Final day in Quayaquil

Before I arrived in Guayaquil I was fortunate enough to make more than one contact here and yet I was still unsure if I would be able to meet more than one of them, so it was both a shame and a joy when my first friend told me that she had to go to work on my final day in Guayaquil while the other emailed to say that she had arrived back in her home town and would be willing and happy to meet me whenever I was able.

As the internet was down in the hostel, there followed a few phone unauthodox phone calls as I found out that my Spanish accent was terrible and I especially hated telephones so it was almost impossible for us to understand each other.

Her house was a bit far out of the city centre, so we agreed to meet near the Malecon, which was a good a place as any as it is easy to find and gave me another chance to spend a bit of time in my favourite part of Guayaquil.
My friend has a dentist appointment prior to meeting me, and although she must have been in quite a bit of pain she bullied on through and refused to let it prevent her from meeting me, which again shows how kind and friendly the people here are.

As a small point, as I couldn't really go too far away from the meeting place, because I was hungry, to kill time and because I like to try them everywhere I go, I popped into the McDonald right next to the Pirate ship on Malecon and was rewarded with one of the best Quarter pounder and fries with a coke that I have ever scoffed.

I am getting used to having to serve myself the ketchup in those tiny little throw away cartons, and like most places in South America they didn't speak English, which is normally a safe bet in a McDonalds elsewhere in the world, but the fries were long, crispy, hot and not overly salted, the burger just melted in my mouth with the right flavour and the coke was neither watery, syruppy or was more than Ice than coke and so overall it was one of the best I had ever tasted.

But all that aside, once my friend turned up it was nice to have a local who was fluent in the language to do all the asking of questions and directions and it didnt take us long to find both a bookshop, the post office and then finally a museum, despite the various local policeman giving us differing directions.

The road users of Guayaquil are quite a different breed, as between the manic taxi drivers, the insane wandering salesmen who seem to have no idea of highway safety, the small kids doing acrobatics in front of cars stuck at red lights in the hope of a tip and the beat up Datsuns used as mini buses for small families, I was surprised that I did not see any accidents.

Tragically although I did not see any collissions, that night during the news I spotted that there was a double fatality that very night on the roads. I also spooted a news article on the collapse of a section of seating in a nearby complex, that thankfully had not caused any deaths only minor injuries, and as fate would dictate I did actually witness the ends of as I was riding past in the taxi and saw loads of fireman, or Bomberos, around helping maintain order and safety.

Back to the museum, it was only US $1.50 for a guided tour that lasted just over an hour and thankfully was with a guide that was both bilingual and able to make jokes and fun of the whole learning process, a relief as my friend had only just told me as we were buying the tickets that she hates museums and had only come along to meet me and help out as my guide to the city!

The museum was cool, had a few props that we got to play with, although regretably there was a strict no photography rule inside and being chaperoned by our guide as we were there wasn't even a chance to sneak off a few quickies. The artifacts were good, the information easy to digest and not just a jumble of names, dates and figures, and the guide even went as far as carrying a few of the props to the exit, where photographs were allowed, which meant that it wasn't a total loss on the photography stakes.

After the museum we went off to grab a bite to eat, US $8 for the hugest mixed fish chinese dish I had ever seen, even both of us together could only manage half of, and then we almost popped off to visit another museum while we still had daylight, however for us the other place closed early during on weekdays so instead we had to make do with a game of billiards at a nearby market that happened to also have a pool table.

Weirdly you have to pay for the time rather than per game, there was plenty of chalk dust to get around the humidity and sweating of the hands and finally there were two balls missing so it was an usual game to say the least.

After the game it was time to say goodbye as I had to get back for around 6:30 and my friend was still in some amount of discomfort from her earlier visit to the dentist, so we planned to share a taxi back to her house before I continued on to my hostel.

The mosquitoes were out in force during the night, and just waiting for the taxi to arrive we both got bit a couple of times, and it reminded me that in England we take so many things for granted and should really be a bit more thankful for our lot, as compared to other places it really isn't all that bad after all.

Catching a taxi to my hostel was a mission, as it was rush hour home time and the fifteen minute fast paced taxi down to the Malecon was replaced by the hour long crawl that winded up and down side roads desperately trying to cut corners and save a little time, but this effort was hampered by every other driver thinking the same thing and the final insult was that, once again, because I had chose a small hostel and not a big time hotel the taxi driver had never heard of it and neither had anyone else.

