What Can Be Done: The first issues of Ecuador are primitive and interesting to collect. Americans tend to think of Latin America as one more or less geopolitical area. As you learn the history, the differences in these countries become apparent. And nowhere are the differences and the mental distance among these countries more apparent than their first issue stamps. The first issues of Luxembourg, Netherlands, and Belgium look like brothers. The first issues of Chile, Brazil, and Ecuador seem barely related (also three contiguous countries). The philately of Ecuador is very interesting in the nineteenth century with many difficult to find, though not necessarily expensive stamps. Twentieth century is more straight forward and contains many better sets. The airmails are interesting, and some specialists only collect Ecuadoran airmails.
Specialty catalogs: The Scott Classic is very good. Most countries have fairly exotic, ou
t of print specialty catalogs that collectors who are very specialized can get from the American Philatelic Research Library. Ecuador has never had a large philatelic following, and I know of no catalog of this type.
Specialty Albums: The Scott Specialty album is very good for Ecuador as it is for most of Latin America.
Expense: From a cost standpoint, Ecuador is a very appealing country. There are few expensive stamps even though many issues are quite rare. Supply and demand requires that there be many collectors seeking something for the price to be high. Ecuador has few collectors living in the country, few expatriates seeking their stamps, and few general collectors who specialize in it. Even if a collector specializes in, say, the stamps of South  America, there are so many common and semi-scarce stamps that he needs that he never has a chance to put any price pressure on the stamps of smaller, less significant philatelic areas like Ecuador. Without a strong internal market of dedicated specialists, a country will see its rarest stamps, while hard to find, never really rocketing in price.
Availability of Material: Better Ecuadoran stamps are really a challenge to find. Modern mint sets and more common earlier material is available, but anything any good is very hard to find. Collectors who like challenges more than spending money should consider Ecuador.
Overall Grade: B