Getting Around Guayaquil

We flew with Nance and Sande to Ecuador, arriving ahead of our Galápagos departure to spend a few days in the river port city of Guayaquil—the second largest city in Ecuador. It is a convenient location from which to fly to the Galápagos Islands and where our UnCruise trip will begin.

The four of us explored several parts of the city, starting with a long walk along the “Malecón 2000,” a riverfront promenade which was part of an urban renewal project. There are several parks and play areas for kids, restaurants, a “London Eye” kind of Ferris wheel and the Museum of Anthropology and Contemporary Art (MAAC).

Our goal for the first day’s walk was to get to a bike rental place near the pedestrian bridge to Isla Santay, which is a car-free residential island comprised of an “eco-village” where about 50 indigenous households reside. The bike trail was badly in need of repair, but we managed. The nature area contained a crocodile pond.

One of the other days, we walked up Santa Ana Hill, the original location of the settlement of Guayaquil. There is a fort, a church, and a lighthouse up there. We also went to the MAAC, but none of the signs were in English so we probably didn’t get as much out of it as we could have.

On our last day we walked into the downtown area to a cathedral and its surrounding park, which is full of iguanas basking. We then caught an aerial tram that took us across the city and over the river to a residential area where we grabbed lunch at a little local place, and enjoyed some fresh sliced mango from a stall on the corner.Read more