This is something to consider when booking a hostel, despite the online reassurances of hostels that taxi drivers will know where they are, but my advice is to save time, effort and be assured of always getting back to your hostel in good time and first time, best reserve a room from a hostel that is centrally located and if it can be right next to a huge hotel or other impressive and well known landmark then even better.

Arriving back at my hostel a bit later than planned, my other friend was already there ready and waiting to meet me, and together we took another taxi to meet her family, which was again a conversation fully in Spanish and I can only hope that they understood half of what I was trying to say, before it was time for an early night and to prepare for an equally early bus ride to Manta the following morning.

Oh, and Barack Obama was also announced as president of the USA today, which hopefully means that being the first Black president will lead to lots of good stuff for the world and equalities, that is asuming he sticks to his pre-election speaches.

Even more photos of Guayaquil

Guayaquil

My friend arrived and took me to a nice area just imediately south of my hostel, and I was immediately impressed with everything except the overcast grey skies, that reminded me very much of Lima, warm and yet no chance of a tan and never the best background for taking photos.

Being a holiday weekend it was almost empty as all the locals that could afford to were either off to the beach or up to the mountains, so we almost had the place entirely to ourselves, but also because it was a holiday the place wasn't open and so we didn't stay here too long and instead headed off down to the area called Malecon 2000, but not before we visited a few other places of great photo opportunity.

You can just get around by foot, if you don't mind long walks, and there are several cross city bus routes, but they are not as exhaustive or widespread as they could be, so unless you fancy a bit of a walk at both ends the usual option is to take a cab, and here just like anywhere else in South America, you must be just a little careful and also ensure to fix a price before getting in and not just hop in and hope that the meter is not rigged or that you wont get shafted at the other end.

My friend likes to haggle about as much as I did, as I didnt seem to hear her complain or try to get the price down once, but then at around US $2 or US $3 for each journey I didn't see much room for negociation and would only have stepped or complained if any had been nearer to US $10.

The first place that we went to was a nice park, just to take a few photos more than anything else and also it gave me a chance to grab a red bull and snickers, as I was desperate for some recognisable chocolate and ice cold caffeine to give me a buzz enough to last the day, as I hardly managed to get any sleep the previous night.

We passed the Inca museum and of course it was closed, but the inca chairs outside were great opportunities to take a photo or three and even the building itself was impressive enough with a huge corner all embossed with artwork.

Next stop was a place that the locals call Iguana Park and it is right next to the cathedral and is home to a large number of the beautiful lizards. Here in Iguana park ( iguana is also the historic symbol for the city of Guayaqil ) the beats are free to roam, to burrow, to eat, sleep as well as have their picture taken by hordes of tourists daily. They also like to lounge in the high branches of the parks many trees and my advice is to do your best to remain in the sun and out from the shadow of the trees as Iguanas do not bother to climb down before going to the toilet and I saw at least two tourist get sprayed on, and the end result is a lot more than from a pigeon, trust me on this!

Then we took a stroll past the governments building and again some nice fountains, architecture and statues enough to give Vienna a run for its money kept me amused for many miuntes.

Finaly reaching Malecon we went past the restored pirate ship, the Henry Morgan and then after a bite to eat on the keyside restaurant overlooking the bay, before just taking in the beauty and the nature that the city recently provided for tourists. There was a bit of Inca and Mayan influence in the overall design of the place, and I loved the funky glyphed signposts that were everywhere, and then there is the many plants, lake, fountains and the main material used is wood, which gives a warm and ancient feel to the place even though it is less than ten years old.

Next we took a climb up the scenic stairs to the highest point in central Guayaqui.

To reach the summit, where there is a tiny church and several antique cannon emplacements, you have to climb up 444 steps, but they are in flight of about 50 are narrow and large enough so as to have plenty of room to pass each other, and the whole region is a sloping haven for souveneir shops, beverage stalls, arts and craft exhibits and some of the trendiest night spots and restaurants in the region, able to serve no more than 25 patrons at a time.

At around step 350 there is a nice plateau where they have set up a harbour scene with pirates, ships, cannons and wall mounted plaques tell brief glimpses of the regions naval history, in both Spanish and English which goes to show how many European and American tourists visit the area.

