Ecuador – An Amazing Country                                                            13^th April 2019

With only a few hours’ sleep the dreaded alarm awakes us in Cusco Peru. Somehow, making sure we have everything and scurrying down the 3 flights of timber staircase (quietly, of course) as it is 5.50am. We meet our taxi within minutes and we venture into the darkness for our interwoven street route to the Cusco airport bound for the Lima airport stopover, then Guayaquil, Ecuador.

Our main airline now is Avianca Airlines. They are superb, well priced and highly recommended as they surpass Latam & the nasty Viva Air we have tried (Viva Air cost us $32US to print our 2 boarding passes in 40seconds .. robbers). The Avianca website is also easy to use and very professional.

Lima Airport leaves us uninspired as it usually does … and so glad when our boarding call is raised. A lot of the passengers waiting are so rude and inconsiderate. It is only a short flight of 3hrs to Guayaquil. We have no problems getting through Immigration and Customs. Scott & I both have our Accredited Yellow Fever Immunisation Booklet for presentation; however, we are gobsmacked they did not ask for it. They were more interested in how many days we were staying in Ecuador.

I am considered an Owner within the Wyndham Resort Group and with my awarded annual points I was able to secure a weeks’ accommodation (7 days) at the Luxury Wyndham Guayaquil Resort, right on the river’s edge not far from the airport. The taxi cost 6,000 Chileon Pesos .. $11AUD). Here, Scott & I agreed to just chill out in the luxury Twin Queen bed room and recover for the week using the pool, gym & sauna on Level 13. Quite a luxurious stay after walking and climbing over many weeks.

When we conveyed from the airport by taxi, we branched off the highway into a precinct that seemed to be only one way in and one way out bordered by the Babahayo River. From all accounts the only way for travel was by taxi and nothing really stood out close enough to venture to. I think I dropped the ball then by accepting reclusiveness and staying within the resort precinct. Mind you, the precinct is filled with other apartment and hotel skyscrapers, all with restaurants and cafes at ground level overlooking the river frontage.

After checking in we took our first stroll of many along the boardwalk to see a sign outlining the foundation of the City of Guayaquil which I feel I must convey to you.

“The city was founded in Riobamba under the name of Santiago de Quito by Diego de Almagro on August 15 1534 later, between October and November 1535 it was transferred by Sebastian de Benalcazar to the bank of the Amay River along the coast between the Yaguachi River and what is today Babahoyo. Due to the uprising of the natives protesting against the abuses of the Spanish, the conquerors, on several occasions, relocated Guayaquil until its final settlement on the Little Green Hill (The Santa Ana Hill) in 1547”.

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Immediately behind the Wyndham Guayaquil resort and precinct there are small colourful homes on top of a little hill with a light house. This is Santa Ana Hill but it seems untouchable from where we are.

Our first day I needed urgent attention to my reading glasses with a hinge screw almost falling out so Scott & I secured a taxi and ventured to the nearest shopping mall. Again, following the geographics we both agreed of the convoluting directions required in order to arrive at the mall wasn’t conducive to venturing anywhere in particular. I followed Google Maps and confirmed the taxi driver was being truthful in going the most ‘direct’ way. So many backtracks, crossing the main highway and one-way streets which took quite some time to travel some 3klms directly. The streets were quite clean but run-down shops with bars and grilles to their entire frontage and low standard graffiti there was absolutely nothing inviting to see or stroll through. This is typical suburbia.

Approaching closer to the mall; the scenery changed a little bit including the appearance of an increased development to the road network and building/ scenery landscape. The mall entrance had a specific taxi drop off & pick up facility which was handy and a look similar to something out of Las Vegas with a valet. Scouring the large mall and 4 levels of shops I finally had great success with a glass wear shop. The technician was wonderful and spoke the smallest amount of English, fixed my glasses with a smile and would not take any money off me. Someone speaking English was like winning the lottery and evenmoreso when ordering coffee, seeking vegetarian food and paying the correct amount. Nothing has been easy but that’s primarily our fault for knowing too little Spanish. When it came to leaving via taxi the young valet organising the taxis surprisingly spoke English and was great comfort knowing he was sending us to our correct location at the resort precinct.

All lunches and dinners over the days within the precinct were taken at various restaurants along the boardwalk all with different versions of their vegetarian food. One took off the meat on their skewer meal and replaced it with the best mushrooms ever, to go with the other vegies served that same way. Quite unique and superb. Breakfasts, however was rather difficult and it was about the 3^rd day when we ventured further & found a little health food shop called Nutra. Here we ordered acacia bowls and the best fresh combined juices. This café was very new and extremely clean & fresh and hanging chairs and swing seats mounted from the ceiling. Scott & I chose the high table & bar stools just to be clear. It was a goldmine and we ventured there often. It was near Nutra where we found a great wash & fold laundry service and they too, was a godsend and with great service and far cheaper of course than what the resort offered.

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After spending too much lazy times in the sauna, pool, pool deck & gym I found a city tour offer through Tripadvisor. I convinced Scott to take this offer available on our last day. Our guide, Thomas arrived punctually at 9am and took us into the city CBD not far from the mall we ventured to. Here, we noticed the city was absolutely clean and graffiti free and loads of people walking about in a leisurely fashion. Thomas was very pleased to confirm the city officials have clamped down on the CBD for tourism over the years. There is very little crime, no loud noise pollution, no aggressiveness with police very active in keeping the peace. It certainly provided a welcoming feel and comfort.

We find Thomas is extremely religious of the Catholic faith. Scott struggled on this tour I think with his non-religious views. I’m Ok with it and respect Thomas’ views. Scott does too, but prefers to be distant wherever possible for he finds very few people will accept his views or debate them.

