¡Hola, Guayaquil!

Gridlock? Street vendors? Hobos? It could be New York City, but not with this humidity…we’re in Guayaquil, Ecuador! Guayaquil (why-a-keel) has a population of 3 million, making it Ecuador’s largest city. We spent 2 days here exploring, shopping, and seeing the sights. To get into the city, we had to take a 20-minute bus ride from the port. The bus dropped us off at Parque Semanario where tons of iguanas were laying around in the sun and in the trees. Some of them were huge! Including their tails they must have been like 6 feet long. They were pretty friendly, you could pet them if you wanted, but I chose to admire from a few feet away. There were also turtles in the ponds and these interesting creatures with furry tails climbing the trees…I think the natives called them squirrels (hah).



On our first day in Guayaquil, we watched the iguanas for a while and then went across the street from the park to see the Iglesia Catedral (church). It was beautiful and the architecture and stained glass were amazing. After that we walked farther into the city and came across rows upon rows of vendors. I think I’m going to suggest the motto for the city be “Don’t worry, you’ll find it in Guayaquil.” Seriously, they had everything. Thank god every other vendor was selling irons and blenders because I desperately needed 6 of each. And oh…my….gawd…shoes! There must have been 3 city blocks of shoe vendors. It was a little too overwhelming to actually buy anything so we made our way back to the vendor-free area.

Guayaquil stretches along the Rio (River) Daule and all along the waterfront there is a beautiful promenade called the Malecon. Everything is really well-maintained and there’s playgrounds where the kids play and of course, more shopping. We walked on the promenade for a while and then the humidity started to get to us so we went back to Parque Semanario to catch the bus “home”.

Day 2 in Guayaquil my dad was on a mission to find an authentic Panama hat. For some reason this was the place to buy them, why not in Panama, I have no idea. We saw a man wearing one on the bus ride and he was happy to show us the way. It was, as Borat would say, great success! January-April is rainy season in Guayquil and we got to experience this weather during our second day there. During a passing shower we went to an anthropology and modern art museum. The modern art was all from local artists and it was really interesting. The one artist dressed tiny dolls in colorful fabric and attached lots of them together on a square or round canvas.

After the rain stopped, we climbed 444 stairs to get to the top of a lighthouse that we heard had an incredible view of the city. And it did…see for yourself



The stairs were numbered along the way, that’s how we know it was 444. Mom’s best quote so far…“Look! They’re numbered in English!”

We spent the day sailing to Lima, Peru and we should arrive tomorrow morning. The weather was perfect today…a little too perfect, I spent a little too much time in the sun and got some interesting sunburn. It looks like I was eating red popsicles all day because around my mouth is red and just for Casey, I got some on my eyelids. Also my left foot is burnt, but not the right…hmmm. I hope all is well at home, I wish I could share the sunshine with everyone, but maybe not the sunburn.