Straddling the equator in Ecuador, some 3,000 meters high in the Andes, is the ancient community of Otavalo. Most of the residents of this city, sprawled across a high plateau, are indigenous Quechua speaking indians, descendents of the Incas. Though the climate here has been described as eternal spring, the health conditions in Quechua speaking areas are often far worse than in Spanish speaking regions. Many indigenous communities in the high Sierra have been bypassed by development.