GUAYAQUIL : Meets+Eats+Deets

My nomad adventure started even before I landed in Guayaquil with an overnight layover at the izZzleep Pod/Capsule Hotel in Terminal 1 of the Mexico City International Airport. This was a convenient, comfortable, clean, and a rather Star Trek-like fun option. Click photo for more.

I removed my mask after leaving Customs at the airport. In early March, wearing a mask for me was solely an in-flight precaution I started taking on flights in July/August 2019. The first case of COVID-19 in Ecuador was diagnosed in Guayaquil on 29 February. When I landed there 5 March, protection measures were already in place. At Passport Control all staff and many passengers arriving from other parts of the world were wearing mask; i.e., not the USA. Click photo for COVID-Locked post.

CeCe is a hospitable and delightful host and her sparkling clean condo is located within 15 minutes of airport. Click photo for AirBnB post.

An Uber to downtown and most city sites costs an average of $5.00 max. It’s great that the Uber app auto-translates the communication between you and the driver!

Why is the Latin Dasani label designed so different from the USA dark blue label? Yes, still bottled by Coco-Cola. Click photo for more Ecuador Deets.

My first meal in Ecuador was at a place I found on my walk to the grocery store; El Rincon del Ceviche. Ceviche is almost a national dish in Ecuador and they also love their seafood soups such as the yummy Encebollado stew. Click photo for more Ecuador Eats.

Restaurants often provide similar snacks at the beginning of your meal; like bread or tortilla chips in the states. The corn kernels are not burned; similar to corn nuts they are very crunchy, but hollow inside. Click photo for more Ecuador Eats.

Similar to other Latin countries, it's not uncommon for office workers to wear uniforms like these 3 ladies (count the feet); although the torn jeans look seems against standard business attire! Click photo for more Ecuador Deets.

My grocery haul was $30.56 of bread, cheese, yoghurt & fruit. It will probably last the five days I’ll be here; plus a little extra for the 3.5 hour road trip to Cuenca. The local chocolate is for me. Hey! The welcome sign at the airport states, “The Land of Fine Cocoa.” The imported Ferro Rocha chocolate is gift for my host; I think they’ll like something different than the local. I buy hospitality gifts upon arrival to save room in my luggage. Click photo for more Ecuador Eats.

When I told my friends, who are originally from Ecuador or Guayaquil, that it was my first stop in their country, the first question was, “Why?! There is nothing to do there!” Well, the one-way ticket from Dallas was only $240 and with ‘slow travel’ I have the time to spend a few days checking out the largest city in the Ecuador.

Those friends knew of what they speak; the Parque Seminario also called Parque de las Iguanas, is one of the MAIN attractions in Guayaquil… YES, One. Of. The. Main attractions. Enough said, LOL!

OK, I also visited the two other main sites; the riverfront Malecón 2000 and the Museum of Anthropology & Contemporary Art.

There are many beautiful memorial monuments in Guayaquil's General Cemetery, but due to the rain most of my few days there, I didn't get a chance to tour what is also known as the 'White City'. It's divided into five sections; mausoleums, niches for rent, perpetual or rent vaults, graves built into a mausoleum floor and in-ground graves. I found these niches to be the most interesting. They almost look like apartment buildings. Since they can be rented, I guess that's what they are in reality, apartments for dead residents.

This is more than a corner deco for an office building, the center face is the image of Rumiñawi, an indigenous hero and defender of the Kingdom of Quito. He is honored yearly on 1 December and his portrait was on the front of the 1,000 Ecuador sucre currency*. Rumiñawi is also the name of a dormant volcano situated in the Andes mountains 40 km south of Quito. * 20+ years ago, with Ecuador’s recovery from an economic collapse, the country adopted USA currency; a great convenience for travelers from the states.