Ecuador
Parque Centenario de Guayaquil

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    • Day 2

      Made it to Guayaquil!

      June 27, 2022 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

      The plane was delayed again but finally got here about 5pm. The airline moved my Galapagos ticket to tomorrow and have actually sorted a nice hotel (with a spa), including dinner, breakfast and transfers. Not the Galapagos (yet) but not bad!Read more

    • Day 4

      Guayaquil

      January 17, 2020 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

      Edgar picked me up a bit after 8am to bring me to the airport. While saying good bye, he made it very clear to contact him for *anything* if i run into problems on the rest of my trip and passed on warm regards from his wife too. Sweet guy.

      Flight was only an hour to guayaquil which is about an hour drive from the ocean, so wanted to spend a day here before exploring the coast. Being close to sea level makes a world of difference. Its stinking hot and humid, but I'm not complaining - bring on the heat! But i have to be careful. The sun is ridiculous here. 15 mins without sunscreen will scorch the skin.

      Spent my day popping in and out of all the downtown cathedrals and strolling along the massive waterfront boardwalk (malecon) which is littered with amusement park rides, restaurants and kids play areas.

      The old town is a really cute hilltop area next to downtown with narrow cobblestone lanes and restaurants and tiny hotels around every corner. Reminds me tons of a hilly greek island village but with vibrant colours instead of white and blue. There are 444 steps to reach the top. I started counting, but then noticed around step #20 that each step had an engraved plaque.

      The heat and humidity here is on another level. All you do here is sweat. I could have used an ocean to jump into. Hopefully Tomorrow!
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    • Day 5

      Llegamos a Guayaquil 🌉

      October 18, 2022 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

      Después de muchas horas de viaje llegamos a Guayaquil sobre las 3am y vamos directamente al hotel para descansar.

      Increíble el cambio térmico entre Quito y esta ciudad. La temperatura ha subido más de 10 grados y cuesta pensar que hace unas horas estábamos temblando de frío y ahora tenemos encendido el aire acondicionado de la habitación. Este hotel (GH Alexander) es el mejor alojamiento hasta ahora 👌🏼

      Por la mañana compramos un par de cosas y vamos a desayunar al inicio del Malecón 2000 ⚓🏖️
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    • Day 206

      Guayaquil

      March 30, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ 🌧 29 °C

      Before going to Guayaquil we've heard from many people that it's on of the most dangerous towns in Ecuador. Luckily we felt all the time safe, also thanks to our couchsurfer Roberto, who was our guide in the town.Read more

    • Day 12

      Bye bye Ecuador!

      June 12, 2019 in Ecuador ⋅ 🌫 29 °C

      Eigenlijk moeten we zeggen: “bye bye Galápagos” want van het vasteland hebben we niks gezien behalve ons hotel en een winkelcentrum.

      Op 7 dagen (en 2 reisdagen) hebben we ongelofelijk veel dieren gezien. Het snorkelen tussen de grote zeeschildpadden, stoere haaien en rustige roggen was surreëel. Aan land observeerden we stekelige leguanen, grappige pelikanen en vele vogels die we nog nooit gezien hadden.

      De eilanden zijn stuk voor stuk kleine paradijzen. Langs de kust genoten we van de tropische witte stranden en een verfrissende duik in de zee. Hopen zeeleeuwen en krabben kwamen tevoorschijn van tussen de zwarte lavarotsen. Het binnenland bestond dan weer uit mooie meren, cactusbomen en groene bossen.

      Een beter afsluiter van onze wereldreis hadden we ons niet kunnen wensen!
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    • Day 12

      Kosten Ecuador

      June 12, 2019 in Ecuador ⋅ 🌫 24 °C

      Op amper 12 dagen gaven we €3746 uit, omgerekend €312 per dag.

      Transport kostte ons het meeste. €370pp voor een retourvlucht naar de Galápagos en €570pp om terug naar België te vliegen. Tussen de verschillende eilanden verplaatsten we ons met een ferry die $30pp per rit kost.

      Voor activiteiten betaalden we €57 per dag. Veel zaken waren gratis, de snorkeltours daarentegen waren duur: 2 keer betaalden we $120pp voor een dagtrip.

      Aan eten en drinken gaven we €40 per dag uit. In de lokale restaurants kan je voor $5 een vullend menu krijgen met soep en hoofdgerecht. Op de meer toeristische plekken betaal je al snel tussen de 20 en 40 dollar per persoon.

