Day 19 Guayaquil, Ecuador

Today was our first stop in Ecuador.  We will have another stop tomorrow.  It seems strange to stop twice in such a small country. 

Today we took a shuttle bus from the ship into the heart of the city and were deposited in a park.  The park has a couple of ponds and some well placed trees.  What makes this park unusual are the iguanas that cover the trees.  They have the run of the park and are fed daily with fruits and vegetables that are well past their prime.  It was easy to notice the “calling cards” left by these animals as you tip toe around them.  What was unexpected was the drenching that occurred directly in front of where we were standing.  All of a sudden it seemed that a small bucket of liquid had been tipped over high above us.  We decided that lingering under that tree put at greater risk than we realized.  We quickly moved on.

We walked along the river front development referred to as Malecon 2000.  This is a very nice, modern park like development that stretches along the river ending at Las Penas which is the historic district.  From there we walked up the 460 steps to an overlook that once was used as a gun emplacement when the city was attacked by Dutch pirates.    I didn’t even know the Dutch had pirates.

One thing that stood out in this unremarkable city was that all of the supporting columns for the elevated roadways were colorfully decorated with mosaic tile.  A nice touch. 

We did our little trek early and were happy we did as the heat and humidity intensified as the day wore on.  We were back on the boat in time for lunch having discharged our duty as tourists. 

Once on board we did have some excitement.  A container in another part of the port exploded and caught on fire.  Due to the toxic gases given off by the material being burned we were required to stay inside for a couple of hours.  There have been differing rumors some saying 18 people were killed while the cruise staff assures us no one was harmed.  Film at eleven.