After this we had to return to my friends house, as it was her daughters birthday and the party that was already being prepared was about to start and so of course my friend could not miss it, and I was very greteful that she had given me as much time as she had already, seing as it was such a special day.

Her house was in the southern part of the city, a decision she views with mixed feeling as it is cheap and near to her friends and family, but not the best place to live in terms of health and comfort and is also very far from her job in the opposite side of town. However, much like me, she has done a lot with a little and her place is a tardis in both size and appearance, and I would have gone right past it and not realised that there was anything of worth inside with a first or even second glance.

As a guest of honour I was given the quick house tour and met many family and friend members, before I got to sing Happy Birthday in English to the birthday girl, something that hopefully she will remember long after I leave and will be a fond and happy memory for her, of the time when the crazy Englishman came to her birthday party.

After the cutting of the cake I had to say my goodbyes and return to the hostel, as I didn't want to run the risk of getting locked out and also I had a lot of sleep to catch up on.

The following morning I slept in, and missed breakfast, before my friend and I who had returned to meet me for a second day, once again hit the town.

After a big breakfast we went back to the bus terminal to catch a long bus to the nature reserve, and this was one of those memory moments. The houses we past on the bus were the very oldest I had seen, wooden huts on stilts that were probably as old as the fruit trees alongside and without any of the mod cons that I take for granted on a daily basis.

Midway on the route we passed a small town and here a entire procession of venders entered the bus and went up and down the central corridor of the bus offering everything for hats, sunglasses, toilet paper, tooth paste to just about every kind of local food or beverage I could imagine, so much so that I thought if they remained any longer then they would be running the risk of the ticket inspector demanding fares from them, before they finally got off.

At the reserve we got off and my friend then informed me that this was her first time here and that we should perhaps be prepared for the occasoinal mosquito. My friend was not wrong, and after the tiny visit to the authorities just to sign in and pay the US $2 each, we set off. However we had barely gone ten steps when already the white shirt of my friend and guide had been turned black by an entire swarm of mosquitos, and the worst of it was that they were not an occasional flying swarm but they were just everywhere.

After no more than another fifiteen seconds my friend had been bitten, despite my best attempts to shoo them away and it was clear to me that without nets, heavy clothes and a complete tub of insect repellent we were not going to make it five minutes in to the reserve before we would be spending more time scratching our bites than we would be taking photos, thus it was that I made the instant and unfortunate decision to give it up as a loss and return back to central Guayaqil.

The place offered a great natural place to see much of the wildlife in Ecuador in their home environments, but I would have to say that advanced planning and preparations are essential for anyone hoping to visit the area unless of course you are blessed with skin / an odour that the mosquitos don't like or unless you enjoy playing dot to dot with mosquito bites for the next few days.

Following the unexpected early retreat I decided to treat us both and paid for us to take an hour cruise on the Pirate Ship that we had passed the previous day, and it was great fun and so many photo opportunities that I had to remember to relax and that it is not a crime to just sit and enjoy the cruise. We shared a plate of chicken and beef with chips and my only gripe is that he drinks were not big enough as in this heat I almost downed mine in one go, ice and all.

My friend had also never been on the boat before, and despite it being a fairly smooth ride on a calm sea, she began to feel a bit sick and headache by the end, which was a shame as we had also already agreed to visit the Imax cinema there and watch the latest Batman movie, yet with a headache she was probably not going to get the most out of the experience. It was both of our first visits to an Imax theatre and although it was great for the experience, the surround image is just too much to take all in and I was rubber necking to see all the subtle background action all the way, which got a little frustrating by the end.

This rounded off another fun and great day in Guayaquil and it is only a shame that for some reason the hostel have rules that forbid non guests to remain in the hostel for more than an hour, as we could easily have stayed up and chatted after dark for a few more hours, but in the end as shes in the other side of the city we said our goodnights and I retired to the tv room to watch a movie in english and enjoy a delivered pizza and coke. Regrettably the receptionist forgot to order my pizza til I reminded her almost an hour later, the coke was Pepsi and they also forbid eating and drinking in the tv room, which sort of ruined it a bit, the last straw being that the dvd itself gave up half way through and then refused to play so I just headed off to bed.

