Guayaquil
Trip Start
Oct 30, 2005
1
113
122
Trip End
Ongoing
Guayaquil,
Ecuador
Saturday, August 12, 2006
We were a bit concerned about arriving at night as we had heard it was a pretty dodgy city and even though we questioned whether or not the beat-up taxi would make it to our hotel okay, we managed to get into town without too many problems. The taxi driver took us straight to the front door and even waited for us so that we could get change!
The hotel was a bit of a rabbit warren and the room had strong chemical smell and no window - but it did have air conditioning
Barrio Las Penas (01)
! A must, as Guayaquil was boiling compared to the other places we had been to in Ecuador (and as an added bonus it was good to recycle that chemical smell!). We went out onto the streets for dinner and felt the dodginess immediately, so we settled on a Chinese ("Chifa") restaurant near the hotel. It was pretty nice by the normal Ecuadorian standards that we had become accustomed to (well, at our budget level anyway). We had massive big wantons and a huge plate of noodles. And it was nice to get a few veggies too. Its funny the things you miss when you canīt easily get them!The next day, we decided to see a few of the sights before our flight to Lima that afternoon. We visited the Museo (Museum) Municipal, but Glenn was a bit disappointed as we didnīt find the shrunken heads as described in the guidebook. Still it wasnīt too bad, and it provided a good escape from the heat.
We continued on to have a peek at the Cathedral, and decided to wander through the nearby park, Parque Bolivar. It was a pretty place and we were surprise to see what appeared to be small statues of iguanas sitting on a hedge. What a strange place to put a statue, but as a small child went up to touch it, it suddenly sprang to life! They were real! Looking around, this park was actually full of iguanas, wandering around freely
Barrio Las Penas (02)
. We later read, that the park is commonly referred to as Parque de las Iguanas as they were the main attraction. There were kids stirring the animals and chasing them - and running when they turned against them! There were even a group of nuns that were excitedly taking photos as well. It was quite a scene. After another vege fix for lunch (yes, another chinese restaurant - sigh), we set off along the river boardwalk which runs for over a kilometer to the old district of Las Peņas. The walk along the way was quite beautiful - full of families enjoying the day and with a tree lined, waterfront avenue to walk along it was quite relaxing, beside the heat.
Making it to the Barrio Las Peņas area, which was quite pretty with its cobbled streets and brightly painted houses, Glenn managed to twist Christieīs arm to climb up over 500 stairs to Cerro Santa Ana (Santa Ana Hill) to see the Church and Lighthouse lookout at the top - ie to take in the view. Needless to say the walk up was a little hot, but the houses that had been restored and painted brightly made it interesting, and the view from the top was amazing. Glenn of course HAD to climb the lighthouse after that, and dragged Christie up as well. Guayaquil certainly was a big city!
We had walked quite a way and it was a bit of a race back along the boardwalk to our hotel, and Glenn of course had to make it interesting by going a different way back (he wanted to see some different scenery on the way back of course!).
Just in time, we picked up our bags, flagged down taxi in the street and went straight to the airport for our flight to Lima. Peru look out!
