July 5-9 -- In Guayaquil, we were docked at the farthest berth in the Puerto Maritimo (Maritime Port), so the travel agency at this stop arranged for a shuttle to take us into the city of Guayaquil and back on the hour from 9am to 6pm every day. Guayaquil is the economic center of Ecuador, as Quito is the governmental and cultural center. As recently as 10 years ago, it was dangerous to walk around in Guayaquil for fear of being mugged, but the efforts of two successive mayors have revived and rebuilt sections of the city to make them safer and more welcoming for visitors. The Malecon 2000, the waterfront, has been renovated into a lovely 2km promenade, with conference buildings, restaurants, monuments, and museums. On the other hand, the city seems very poor, although there is a lot of construction going on, and we were warned about "express kidnappings" and impromptu shakedowns that happen on the city buses.
We were in this port for five days. For many of our viajeros (voyagers), Guayaquil was merely a jumping off point for other trips. Many people went on trips to the Galapagos Islands and to Quito and Cuenca, the other large cities in Ecuador. Quito is the capital and cultural center of the country, and Cuenca is the center of the Panama hat-making trade. Did you know that most of the Panama hats sold in Panama come from Ecuador?
However, those of us who stayed in Guayaquil had plenty to do, too. I took two organized field trips. One was a city orientation (which is always helpful). First, we went to el Parque del Semenario (also called Iguana Park for the large number of iguanas that live there). Here's a factoid: the collective noun for iguanas is "mess," as in "a mess of iguanas." Those of us who visited this park know just how messy a mess of iguanas can be! After Iguana Park, we drove along the Malecon 2000, and stopped at the monument to Los Liberadores, Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín. (When I went back on the last day in port, there was a ceremony with a military band and the placing of a wreath. We were later told that this ceremony is held every Monday to honor "Ecuador's fallen" from all wars.) I should mention that the only meeting between Bolívar, the liberator of northern South America, and San Martín, the liberator of Peru, Chile, and Argentina, took place in Guayaquil. (Ask Jared for more details about this meeting.)
After viewing the rest of the Malecon from the bus, we drove out to the airport past the cemetery. This particular cemetery has over one million burials in it, all of them in crypts instead of buried in the ground. I've never seen a cemetery so big!
Then, we were taken to a Historic Guayaquil Park, which was very nice. It was arranged in three sections, the first a zoo of local animals, the second contained several historic buildings that had been moved and rebuilt on the site, and the third a botanical garden of plants native to Ecuador.
The other field trip I took was Whale Watching in Salinas, a beach town about 90 miles west of Guayaquil. Now, the first thing I will say is that we should have had sea-sickness medication with us. The description said that we would take motorboats along the coast and follow the whales. The boat we were in was not a motorboat, per se, but was a cruiser that wasn't much bigger. The ocean was a bit choppy, and we felt every wave. Luckily, I didn't get seasick, but several people did. However, we saw whales! We followed a pod of three humpback whales, a mother and calf and a female companion, for about 90 minutes.
After the whale watching, we had dinner on the rooftop of a restaurant called The Amazon, where we had a local dish called ceviche (a very good cold shrimp soup) among other items. Unfortunately, the day was overcast, so we were unable to spend any time on the beach as we had planned.
On the last day in port, a group of us took the shuttle to the Malecon and simply walked along the promenade to enjoy the sites and sounds. To my surprise, there was a book fair being held in the Crystal Palace on the Malecon, which I attended. It was billed as an international book fair, but most of the publications were from Ecuador.
Having achieved sunburn, I went back to the ship. We undocked at 11 pm, leaving Guayaquil behind. There are a few places I didn't have time for on this trip that I'd love to visit the next time I am in Ecuador.