More piccies of Guayaquil

~ Dickon ~

http://manofmysterywriteson.blogspot.com

A couple of days in Guayaquil

When I finally managed to get the keys to my dorm room I was both very pleased and also slightly dissapointed that I had the room to myself, as I got the benefit of privacy at a low low cost, but it also meant that I was unable to meet other travellers.

However, my friend arrived at the hotel early on Sunday morning and we pretty much spent the next whole two days together, which was very cool and gave us both a chance to relax around each other rather than the slightly awkward "just met up" feeling of urgency and having to be on our best behaviours the whole time.

Although my Spanish is improving it is still far from conversational, and her English is little better, so our conversations were not undepth but we always seemed to be able to get across the general message and there were very few times when something went very much the opposite of how I thought they were.

This weekend that I was here was a sort of bank holiday weekend, so most of the places were closed or only operating a partial service and things that I would have otherwise done earlier I would have to wait until the Tuesday when things returned to normal, sadly however without my friend as of course she would have to work.

Guayaquil is very much a city in progress and unlike the insane logic of New York when they are trying to bring it all up a bit at a time, the more wise and level headed Ecuadoans decided to make a real effort to transform their city into a great place to visit for tourists and business a like but one area and region at a time.

They first worked on the city centre, building up some nice hotels, museums and of course renovating and repairing the already glorious cathedrals and other historical builings left over from the colonial days of the Spanish occupation.

Then about a decade ago they moved on and totally gave the waterfront region a complete make over, transforming it from a dangerous and ugly part of the neighbourhood to one of the most fun, lively and beautiful places that I have ever been to.

They did not go about it small scale, they totally went back to basics and built it all up from scratch to make the Malecon area place that you could go to for just about anything. There is a cinema complex ( imax no less! ) bars, restaurants, a genuine pirate ship ( lovingly restored and sea worthy, with hour long cruises for only a $5 ), plenty of statues and monuments glorifing many of the local heros and fore fathers, enough rides, slides and climbing frames to keep the children amused, a streched wide but short pseudo amphitheatre where they hold shows for the public and then after all that you still have the greenery.

Lush forests, lakes, fish, iguanas, bridges, circle of stones and so many varieties of fruit and plants that a botonist would have a field day, and my hat is doffed to the city elders and the architect who has done an amazing job of multi-levelling an otherwise flat and dull area into a place where I would go almost every weekend if I were a local resident. Plus being in Ecuador it has the benefit of being both cheap and very warm, so it has just about everything that a tourist could possibly want, including just enough security guards and police wandering around to make you feel safe without being overly scrutinized like an oppresive big brother controlled environment.

Yes, the north and central are places that are great to visit, but sadly I think that the money and interest had pretty much dried up by the time it reached the slum area of south Guayaquil, and here is the only place that lets the city down. A slum is a slum no matter which country it is, and badly broken wooden huts with corrogated iron slanted roofs are never pretty or comfortable no matter what the people living there may do to brighten it up a bit.

However the people there were not unfriendly or dangerous to me, although maybe only because I was with one of the locals, and certainly seemed more happy than I feel I would be If i was staying in a street that had more holes than a piece of swiss cheese and required large wooden planks just to bridge gaps from streets to houses ( if you could call them that! ).

But I do not want to dwell on this area, as I am sure that one day the money from the commerce and tourist are of the city centre will be turned to make adequate and safe housing for the remainder of the citizens of this fine city ( no comments on this please, I like to think positively at times ... even if it is perhaps misguided or delusional ).

Crossing the border into Ecuador

I had already been prewarned that in South America half an hour late is considered to be perfectly on time, but considering the bus was waiting in the terminal since before 6pm I was still a bit surprised stunned when the Peruvians had not even started loading any luggage onto the bus by the expected leaving time on 6:30.


The bus itself was a luxurious two level coach and as there was plenty of empty seats everyong did their best to grab double seats that gave them a good view of the televisions screens for when the movies came on.


Thankfully they didn't go round with the video camera, like the did from Cusco to Lima, but they were still pretty thorough and made us give big blue fingerprints on a chart of where our seat allocation was meant to be, and just like on an airport they had a ready supply of entrance and exit visa documents for us to complete in advance to help speed us through customs.


