Guayaquil

I am just realising how much more blogging is need with this new form of travelling so, strap your selves in for a roller coaster of a read.

We set off early from the crack den in cuenca for a final visit to our favourite breakfast lady to consume the ultimate empanada and hot chocolate combination. Afterwards, a quick goodbye and a heeding of the warnings about the perils of Ecuador. She would make a good lonely planet fear monger.

We hopped on a bus out of the centre and headed towards the highway. After a short walk and only about 10 minutes with our thumbs out we were picked up by a red Chevrolet pickup truck and began our exciting, ear popping climb through the misty and increasingly tropical Parque nacional Cajas. Not before stopping for a photo from the side of a petrol station we were dropped at a corner on the outskirts of Guayaquil around 17 miles away we walked with our thumbs out for just two minutes and a HUGE red lorry (cameon) with what I could only guess was several tons of dirt in the back guestured us to climb aboard, we did so with glee and after ascending I finally realised why the front of those things are so big but only have two seats..... It has a bed. Talking with the guy was nearly impossible because it was a fairly old vehicle and with a massive engine so as you can imagine it was pretty loud. He dropped us on the side of the highway just outside the city where we caught a quick bus to the centre to find our couch surfing host, Cesar.

We were greeted very warmly and shown in to a super cool, mini apartment with a spiral stair case (he's an architect) and a big opening from the first floor down into the office. We went for some quick night time exploration and then we returned to catch a few winks to in turn catch a few proverbial worms the following day.

We arose with the birds and set off to explore Guayaquil, starting with a traditional Ecuadorian breakfast named Bolon in a nice little local restaurant shown to us by cesar. These are a ball of fried and mashed plantain entangled with melted cheese and a side order of egg. I have a feeling I'll be eating a lot more of these 😁. This gave us the fructose, glucose and sucrose we would need for a full day of walking. After leaving the little family restaurant we parted ways with our host and head towards the centre to the tourist hotspot known as the Parque de las iguanas. On the way there we happened upon a Malecon (it's a board walk type thing but on the side of the river) which we decided to walk along. There were some interesting structures which were held up on stilts this just shows that Ecuadorian real estate won't let some stupid water stand in the way of expansion. A couple of photos was sufficient and we continued on our quest for iguanas.

Upon arrival there was this strange sense that those iguanas didn't find there way to this urban park by them selves. At first you look around and see 4 or 5 surrounded by children pulling there tails, feeding them cheese-its and other unsavoury snacks, pun intended. Your eyes are then drawn upwards as you realise that the iguanas and the pigeons have formed an alliance in the trees, plotting on how to seek revenge on the dribbling, screaming children below.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NsMPyuceQU&feature=youtube_gdata_player & https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwp7ENoFHBU&feature=youtube_gdata_player Although it was cool to be up close to what I can only see as dinosaurs that some how survived whatever it was that destroyed the last bunch, be it the wrath of god or more likely death by entropy. Generally I felt uncomfortable with the idea and by the end we just left towards the next stop on the tour.

For the next stage we continued along the Malecon until we reached a set of stairs which were numbered, 001, 002 ,003 they said. Three steps is easy we thought. So we decided the follow the white rabbit (Matrix Reference) these steps lead us through a really cool, colourful and ever ascending neighbourhood. At the final step (444) I must say a little short of breath we found ourselves at the foot of the lighthouse. We proceeded up one more spiral staircase and were met with an amazing panoramic view of the whole of Guayaquil. Breath taking (accidental pun). There are some photos for you to enjoy and one interactive one which can be found here https://plus.google.com/114943289142791995372