Ecuador

*Galapagos: Islands Born of Fire, photographs and text by Tui De Roy (1998). Charles Darwin didn't have a camera, but if he had, his images might mirror these stunning glimpses of island life. For 35 years, De Roy lived among the world-famous blue-footed boobies, marine iguanas, and giant tortoises; her images and text convey wisdom gleaned from her own evolutionary immersion.

*The Panama Hat Trail: A Journey from South America, by Tom Miller (1986). What (besides your head) goes into a hat? Miller follows the making and marketing of Panama's famed hat and in so doing draws a fascinating picture of South America—in particular, Ecuador, where the hats are made.

Valverde's Gold: In Search of the Last Great Inca Treasure, by Mark Honigsbaum (2004). In this nonfiction page-turner, an adventurous journalist follows a 400-year-old map in search of buried gold. Starting in rainy Quito, Honigsbaum's journey takes him across the volcano-studded Llanganati Mountains of the Andes in search of mysterious, emerald-green lakes and Incan mines. His obsession deepens as he traces the history of conquest and greed through his visits to dusty archives, basilicas, and misty jungles.