We quickly showered, quick being the operative word, as the
shower was electric and after a couple of minutes the wiring in the shower head
would smoke and even though an electric shock would’ve woken us up nicely we
really didn’t want to experience one…
We caught the bus into town and got
off at the Maleçon, the waterfront boulevard that is patrolled by police and
one of the few places safe enough to walk in town. Since we were there at 9am, nothing was open
and we walked the entire boulevard in search of a café for a morning coffee as
we were fading fast after our sleepless night.
We reached the end and decided to climb up the 400-odd steps to the look
out, still hoping to find a coffee at the top! The climb was interesting, with step being numbered and houses refer to the step number they are located at. For example, "We are located in the right hand lane of step 192"... On numerous walls there are pictures that
show the conditions of the houses and the street before the area was developed,
and it’s fair to say that the place has been transformed.
On the way up there are lots of nice
little cafes, which gave us hope of having that long desired coffee, until we realised
that it was the Monday after the NY weekend so the chances of anything being open
weren’t great….
At the top there is a nice view over
the town and the river (as well as the airport). At least we could view Guayaquil from a
distance since it was too dangerous to explore on foot… We ventured to the only
other safe area of town: 9th de Octobre Ave, and went down to the park at the
end, where iguanas roam free and chase each around the park. We felt a little out of place there, being the only foreigners we could see... despite the police presence, we decided not to stick around and admire the iguanas!
By mid-afternoon the heat and total exhaustion bested us and we caught a bus back to our hostel where we washed
clothes and did our final preparations for something we’d been counting down
the days for a long time – flying to the Galapagos Islands!
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