Last night I woke quite a few times.... Not because of noise, or light, but because I felt like I was still moving from side to side on the ship. However, as soon as I woke up and realised that I was all tucked up in my nice big cushy bed.... I sat up, stopped my head from rocking, laid back down and was able to fall back to sleep again.
I set my alarm for 6.30am. As soon as it went off, I jumped up, threw on some clothes, chucked on my glasses and quickly made my way down the hall to Kathy and Jan's room. I knocked on the door, however there was no answer. Then, I heard the elevator door ding.... I could hear Kathy and Jan talking as the door opened, so I knew it was them.
As they approached the door, they opened it and let me in. We chatted for a few minutes, before it was time to go down to the lobby. I helped Jan with her carry on bag... and we made one last journey down the elevator together.
As the doors opened.... I saw the rest of the gang there. I started to get a little tug in my heart.... I can't believe that the glamazon's are going from 5 to 1.
I started saying goodbye to the gang. Each one I gave a heartfelt hug to. I will genuinely miss every one of the glamazon's!! I was so blessed to have had the opportunity to have met these amazing people 4 weeks ago!! Here I was travelling solo.... to then meet people who were so kind and generous to take a poor lost soul like me into their fold, was amazing. They must be angels, as they have managed to hang round me for 4 weeks and not show any signs of insanity!!!
I gave each member of the glamazon's one more hug, before their guide arrived to whisk them off to the airport.
They then started to make their way out to the van, whilst I turned around and headed back to the elevators. Deep breath!!
I made it back to my room, put my PJ's back on and jumped straight back into bed. I tossed and turned for a little while, thinking about the glamazon's, however soon found myself waking to my alarm going off!!
Time to jump up and start my day. After getting ready, I went down stairs for breakfast. It was back to breakfast for one. It was so strange not sitting with the others for breakfast. Instead, I quietly sat and ate my breakfast, and returned to my favourite pastime, people watching. To be honest, there were more people in that hotel dining room eating alone, than there were people eating together!!
I watched as the waitress buzzed around the room, filling up cups with coffee and milk, and stealthily clearing plates and bowls whilst the diner had gone up to the buffet for their next helping of food. Today, it was an eat and run event. I returned to my room, in search of what activities I could fill my day with.
I jumped on to trip advisor.... Let's see what they have to offer. Malecon 2000... I saw a bit of that yesterday... I did want to go back and explore it further, but then something caught my eye. Parque Historico..... Really good rating, and it's been rated by heaps of people. Maybe I should give that a go. I tried to find directions on my google maps.... however it just keep throwing me off the track. So I packed my bag, and went down stairs to get some directions from the concierge desk.
I asked the lady behind the desk if it would be safe for me to walk to the Parque Historico.... She looked at me like I was a moron. Ok, this isn't going so well. She then looked at me and said very slowly 'you want to walk to Parque Historico, um, that is not possible. It takes 25 min by car'.
Ok, I probably could walk it, but I think that if I maybe catch a taxi there I will at least be able to get some idea on how far it is, and the directions and then possibly walk home.
So the concierge asked if I was still wanting to go, as she would get the door man to organise a safe taxi to take me. I was ready.... No time like the present. So the door man confirmed with me that I wanted to go to the parque historico, and then said that he will organise for the safe taxi to wait for me. He advised that it would not be possible for me to walk there or back. Out of curiosity I asked how much it would cost... He said $10 an hour. Sounds reasonable to me.... I didn't have to pay to get into the park, so paying for a taxi to drive me there, wait for me, and then drive me back to the hotel again was not going to break the bank. At least I would be safe!!!
So he organised one of the hotel cars to drive me. Air conditioned car.... We are starting off on the right foot. We set off. The driver starts making his way through the traffic of the inner city. Doesn't matter what the time of day is in Guayquil, there always seems to be a lot of traffic. As we weave our way through town, we start too head to the outskirts of town. I see a park ahead.... maybe this is it... I could have walked that. But no, he drove straight past that park. After driving for about 10mins, we make our way completely out of town, and jump on a freeway. Ok, the penny starts to drop... yeah, this definitely isn't a walking to or from type of place.
We drive along the freeway for another 10 mins, and I see the airport on my left hand side. Hey, I should have stopped by and had a coffee with the Glamazon's before they caught their flight!!! Although, I think I may have only been an hour or two too late!!
As we drive past the airport, we soon made a left hand turn into another road.
We drove along this road for a short amount of time, before the driver pulled into the carpark of Parque Historico. Yep, I'm definitely going to get him to wait.
We tried desperately to communicate the time of pickup. I told him to wait for 2 hrs, and that I would meet him in the carpark at 1pm. We repeated this conversation half a dozen times, before he pulled out a piece of paper and I wrote the time down!!! Sorted!!
I left the car, and walked in the front gate. Here I was greeted by a lovely lady, who explained how the park was set up. It had 3 zones, wildlife, old Malecon and indigenous. It was a one way walking trail... So hard to get lost.
