From the editor.

In the late eighteenth century, Italian-born explorer Alejandro Malaspina spent five years exploring the Americas for the Spanish Crown, sailing around Cape Horn and making his way up to Alaska. Writer Louis Werner guides us through this fascinating expedition, which produced a bounty of cultural insight and scientific knowledge that has only recently begun to see the light of day.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Through the pages of Americas, our readers can take their own eye-opening expedition, without having to face the perils of the high seas. In this issue, we make a stop in Guayaquil, Ecuador--as it happens, one of Malaspina's ports of call--where Joyce Gregory Wyels shows us how urban transformation on a grand scale has led to a surge in culture and commerce, and a resurgence of civic pride.

Ecuador, along with Bolivia and Peru, can take pride in another kind of resurgence-the renewed interest in quinoa. Cultivated and revered in the Andes thousands of years ago, this nutritious seed crop is showing up in supermarkets around the globe and helping local growers feed their families, as Leah Dobkin reports.

Moving northward to Central America and Mexico, we find that efforts to control malaria have been yielding positive results without harming the environment. One key to the new approach, Cesar Chelala tells us, is the active involvement of the community. The importance of strengthening communities is also evident in Riamny Mendez's visit to the border...