      Voor een slaapplaats telden we gemiddeld €24 per nacht neer.
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    • Day 34

      Guayaquil: stad verkennen

      November 24, 2014 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

      Guayaquil biedt een aantal parken, waaronder Parque Bolívar (bijnaam: Parque de las iguanas). Daarnaast vind je vele grote avenues (al dan niet veilig). Eentje was zeker veilig, aangezien een goedvermomde James Bond een oogje in het zeil hield.Read more

    • Day 119

      Guayaquil - gröschti Stadt in Ecuador

      November 27, 2017 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

      29h Bus, Kolektivo, Lastwage u Auto fahre... Phuuu... Aber mer heis gschafft u sei in Guayaquil in Ecuador acho! Da het üses Programm gheisse e möglichst gueti u priisgünstigi Tour uf dGalapagos-Insle zsueche... Ned grad es eifachs Unterfange gsi! Als Erholig hei si mr mit em Riserad gfahre u si ar Promenade entlang gschländeret!Read more

    • Day 8

      Guayaquil

      July 16, 2018 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

      Today it was time to relocate to Guayaquil, where the airport taking us to Galapagos tomorrow is.

      We left by bus arranged by the Serranos and the trip took around 4.5 hours. I had made arrangements to bring sandwiches and soft drinks the evening before and we picked them up around noon and took them with us in the bus. We felt a bit sad to leave Jim and Emilia and Casa la Playa. This particular morning 3 families of fishermen worked for hours to gather their fishing nets on the beach we had played on the last couple of days. Jim told us they get to do that once a month and the catch supports around 300 people. No wonder they worked hard!

      We arrived on Hotel Continental in the 2 million city of Guayaquil around 6 pm. We decided to just rest for half an hour and after that try and navigate to a recommended restaurant. There are many more street venders and the traffic is horrible, im glad we only had to go through five crossings. At the restaurant Casa Res the kids were delighted they could have hamburgers and me and Bengt had meat and french fries. It was delicious, my only concern is that my medium well done steak was... not medium well done. I hope we dont get sick!
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    • Day 45

      Guayaquil, Ecuador 2020)

      February 17, 2020 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 86 °F

      I've been to Ecuador three times before and never made it to the Galapagos or Guayaquil. The first because it doubled the price of my trip and I didn't have the money. And the second because nobody ever recommended it and it was definitely considered a place you should miss.

      Our Copa airlines flight took us from New Orleans to Guayaquil and from there we were going to go to Cuenca. Eventually we'd go to the Galapagos since we had a lot of time. But we thought better of it and said why not just go to the Galapagos from Guayaquil, where every plane leaves for the Galapagos even if you're from coming Quito.

      We have time and things have changed a bit. Guayaquil is the largest city in Ecuador and a large port city. But most people have never heard of it because Quito takes all the glory. The city spent a fortune fixing up their Malecón, or river walk, about 20 years ago and it's a fantastic place for tourists and residents alike. Oddly, there are few foreign visits there, but many Ecuadorian ones. That actually is a bonus. I've been to so many overtouristed areas (yeah, I'm part of the problem) and to see a place that doesn't have cruise ship visitors, doesn't have large groups of Chinese, and doesn't have lots of hostels is actually quite refreshing.

      Our hotel was in the middle of the downtown and just a few blocks of the Malecon. It was totally safe to walk around at night. During the day, the center is a caucophony of honking cars. People are everywhere and it's definitely a huge city. But at night, things quiet down. After a dinner of seafood and a few Pilseners (oh how I missed them!) we spent a freezing night because we couldn't regulate the AC temp and had no idea that the random switch on the wall would turn it off. Outside it was 100% humidity and 88 degrees and inside it was just like Madison in the winter.

      In the morning, we got breakfast included and I tried my first Bolon, along with eggs. It's a fried ball of plantain with cheese inside. As a Gluten Senstive, I was thrilled. But it's kinda tasteless and I'm already getting tired of the plantanas. After that, we stopped at Parque Simon Bolivar to see the iguanas. This seemed too good to be true. There is a colony of them that live in a park in the middle of a city of over 2 million people. And nobody messes with them! And the don't mess with anybody, including the pigeons. That was fun and we didn't even have to go to the Galapagos to see them.

      Then it was on to the Municipal building, one of the more beautiful buildings in the city. The Malecon was next. It's a gated stretch along the river and goes for about a mile and a half. There are only about 3 pedestrian entrances and it is NICE. Guayaquil is pretty ugly to be honest, but this is an oasis. Smooth pavements with no holes (I'm looking at you, Panama), nice restauarants, a couple mellow bars, pools, fountains, LOTS of security guards, underground parking, statues, gardens, vendors, an amusement park, museums (some free), etc. And they're building a gondola system in the city that stretches across the river to a suburb. There are no bridges in the center that cross the Rio Guayas, so this seems to be a cheaper way to alleviate traffic problems. They're almost done, and I"m sure it will be a cheap ride. Hell, a roller coaster ride costs $2.50 there. And they have a large ferris wheel as big as the London Eye that costs something on the order of $4 or $5 on weekends. We took that ride in London and it set us back a pretty penny, something on the order of $40.

      At the north end of the Malecon is the Las Penas neighborhood. It's a quaint hood on a steep hill overlooking the city and they have done a great job of preserving the houses and they're painted in pastel colors. