Guayaquil, Ecuador

We have two days in Guayaquil to replace our Peru ports. We’ve never been here before but fortunately we have a friend in Toronto from here who gave us a list of places to see. Armed with the list, we took a taxi from the port and headed to Santa Ana Port, the start of the waterfront paths, parks, amusement rides, restaurants and public art. Incredibly beautiful. It’s about 2.5 kilometres and it was hot and humid so we took our time.

We then ventured toward the city centre to squares and and parks and to find a spot for lunch. The first we went into had no free tables. The second did. We sat down and saw phots of dishes on the wall and decided to go with the “pollo” or chicken. The man at the cash came over and I pointed and said two please with Coke Light. He seemed frazzled and was trying to explain something but my one beginner Spanish class from school was of little help.

About five minutes later, another customer, a young Ecuadorian man, came to our table and explained in English that the items pictured on the wall are only available at dinner. The lunch menu is on a blackboard on the sidewalk. 😲 He then kindly accompanied me to the sidewalk and helped translate the menu. We ordered again and the owner smiled, nodded and gave us two thumbs up. We enjoyed our lunch…the bill was $6.50 US!?!Read more