The bus to Guayaquil took us down out of the Andes and back to the sea for the first time in nearly 2 months. It was cloudy so wasn't very hot but the humidity really hit us. The countryside near the coast looked very poor, with half finished buildings and houses on stilts, and reminded me (Simon) of the Honduran coast. We'd heard many warnings regarding security in Guayaquil so were on edge and took a taxi into town. The 6 lane highway resembled the dodgems and our taxi driver's steering wheel was worn away where he kept hitting the horn. By the time we were settled in our hostel it was already 3pm and as we didn't want to walk around at night we only had 3 hours to see the city before it started to get dark. We were only here to catch a flight to the Galápagos Islands the next day but still wanted to see the place.

We walked down the main street and I was surprised (I don't quite know why) to see a very modern looking city. We walked to a small park which contained iguanas just milling around and sunbathing on the paths. It also contained snapper turtles (I think they're called), terrapins and a tour group (probably also waiting for their flight the next day). We then headed a few blocks to the water front to Guayaquil's big flagship redevelopment project called the Malecón 2000. We walked the whole length and were really impressed by it especially in the north where it contained beautiful gardens and an IMAX cinema. It also had plenty of security, restaurants, a small shopping mall, lookout towers and a machine that told you the UV levels and the time you shouldn't exceed in the sun. At the north end of the waterfront are two small suburbs which have been renovated and painted bright colours. We walked around the cobbled streets and climbed the hill to the lighthouse. The area also contained beer and football museums but unfortunately we didn't have time for them. We found a bar for some dinner and then caught a taxi back to our hostel for a quiet night before our early flight the next day. We were impressed by Guayaquil, probably because we weren't expecting much, and granted we only saw the best bits but it was easy to spend part of a day in.

Simon