The Last Day in Ecuador

All good things must come to an end and so of course must our vacation.  We had an afternoon flight out so we spent the morning walking around Guayaquil and taking pictures of some interesting things.

All over town are these statues.  They are like giant piñatas as they are made of paper maché.  We couldn't stand it any longer so we asked someone.  We were told that they burn them in the street on New Year's Eve.  Apparently the entire country appears to be in flames and it can be seen from space.  Next time I will visit Ecuador for New Years as I bet it looks awesome.

This church is the Cathedral.  It was built in 1948.  The alter is made of marble from Cuenca.











It is located directly across the street from The Iguana Park.  So we went back for another look at the iguanas.

Why do I have this goofy look on my face?  Is it the awful, end of suitcase outfit I am wearing or am I too close to the iguana?

 This castle building was in the shopping district. 

Here is another church. 












This first statue was across the street from this church.

In the shopping district we saw this ad for a Curandero.  I didn't know those still existed.

Here is the logo for a popular fast food chain.
This would not be seen in the US.

Finally here we are on the airplane.  We flew Copa.  I would fly that airline again in a second.  They are very nice.

Montanita

We had 2 1/2 days in Guayaquil.  That is really too much time.  So since we were close to the coast we decided to go to the beach.  It is possible to take a bus but it was very easy and not overly expensive to take a taxi.  Plus having a driver is great because you can learn about the local customs and people by speaking with him.  At our hotel, they found us a taxi and we were on our way. 

It took about an hour to get there.  There are closer beaches but I heard this one was the most interesting.  We arrived in the town and walked through the shopping area.

Here is where we bought a hat for our son.  Maybe the woman didn't want her picture taken.


Next we ate lunch.  John was amazed at the size of the shrimp.  I had the most delicious ceviche I have ever eaten in my life.

After lunch, our taxi driver took us to the studio of an artist.  We looked at his carvings but didn't buy any as they were big and we don't know how we would get them home on the plane.  He was from Argentina and had come to Montanita and simply stayed.

Now it was time to go to the beach.  We didn't swim because we weren't staying very long but I did wade.  The water was very beautiful.  Next time I would stay one night in Montanita and go swimming.

Here I am speaking with our driver Alfonso.

Montanita is famous for surfing. 

Then it was time to go back.  We didn't get too sunburned.

So here is traffic back in Guayaquil. 

First Day in Guayaquil

On our first day in Guayaquil we decided to walk around on our own to see the sights. There are some ornamental governmental buildings.

There is a Malecon which runs quite a distance.  On the first day, one part was closed for a private party.  Can you imagine closing part of the lakefront in Chicago off for a private party?  Also in the other direction there is a park with vegetation which is also closed to the public.  I asked a guard why it was closed.  He said they only opened it for exhibitions.  He said I could ask the other guard to let me in to look around and he would.  However I felt funny doing that so didn't. 

This half circle with statues is called Hemiciclo.  The statues are of Simon Bolivar and San Martin, the two liberators of South America.








It was very hot on this day.  We came to an art museum which looked cool and dark so we went in.  They were having a special exhibition.

Can you guess the theme of the special art exhibit?










There was a painting that I found amusing.  It is below.

After the art museum there is a staircase going up into a gentrified neighborhood. I stopped a security guard and talked to him about the gentrification.  He said that the residents were given incentives to fix their properties up.  They were not displaced as many residents are when gentrification takes place in the US.

At the top of the stairs, first there is a pirate garden park.

Then a little further up there is a lighthouse and a chapel.  You can, of course, climb up into the lighthouse to get a very nice view of the area.

The view from below the lighthouse

Looking toward the chapel from the top of the lighthouse.

Looking over the pirate garden from the top of the lighthouse.

Looking over Guayaquil from the top of the lighthouse

Looking over the mouth of the river.   After we climbed down from the lighthouse we wanted to look at a church that can be seen in the middle of the picture just above this one. 

Here is the church.  It wasn't open.  Notice the statue on top.  There were statues on the top of the other side too.  I wanted to see them.  We tried to walk around the church.  As we were walking down the street leading to the back of the church a car pulled over to the side of the street.  A man and his family were inside.  The man told me not to continue down that street because it was dangerous for tourists.  This time we took the advice and turned around heading back toward the Malecon.



We went to eat lunch at a restaurant called El Rescate.  I had a plate of sweet plantains and cheese.  It was good but too much food.  We had local beer on tap which was refreshing as it was very hot outside. Refreshed we set out for the Iguana Park.

The iguana park is very small but it is full of iguanas.   They are big.
There are also some turtles.
It was so impressive we went back on the day we left as we had some time to kill.




At this point we were beat so we went back to the hotel to think of what to do next.  We decided to take the pirate cruise.  Not the liquor cruise at 11 pm for the party tourists but the family cruise at 6 pm that was full of locals and their children.  It appears this is normal Saturday night entertainment.

We came back from the cruise after dark.  Because it was a couple of days before Christmas there were seasonal activities going on.  This night there was a giant Christmas parade through the streets.  The pictures did not turn out so I will only put one and unfortunately it isn't good




But you can see, the streets are full of people.  It was impossible to get anywhere.  We found a local fast food restaurant called Menestras del Negro.  The logo for this restaurant would be banned in the US.  We ate the special which cost about $5 for both of us and waited.  The parade went past and we were able to go back to the hotel.