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 ).
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