Guayaquil was better than expected

Despite being a "rough" city, if you stay in the main central area, Guayaquil actually has some interesting things to see. We still don't think it's worth much more than a day or two to visit, and we certainly don't see the attraction of living here. But we're glad we came to see it for ourselves.

We set out around 10:00am to do some exploring...

There is a nice malecon... a walkway that runs about 2.5 kms (just over a mile) along the riverfront. So we walked that way along the main street that runs in front of our hotel.

Some interesting buildings.

The House of Culture.

Scenery along the way.

The San Francisco Catholic Church.

Fairly plain interior, but fancy gold altar.

Made it to the waterfront.

Notice the Ferris wheel in the distance.

This Yellow-crowned night heron had a funny tuft on it's head.

Muddy looking water.

The clock tower.

Scenery along the way.

Guayaquil had a bad apartment building fire a day before we arrived. Surprisingly, nobody was killed, but it was quite spectacular. They were able to evacuate everyone, but then couldn't get the fire under control. They say the interior temperature of the building got up to 800 degrees celcius and caused a big section of it to collapse. There are lots of videos of the collapse on youtube.

The building is located at the south end of the malecon, and it was closed off at this point.

Some parts were still smoking.

Nice park space.

A juvenile Yellow-crowned night heron.

We walked over to Santa Ana hill at the north end of the malecon. There are 444 steps leading to the top. Did we count them? No... but they are numbered!

Numbered steps leading to the top.

It's a dangerous area, so they have posted security guards every hundred steps or so. 

Heading higher.

It wasn't very busy, but then it was about 12:15pm at this time and one of the security guards told us that most people do the climb in the morning or late afternoon. We actually didn't find the temperature to be too bad, but it was also cloudy so no direct sunlight.

We're getting there!

Interesting tree.

Ruins of something near the top.

There is a museum near the top.

We didn't go in.

Bridge in the distance.

The other side of the river.

Quite a few new buildings going up.

Chapel at the top of Santa Ana Hill.

Guayaquil.

The city itself.

There is also a lighthouse on top of the hill.

Another hill opposite.

Like Mexico City, Guayaquil also has a public cable car line.

Unfortunately, it's not as cheap for tourists because you need to buy a card and refill it. It was going to cost about $3.50 USD each for one ride, so we passed.

Scenery along the way.

There are some interesting buildings.

Funny.

Ecuador has a lot of "almuerzo" opportunities... inexpensive lunch specials. We remember this also from our time in Peru. Anyhow, we found one advertising a complete lunch for $3.25 USD ($4.40 CAD) each.

Chicken, salad, and rice.

It also included a bowl of soup, and a small lemonade.

Great deal!

We both thought this statue was pretty cool.

The Guayaquil Cathedral.

Fancy.

Opposite the cathedral is a park where there are iguanas living freely. They are very used to people, and aren't bothered at all if you are close. It's kind of fun to sit and watch them.

Iguanas and pigeons!

I took a video for you...

This is a big fellow!

I wonder how old he is.

The Telegraph Building.

Today, we take the free hotel shuttle to the airport, where we should be able to walk to the bus station. Then a four hour bus ride from Guayaquil to Cuenca where we will stay a few days with Canadian friends Michel (Mike) and Louise who live there now. Some of you might remember them from the 2018 Mexico RV Caravan tour that we led!

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