(1) Ecuador has three broad geographic areas: the coast, the sierra , and the jungle lowlands.

(2) The upland plateau known as the sierra represents about one-fourth of Peru's land and holds a majority of the country's population.

(3) Handicrafts in the high sierra around Creel are more rustic.

(4) Now home to 300,000 people, it lies in the heart of the southern sierra and the Inca's four-coloured flag - representing the four corners of the empire - still flies in the attractive town square, the Plaza de Armas.

(5) This picturesque land is divided into three main geographic regions: the costa, along the South Pacific; the sierra , or highlands of the Andes mountains; and the selva, or jungle, in the east.

(6) Coming together in a pioneer Indian organization acronymed UZACHI, the Zapotecs and Chinantecos of Calpulapan, a tiny municipality high in the sierra , successfully fended off the loggers and saved their forests.

(7) However, in traditional Indian communities in the sierra , the first language is Quichua, although they may also speak Spanish.

(8) The northern skyline is dominated by the sierra of the northern Pennines.

(9) After a few small, technical climbs, I lit out through the hills, following the scree-filled trail through the sierra .

(10) Organisers have dropped last year's compact set-up in favour of a return to its traditional format of visiting the three valleys in the sierras of Cordoba, each offering stages of differing character and landscape.

(11) Spend a week on horseback in the sierras of southern Spain, riding across open country and through forests, and overnighting at small country hotels.

(12) In the phonetic alphabet, my initials are Sierra Echo (first and middle name), what is yours?

(13) In the far north-west, the splinter-like peninsula of Lower California, with its high sierras , is a southward extension of the Sierra Nevada.

(14) Last week, on Wednesday, April 28, researcher Hector Picco remarked that he had seen a small white light coming from the sierras and vanishing into the rocky floor of an empty piece of property adjacent to his home.

(15) In 1942 she left her career, her house and her lovers, and took refuge - forever, it was said - in a convent deep in the sierras of Cu00d4u00f6u00a3u00d4u00f6u00e9rdoba province, some 500 miles north-west of Buenos Aires.

(16) Between these sierras isolated basins and plains are crossed by seasonal rivers that flow only after it rains.

(17) This meant that Sonoran rivers, which originate in the eastern sierras , had to be diverted.

(18) Riding in the fume-filled haze back across the high sierras to Palma, I reflected that Errol really had struck gold when he made Majorca his second home 50 years ago.

(19) High on the dusty, sun-baked sierras Pedro's whistle barrelled and echoed off the forest-covered hillside.

(20) On a long straight road, with the high sierras in the distance, the Drive-Thrus with their neon signs were the only way of judging that you were actually moving forwards.