What currency do they use in ecuador?

Believe it or not, they use the U.S. Dollar.

surprisingly they use the u.s. dollar

The official currency of Ecuador is the US dollar. US coins are the same value as the Ecuadorean coin.

They have used the U.S. dollar since 2000. Before that it was the Sucre which was their currency before. They have their own coins which are the same size and weight as U.S. coins but U.S. coins are treated the same as their coins. They have a half dollar that is the same size and weight a a U.S. half dollar, but you see it every day there whereas its rare to see on in the States. You wonder what happened to all the U.S. dollar coins ended up? (The gold Sacajweah dollar coins?) Thats where they are; Ecuador. They use them every day there.

Yep, they use the U.S. dollar. They will accept American coins, but have minted their own Ecuadorian coins with the same denominations, so if you pay with a dollar bill you will get Ecuadorian change. Prices are much cheaper than they are in the States, although they have risen quite a bit since they "dollarized" in 2000. It was quite a controversial move, but their economy was going down the tubes at a rapid rate -- when I arrived in Ecuador in August 1999, the exchange rate was 8,000 Ecuadorian sucres to $1. By December 1999, the exchange rate had jumped to 25,000 sucres to $1. Converting their currency to the dollar helped stabilize their economy a lot.

The US dollar