Our time in Guayacil was brief, which is probably just as well as it doesn´t have a great reputation. However, it was a necessary stop because all flights to the Galapagos go via the largest city in Ecuador. We arrived around 9.30pm and had some food at one of the restaurants inside one of the biggest and most pleasant bus terminals I have seen in South America. Fed and water we left and after refusing to take a taxi for 3 dollars accepted a lift off a man with a rather beaten up VW campervan for 2 dollars. We did hesitate on seeing the van as it was clear he was not an official taxi driver and the vehicle had definitly seen better days but decided to get in nonetheless.

The journey to the hostel was about 5 minutes in total but with the taxi driver telling us about how he had been deported from the USA as an illegal immigrant, and after being prison for a while for a fight he had it did nothing to settle our nerves. He turned out to be good enough though and took us to the door as requested. At the hostel we met Carly, from Canada who was sharing a room with us and also flying to the Galapagos the next day. We all packed our bags and left anything unnecessary at the hostel before all 3 of us tried to force ourselves to sleep despite the excitement.

Next morning we were up early ready for the taxi ride to the airport. We went through some very rigerous security checks which included no fruit, plants or seeds being allowed and after a 40 minute delay were heading off into the skies bound for the Galapagos Islands!

(P.s. I dont have a photo of anything in the city and there are no good ones online so I uploaded a funny one instead).