Exploring Guayaquil, Ecuador

Monday night we caught an overnight bus from Otavalo to Guayaquil, a town on the southern Ecuador coast. All in all, the ride was about 10 hours long and can best be described as "hell." At one point I woke up around 3:00 am because it was so hot that my sweat (along with that of the other passengers) had condensed and was running down the windows. That coupled with bumpy, barely paved roads allowed me to get around two hours of sleep. Needless to say we were all exhausted when we finally arrived around 6:30 am.

The River behind Guayaquil. 

Dustin in 'Iguana Park.' All of the Iguanas were very cordial. 

Porter and Justin drinking Jack Fruit batidos. They were amazing! 

A view of a dilapidated yet beautiful part of Guayaquil.

On a bus in Guayaquil. Bus and taxi have been our primary means of getting around. Plus it's always and adventure, you never know who you'll meet. 

We stayed at the LDS temple hostel which had both hot water and a toilet seat so as you can imagine which was pretty thrilling. We spent the rest of the day on foot randomly exploring the city. We hopped on buses, took taxis and wandered through the myriad of skyscrapers and slums that is downtown guayaquil. Most of the afternoon was spent visiting more cathedrals, buying fake ray-bans and eating everything in sight (luckily no one is too sick yet). At one point we stumbled on a downtown park crawling with full-sized iguanas.

Guayaquil was an interesting city but I think for the most part we were glad to leave. We arrived in Peru tonight anxious for the next step of our adventure which includes two days in the coastal capital of Lima and five days in the Andes on our way to Machu Pacchu!