December 16, 2008
Guayaquil, Ecuador
Greetings from our first port in South America! Weather is hot and steamy with lots of grey sky. We didn't do a tour in Guayaquil, but took the Crystal shuttle bus to town with our friend Dan. The people that we talked to in Guayaquil were friendly and seemed glad to see tourists visiting their city. Tourism is a fledgeling business here and they are doing their best to increase Guayquil's appeal. They've constructed a walkway, the Malecon, along the river with shopping centers, craft markets and restaurants. There are attractive fountains and bridges along the Malecon as a result of the city's beautification project. Evidently, crime was a major problem in this city, but the current mayor has had a multi-year project to reduce it and police are quite visible. Our guide on the bus warned us to stay in the area of the Malecon, because of pickpockets and the ease in getting lost in the labyrinth of local shopping stalls. We didn't find anything to buy even in the craft markets, most of what we saw was designed as souvenirs and not typical of Ecuador. Unfortunately, we didn't see anyone selling good Panama hats, just crude copies. We were struck that all the housing we saw has barred windows and doors, broken glass or barbed wire on the top of walls now matter in poor or middleclass neighborhoods. On the way back to the ship, we were taken down a street where there are many manufacturers of papier mache statues or figures for New Year's Eve. They ranged from about 2 feet tall to over 10 feet tall and were created to look like government officials, cartoon characters (Bart Simpson en famile, Barney, etc), The Hulk, Superman, etc. Evidently, the tradition is that on New Year's Eve, these statues are filled with the names of your enemies and fire crackers are placed inside, then the firecrackers are lit and the figures explode. Despite the warnings about crime, almost everyone who we passed on the bus smiled and waved to us. We were supposed to sail at 6 pm, but didn't get going until almost 7:30 because the flight from the Galapagos Shore Excursion was delayed and they didn't arrive until almost 7 pm.