Guayaquil: March, 2016  

Ecuador-Peru border crossing.

Our bus journey from Trujillo to Guayaquil took 20 hours!!! When we boarded at night, they had the air-con on. We woke up a couple hours later sweating. They had turned off the air, and it was hot and stuffy. I hate when they do this!!! I looked around and there were others awake and fidgeting. I don’t get this. I’ve seen it so many times here. People will sit and be uncomfortable rather than say something. So, at around 4am we woke up most of the bus trying to get the attention of the worker to tell him that while it was nice and comfortable on the upper level where he was sleeping, we on the bottom, were roasting. Javier told him to turn on the air-con, specifically, turn on the cold air. Why do we have to specify cold air? Because if you don’t, what they do is…turn up the power of the fan, so it’s just more hot air circulating without actually changing the temperature…we’re seasoned pros at this point. Sure enough he turned on the air and we all went back to sleep. We slept until almost 11am. 

Crossing the border was a joke. While there were two people stamping out of Peru, there was only one stamping in to Ecuador. The rest of us had the privilege of standing in the heat and sun for over an hour to wait our turn. Not far into Ecuador, we noticed everything was green. There was much more vegetation and fewer houses and buildings. After what seemed like forever, we arrived in Guayaquil. 

Metropolitan Cathedral. The view from our room. Guayaquil, Ecuador

We were told that the hotel restaurant, while expensive, had really good food. It’s weird. After eating economically for so long, we were both appalled by the prices. They were equal to prices at home, and for what they were serving, maybe even more expensive. We were so hungry and tired, we decided to bite the bullet and pay the ridiculous prices. After eating, we now see what these people meant. The food wasn’t anything special, which is why we didn’t want to pay, but somehow, it was delicious. We were both surprised how a meal so simple could be so good. Javier told me, I want to come back and eat here again. 

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Iguana Park. Guayaquil, Ecuador

We had breakfast included with our room. It was at the same restaurant, and was just as good as dinner. It was a Sunday, and just about everything was closed with the exception of the pop-up street vendors. We walked across the street to Iguana park. True to its name, there are iguanas everywhere. They even climb the trees. Every once in a while it seems like a hose turns on high in the trees, sending a heavy stream of water pouring from above. It’s the iguanas peeing. We walked to some tour agencies with no luck before walking to the water and along the boardwalk. To be honest, I had very low expectations of Guayaquil, and while I can’t say it’s a great city to visit, it was much better than anticipated.

Guayaquil, Ecuador

Javier was looking for new flip-flops, and nothing looked appealing. On one of the last places we visited, he tried on, and eventually bought, these croc-looking flip-flops for $5. Oh, that’s another thing we didn’t like about Ecuador. They don’t have their own currency. They use US dollars. It just doesn’t feel right to use US dollars outside of the US.

We had done a lot of research. We knew we wanted to go to Galapagos, but everything was so expensive. We read some blogs of people who waited until they were in Ecuador and some even waiting until Santa Cruz, Galapagos to book. Back at the hotel, we asked the receptionist if they had any recommendations for Galapagos tours. She did, and had a guy call us.

Guayaquil, Ecuador

We didn’t like his prices, and instead booked our own flight to the island, and decided we’d figure it out from there. Kinda risky, but in the end, worked out for us. And that concludes our very quick trip in Guayaquil.

To see more pictures of Ecuador, click HERE.