21 Hours in Guayaquil

That’s how much time we were able to spend in Guayaquil last Thursday and Friday. After our bus ride from Canar, we got to Guayaquil Thursday evening about 6:00. We instantly noticed the heat and humidity of being at sea-level as opposed to the cool, high-elevation climate of Canar. We checked into our hotel, attempted to get the internet working (unsuccessfully), unpacked a little, and went out looking for adventure. Actually, we were just looking for a nearby place to grab a bite to eat, but that can be an adventure in certain places!
Guayaquil was founded in 1534 and is the largest city in Ecuador. Our hotel was in the center of the city, so it wasn’t a problem finding something to eat. How we ended up going to McDonald’s is a mystery, but it may have something to do with traveling with a 12-year old!
After our fries and ice cream, it was still fairly early, so we walked to Malecon 2000. This 1 ½ mile waterfront walk includes shops, museums, gardens, restaurants, monuments, docks, etc., along the Guayas River. It is billed as the largest architectural development in Guayaquil in the past century. We were very impressed. There were hundreds of other people there enjoying the area as well.
When we got back to the hotel, we tried to get the internet working again, with very limited success. It seems the router was in one of the guest rooms across the hall, and the signal was so weak, that we had to sit out in the hall across from the room to even get an iffy connection. Oh, what we’ll do to stay connected! In the morning, Brian was going to sit out in the hall again to connect to the internet. He explained to the housekeeper what he was doing, and she said she could just put the router in our room, which she did! She definitely came to our rescue that day.
We still had a few hours before our flight, so we did some more exploring. First we went to Seminario Park. This park is famous for the iguanas that live there. We enjoyed seeing them roam freely throughout the park, undisturbed by the many people walking around (and posing for pictures with them).
We decided to walk down to Malecon once again and not only see it during the day, but also see the parts we didn’t get to the night before. Wouldn’t you know they had another McDonald’s, and once again, we managed to enjoy some of their ice cream. I wish we had had a chance to take a picture of the security guard with a machine gun guarding McDonald’s, but it didn’t seem like a wise choice. Believe me, I didn’t dare take any extra napkins!
Finally we made our way to the airport. It was a typical airport trip, waiting in several lines; first to check-in, pay the airport tax, have our tickets checked to make sure we paid the airport tax, immigration, and finally security. We had a few more minutes before boarding, so we sat in a café where there was free internet (are you detecting a theme here?)
While we were waiting, Brian heard his name on the loud-speaker, and so he immediately went over to the gate to see what the problem was. About 10 passengers were randomly chosen to have their checked bags searched, and my bag was one of the lucky ones! So he had to go down with the other 9 passengers to watch them search my bag. Luckily, there weren’t any problems (good thing I didn’t take those extra McD’s napkins!), and we soon were ready to board. Now we’re on to Mexico! The weeks in South America were great, and now we’re excited and ready for the next several weeks in Mexico. Donna
P.S. I desperately tried to add photos to this blog, but the internet connection wouldn't allow it. I'll try to put some pictures on Facebook, but the result may be the same.