Map in hand, I start my adventure.
The first zone is the wildlife zone. Here they have a lot of animals in enclosures, kind of like a mini zoo. It was hard to see some of the animals in such small enclosures... But the animals all seemed to be healthy looking. The only animals in cages were the birds, everything else seemed to be in enclosures that resembled more natural environment which was nice to see. I saw a lot of animals native to South America, however most of them I had actually been lucky enough to see in the wild!!
They had made an effort to try and create different types of forests as well. They had mangroves, and tropical forests, and rain forests. Each forest had a display board explaining what makes this type of environment unique, where it can be found and how it is under threat. They then tied it all back to how we can conserve these environments.... Really educating people on how important these natural environments are.
Although walking around, it soon became very clear that maybe I should have been in one of those enclosures. I don't think the locals see too many blonde white girls walking around Parque Historico.... As all of the kids were just staring at me as I walked around. But as Kathy always says, a smile means the same thing in every language!!! Although, that's not the case in monkey language... as a smile means I'm going to attack you. But thank goodness I wasn't dealing with monkeys... So I just smiled at the kids and what do you know, they smiled back!!! Some took the opportunity to practice their English.... 'Hello', others spoke in Spanish. It was nice!!!
I managed to get through the wildlife zone.... and on to the old Malecon. So this area was set up on the river front, and pretty much had stage houses built to show people what the Malecon used to look like in the 1800's. It was nice to see the old buildings. Only one of the buildings was an actual house, that had been completely decked out with period furniture and all. However, I tried to walk in and the security guard said that I wasn't allowed in. Why?? Everyone else seemed to be going in. So I just put it down to maybe I didn't completely understand what he was saying... so I ended up not going in. It wasn't worth a fight. I just continued on my way.
The final zone was an indigenous zone, and this is where they had all things gardens. They displayed the different types of crops that they grow in Ecuador, as well as all the different uses for plants and examples of each. They went through medicinal, flavour, smell etc. There was also a peasant house, and a little farm. I walked around this zone and just enjoyed taking in all of the information about how the locals used to live and their culture.
About 1 hour 45 mins later, I had finished my walking tour of the park. I actually enjoyed it. It was a good way to spend a beautiful warm, sunny day in Guayquil. I walked back to the carpark, where my driver was waiting for me. I jumped back in the car and we headed back to the hotel.
We arrived at the hotel, and it came time to pay. The driver and I had quite a few attempted conversations on just how this was going to work.... I even resorted to mime, however my charade skills were obviously off today as I still didn't have an answer on how I could give this man some money!! I ended up getting the bell boy to help translate.... I wasn't sure if I was to pay the driver directly or whether I paid at the front desk. The bell boy said I could do it either way, the decision was mine, so he asked how much it was.... $15. What the??? How cheap is that!! A personal car to drive me 25 mins to the park, to wait for me for 2hrs and then drive 25 mins back to the hotel, all for the bargain price of $15.... Melbourne cabbies have a lot to answer for!!! So the short answer is, I paid my man directly!!!
It was really warm outside, nice and sunny, so what better way to spend my afternoon than in the pool. I got changed into my bathers and headed to the pool. I eventually found it, tucked away on the first floor. I grabbed a couple of the hotel beach towels, and found a deck chair. The temperature board told me that the pool temperature was 22 degrees. Sounds nice, especially on a hot day. I dipped my legs in first... Initially it was cold but it soon warmed up. Then I took the plunge.... in I jumped. Holy crap it was cold. It was not 22 degrees in here, that's for sure. I really needed my wetsuit. I persevered for a minute or two, however when it didn't warm up, I was out of there. As I climbed out of the pool, the warmth of the sun immediately started to warm me back up again. Argh, that's better.
I just lied around for the afternoon on the banana lounges. Just enjoying my down time!! There was no rush to do anything.... Just relax and try and recharge the batteries before my next tour.
Later on that afternoon, I headed back to my room, had a nice shower and then went and got a coffee from the coffee shop found in the hotel lobby. The coffee was really nice.... however the hardest part was resisting the temptation of all the most delicious looking cakes that they had in the display window.
Later on that evening it was time for dinner. I didn't really feel like eating out at a restaurant on my own.... so instead I opted for take away. I found a Chinese restaurant, which believe it or not are everywhere. I ordered my special fried rice.... For $3.50.
In a few minutes it was ready, so I took it back to my hotel room. It was really delicious, and I sat there and ate my fried rice and watched tv (for the first time in months). There were quite a few channels in English... So I settled on the cosmopolitan channel.... As they had a modelling show on. When that show finished, I patiently waited to see what would come on next.
You just couldn't imagine my surprise, when the next show that appeared on my Ecuadorian TV screen was the Australian series Winners and losers!!! Oh my god, I love this show!!! I had already seen the episode, however I did not care in the slightest. I settled in and watched it again!!!
I spent the rest of the night catching up on Facebook goss and emails. Before I knew it, time for sleep!!!