However, considering that it was dark outside, the only gave us about thirty second to complete them before they turned off all the lights and started the dvd playing, which was a homemade triple bill of action movies featuring Jason Stratham, which was pretty cool except it was all in Spanish with no subtitles at all.


Around 11.30pm we reached the checkpoint and we all had to get out, fill along a queue and get our passports stamped, which went very quickly fast and I was kind of curious why some of the people on the bus remained fast asleep and had not budged. Thanfully the customs woman that I got was more interested in watching their version of come dancing than on inspecting my passport or asking any awkward questions ( which for me would have been anything harder than "What is your name" ) and quickly I was back on the bus and away again.


I thought that it had all gone very smoothly, too smothly in fact, and I was just wondering how they could leave anyone on the bus when after about half an hour we reached checkpoint 1.2 and we all had to file out and visit the police desk stationed there, and while we were doing this they took a dog through the bus.


Another half an hour later and we reached a military checkpoint and the made us all get out, go through a bodysearch ( thankfully clothed and not a full cavity version ) and then made the bus driver pull away and over a weird set of huge gaps in the ground, before it reached the other side and we were all allowed to get back on it and drive away.


With all getting on and getting off I really didnt get any sleep and so when the bus arrived early, according to my understanding, in Guayaquil at just after 4am I was at a loss as to where to go as I very much doubted that my hostel reception would be open at that early.


So I milled about for a bit, got some lcoal currency and made the mistake of putting a US $20 bill into a maching that gives change and must have looked like a fruit machine jackpot winner and it chucked out 80 x 25 cents coins, then grabbed a local burger ( McDonalds wasn't open yet ) and failed to get an advanced ticket to Manta despite finding my way to the a desk that said Manta on it!


The terminal was pretty large, spanning over three levels and it must have had about a hundred departure points, yet the locals have not yet quite grasped how to use elevators. There was a full elevator full of people, including me, and yet as soon as the door opened on the ground floor and we all tried to get out all three of the people that had been waiting to enter the lift all forefully barged their way through us to get to the back of the elevator instead of calmly stepping aside and letting us through.


This rudeness I could not forgive, especially as in the lift was a handicapped person and also large trolley, so by being so forceful they upset and delayed eveyrone, including themselves.


For US $4 I managed to get a taxi the fifteen minutes from the bus termainal to my hostel at about 5.30 in the morning, however I then had my very own Monty Python moment.


Imagine if you will, a dark and slighly foggy scene, a high gated rampart blocking your way to the holy grail, high unscalable walls preventing you from climbing over and so you are forced to knock and hope.


I knocked and a few minutes later a head popped over the top of the ballastraid and shouted down something at me in a thick and muffled accent before dissappearing.


Slightly bemused I waited for about 5 minutes for the bodyless bobbing head to come down the long flight of staits and let me in, but to no avail.


So I knocked again, slightly louder and the head popped back again, and although I was cold, hungry, tired and in desperate need of both the toilet and a change of clothes I kept my cool and asked in my best Spanish at what time did the doors open, only for him to mumble back something and then yet again dissappear., and all the while at the back of my mind I could clearly hear John Cleese saying "Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time"!


So much so, in fact, that despite being neglected I could not surpress a big grin and I began to recite line after line til I had exhausted my memory and then sat down to wait for the inevitable opening of the gate, or for someone to bring me a trojan rabbit, whichever would occur first.


As it turned out it was only 6.30 when they let me in, gave me breakfast and showed me to my dorm of 8 beds, all of which were empty and as I was told a bit later on, they would all remain empty for my entire stay as they did not have any dorm booking until the middle of the week.


The wait was worth it though, and for only US $12 I got a room to myself, the place looked fantastic, has a pool, a garden to lounge in, desk chairs, free wifi, a large collection of movies to watch in the TV room and enough leaftlets of places to do and places to stay to build a paper mache trojan badger, once the rabbit had been catapulted away.


I shared my breakfast with a delightful American woman, who took pleasure in telling me all about her dislike for Bush, which I whole heartedly agreed with, and then went on to tell me about a little bit about her background and then the story of how her innocent and naive scientist brother was false accused and set up by the goverment in order to prevent another scandal just after the anthrax debarcle. It was almost a shame when at 8am my friend arrived and I had to leave her, but I am sure she will have a great time in her school studying Spanish.