bangkok or other big cities in underdeveloped areas; bustling and alive and joyous in its own sort of way, but not something that'd draw me around the world to visit. FWIW, Loja and Cuenca are more pleasant cities to visit.
But a laid-back fishing village with good neighbors? With good sand-bottom beach breaks and warm water? Tuna and dorado right from the ocean, fresh local produce ... that's ideal for me, and I was already comfortable with small-town and rural life from my time in the United States.