My First Week

“Hola” and welcome to my blog from Ecuador. I arrived in Guayaquil six days ago on the Delta flight out of Atlanta. After a minor one hour delay for a possible “mechanical problem” with our 737 we took off and and landed four hours later, only to be told that the airport had just been evacuated due to a possible “bomb threat“, and we would not be allowed to deplane until they removed the suspicious suitcase and searched for others….we remained on the plane at the gate for almost three more hours before clearing into Customs and Immigration. It all turned out to be a false alarm but the anti-bomb squad blew up a suitcase later and it was reported on the news the next night. Better safe than sorry on all delays these days even if it means checking into your hotel at four in the morning.

Guayaquil is a port city with the Rio Guayas floating by it. I was told more than 4 million people live around this area and it looks it. The “Malecon” is a newer and nice 1.5 mile long city river walk (park) adjacent to the river, which is brown in color, wider than the Mississippi, conjuring up images of the Amazon or New Guinea and "Papillon". The downtown city area of Guayaquil is busy and cosmopolitan, with a another interesting park nearby named Parque Centenario. There were lots of iguanas roaming through it, along with turtles in ponds, and a huge church across the street, all quite interesting.

After three days I took a taxi from Guayaquil to Cuenca, and although it cost more than a regular scheduled airline flight I wanted to see the country and didn’t want to land in the dense fog in the mountains that afternoon, so paid the financial price for the four hour drive past rice fields, banana plantations, cocoa fields (chocolate!), and at times things and places indicative of immense poverty.


 The mountains were some of the most amazing I’ve ever seen, with the engineering to build the roads unbelievable at times, literally blasting away the sides of entire mountains and jungle with it. My driver was pretty good, but I don’t think he was going to appreciate the trip back at night through them.

I’m now in Cuenca, a quaint 500 year old city recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Cultural Site. My first boutique hotel here misrepresented a few things on the internet to me, so I moved after one night. I was on the 5th floor, and my hotel did not have an elevator…it did not have a mini bar…it did not have a bar period, or a restaurant, or hot water in the shower. Needless to say that after making four trips up to my room carrying my bags, then going back for water, food, and much needed alcohol, I had climbed the equivalent of a 20 story flight up. That was enough for the night…and forever.

Did I mention the hotel room didn‘t have heat? None of the older hotels have heat, maybe figuring that at 2,500 meters up in the mountains you’re close enough to the sun to not need any. Wrong, you need heat here.

My current hotel doesn’t have heat either, but it does have hot water and a mini bar, so I’ve been told that when it’s cold you should take your mini bar into the hot shower to stay warm….until it warms up outside! Last night when I returned to the hotel my “receiptionista” had on a jacket and gloves and asked me in Spanish if I was cold?

However, inspite of unseasonably cool weather it is easy to get sunburned and SPF 60 or more is not a bad idea. My face is a little more red than usual from sun and wind after walking the city streets the past two days… trying to stay warm before going back to my hotel to drink and sleep.

Now the good stuff: The local people I’ve met are friendly and helpful. The streets in the old section of the city are mainly one-way, and at times one lane, with crowded tiny sidewalks, which makes walking them interesting and precarious. There are lots of old buildings and plenty to see. The restaurant food is excellent and inexpensive. The foods at the open markets and bakeries are even less expensive. They have it all in these “mercados“, no body part or organ is spared from being sold or eaten. Last night a fellow blogger explained how she prepared an excellent cow’s hooves soup, and although the preparation reminded her of the essence of a leather tannery on a rough day, it all turned out well…..and cheap!

I’m just discovering the night life….at first wary about going out alone into streets that are dark and empty in many areas, reminding me of scary black and white movies out of the 40’s where people are creeping around in alleys ready to jump out at you. The safety suggestion here is to never take more out with you than what you need for the night… apparently petty theft was on the rise here so the government has recently dispatched 600 more police personnel to the town to keep the tourists safe from the “ladrones” and pickpockets. But cabs are cheap, $2.00 maximum in any direction, so that’s not a bad plan.



Anyway, that’s all I know. The pictures I’ve included are of the iguanas in Guayaquil, the food and produce mercados here, the Rio Tomebamba, an old church, along with a picture of me holding a lottery ticket for tonight’s drawing and one of me in the lobby of my hotel holding a copy of today’s El Mercurio newspaper, to prove that I am really here. I like it here, it’s interesting and relaxing, but it could be a little warmer. In the meantime I’m using my laptop as a heater to keep some body parts warm. Saludos!