In Guayaquil Without A Plan

On the bus from Lima, Peru to Guayaquil, Ecuador, I met an Ecuadorian girl who recommended some places in Ecuador to visit. She seemed to be quite decided on her top three and told me, "Ruta del Sol, Baños and Esmeraldas. Don't forget!" So I based my route on her advice. I had no guidebook with me, no maps even of just Guayaquil and no hostel booking. I left the research for the next morning when I would search for a tourist office or tour operator.

When I arrived in the evening I hopped in a cab asking for the center of town. Since I at least new that Guayaquil had a malecón (esplanade), I told the cab driver I was looking for a cheap hostel nearby and he took me to Pacifico Hostel that was in a safer neighborhood in the center.

Pacífico Hostel

At USD14 per night, it was a little bit on the pricier side for me, but after a long trip I was ready to pay for some quiet privacy in order to recharge. Relatively new on a quiet street, with aircon, cable tv, ensuite and hot water made it worthwhile. It was also only four or so blocks from the malecón. Unfortunately, there were frequent power outages which also meant no running water in my room and no aircon during the hottest part of the day.

Malecón 2000 And Santa Ana

I explored the beautiful malecón, kind of like Southbank with its manicured gardens, fountains, ponds, playgrounds, shops, restaurants, IMAX theatre... it even had a fitness park which was like a playground for adults to do sit ups, pull ups, climb walls and the like. The river wasn't particularly spectacular or clean, but with so many things to see and such a long walk along the malecón, it was easy to spend a few hours there walking through the gardens and admiring the sailboats docked there.

One afternoon I wanted to watch some tv in the aircon, but no power forced me to do some more walking and exploring. This time I decided to climb the 444 steps up Santa Ana hill situated on one end of the malecón. The steps were flanked by cute and colorful renovated buildings, a mix of homes, small shops, cafe restaurants and bars. The steps were numbered to encourage your climb and security guards were posted every few hundred steps, watching you puff and sweat in the heat, though were occasionally helpful by pointing you in the right direction when there was a fork in the path.

At the top was a small church and a lighthouse, and scaling a few more dozen steps up the latter led to a wonderful view of the city and the river. It was a peaceful place, with a light wind cooling you down, and certainly worth the effort.

Malecón 2000 was always a nice place to chill out and people watch, but after I visited Santa Ana, I realized what the malecón, with its thousands of sculpture and art pieces, was missing. Music. Salsa music livened Santa Ana, played from a few cafes or bars along the way, like other places of South America where there is at least one street performer or radio filling the silence.

More Parks And The Museum

Another day, I walked over twenty blocks to check out another malecón and Independence Square. Neither was particularly interesting; fairly standard stuff, really. So the highlight of my day was visiting Iguana Park, a tiny square with gardens where iguanas like to roam freely on the grass, the branches of the trees, across the pavers or on the monuments. There was also a small enclosure of turtles and fish.

Before the day was over, I visited the Nahim Isaias museum which the tourist information office guy recommended I do. It was a beautiful little museum of colonial and traditional art, but not being particularly interested in art, I was more impressed with the interior design of the space.