Guayaquil

According to Lonely Planet the bordercrossing from Ecuador to Peru is the sketchiest one in whole South America. It's recommended to not do it independently but take a bus that goes from Guayaquil in Ecuador directly to Mancora (or any other town in Peru). The bus then drops you outside the immigration office to get your passport stamped and takes you across the border. I knew there were different busses leaving from Guayaquil but didn't know the exact times. So I decided to just go there to see at what time busses where leaving and then stay the night if I had to.
I got to Guayaquil around midday and the only busses were leaving either early in the morning or late at night. I didn't wanna do the bordercrossing overnight as that would mean getting of the bus around 3am to get my passport stamped so I bought me a ticket for 7am the next morning and decided to stay the night in Guayaquil. Julius had recommended a hostel which was cheap and located close to a stop of the metrovia (townbus). After dropping my stuff at the hostel I wanted to check out what Guayaquil had to offer. I walked about 15 minutes through dirty streets till I came to the center with a little park full of iguanas and some old buildings. 5 more minutes towards the river I came to Malecón 2000 - an urban renewal project focusing on the old Simón Bolívar boardwalk overlooking the Guayas River. There were a few historical monuments, fountains and lookout points along its way but all in all nothing special. I think the nicest picture I saw on my walk through town were some old guys sitting on little tables close to a market playing cards for money.
Back at the hostel I met an English guy who had the same impression of Guayaquil and we went out for dinner together. The girl from the hostel recommended a Chinese restaurant which might say a lot about the quality of local food in the area.Read more