Coincidently, our first stop was the viewing of the Catholic religion museum. Somehow Thomas gained us entry despite not having our passports for viewing. The museum was on 2 levels and filled with amazing oil paintings of different vintages and at least a hundred versions of Jesus on a cross along with sculptures, relics, etc. I could feel Scott wanting to start a jog out of there and really, you can only see so much of the same thing. Thomas was so embraced with this museum and visits frequently and so must others as there were a few all praying below certain paintings and sculptures.

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We continue to walk a few metres to see the most architecturally magnificent historical City Council building with several statues surrounding in the expanded street walkway. What a beautiful focal point for all to see. Such a building masterpiece not to mention the detailed sculptures. The university shares some of this building and so many young people all enjoying the serenity of this area.

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Our 2^nd stop was the visit to ‘Parque de las Iguanas’ (Iguana Park) where you will come quite close to their native iguanas in all sizes basking in the sun or viewing the people ready to feed them food pellets for sale. These iguanas stay permanently within the park boundary willingly and are extremely tame to having people continually around them. They also share the park and pond with a couple of species of turtles (too many turtles I believe for the area available). You must remember to not stand under the trees in this park as the iguanas are known the urinate without reservation. Thomas called these Lizzie Showers.

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Crossing the road, we could hear church hymns being sung quite loudly. There is a cathedral service underway and it is fully packed to the seams before lunchtime. This church is called the Arquidiocesis de Guayaquil Metropolitan Church on Clemente Ballen 501 street. It is magnificent and taking a photo inside is near impossible with the volume of people present. It was overflowing with believers. The structure is huge and magnificent. Even the entrance doors are full steel and amazing in their presence and stature. The church also shares the street with another amazing church called the Iglesia Cathedral but not on our tour schedule.

From there we walk back through the iguanas and turtles and into the riverside redevelopment called

Malecon 2000 – Riverside in La Bahia precinct. This is a riverside development that goes on for a few kilometres and incorporates everything from an amusement area, a large viewing ferris wheel, a naval sailing school with a large 3 mast schooner, landscape botanical gardens, timber boardwalk, cafes, drinking bars, pop up shops, etc. There is a large crew attending to the botanical gardens keeping it all pristine and lush. This Malecon 2000 area continues to be in redevelopment with a huge gondola chairlift being constructed. It is obviously a major construction however its route is currently unknown to us visitors and Google is not much help either. It is expected to be in operation next year (2020).

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We continue to walk along the entire boardwalk and at the end we have a quick glimpse of La Planchada Castle even though there is not much left of it (not a tall structure). You can see the remnants clearly and the cannons mounted behind the walls and with the museum enclosed it shows a lot of military history. From there we are being led up to the historical village housing of Santa Ana Hill which is now undergone some forms of renovation, painted in bright colours and a few of these terraced houses are now small business spaces from architects, clothing, art galleries to small bakeries and coffee shops, etc. The original cobblestone one-way road, now closed to the general public’s vehicles remains intact. The road only allows small delivery trucks and vans. Thomas asks about my health and whether I can handle steps. I laughed back and said we just finished the Machu Picchu Trek & Rainbow Mountain so with that, he was relieved, smiled and continued to walk towards the ‘hill with steps’.

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We start our climb of steps (photo shows each step is numbered and it goes to #444 .. yes .. there are a lot of well-constructed steps) taking note of the deliveries by hand to cafes and bars above, that require human lifting of kegs and boxes of alcohol by worker teams sweating profusely. When you get to step #444 your body is gaining heat and there is little breeze in the alley ways and we finally get some respite when we reach the top of Santa Ana Hill where we peruse Fuerte La Polvorosa; a historical fort with different sized cannons pointing in different directions with the largest ones still aiming out to the river beyond. There are some remnants of the brick walls of the fort albeit only about 600mm high. Next to the fort there are bronze name plates with sculptures of famous sailors and Government leaders. A few more steps and we reach the plateau called Faro Las Penas (Viewpoint 360) sometimes called Mirador 360°. From this viewpoint you can overlook parts of the city and CBD as well as the river and Malecon 2000 precinct and from the other side the resort precinct with Wyndham Guayaquil and new highrise constructions underway. The quaint Cerro Santa Ana lighthouse within this area has an inner circular staircase for extra viewing however, this area was in heavy maintenance and cordoned off to the public for a few weeks.

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Thomas continues to show the steps and walkways on the other side of the hill and within a few minutes we find we have come into the far end of our resort boardwalk area heading towards Wyndham Guayaquil and other resorts. It now dawns on me that if we had walked a bit further on our first day, we would have seen this walkway and then only a short stroll back into the city & CBD. In my defence, this far end area gave the impression of a dead end and with no-one walking this area and we would have had to go behind the last resort building to find the walkway. Thomas advises this boardwalk precinct used to be an old port and wharf arrangement until it was redeveloped. At the rear of the precinct and adjacent to the road leading to the resort frontages Thomas shows us 3 large concrete silos that have now been converted to apartment buildings. We couldn’t go in to see this arrangement but certainly looked great externally. Apparently, after the wharf the silos formed part of a brewery. It’s amazing our history changes in an area, especially when it abuts a major river.

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Thomas now departs after returning us to our resort. He was quite okay with walking us back and now he willingly sets off back the same way through Santa Ana Hill and to the CBD to recover his car. He loves walking this route. It was rather enjoyable for a 3hour tour and we learnt so much.

Again, many thanks for reading my blogs and any comments below will be well received. Stay tuned for Quito and 2 very active volcanoes.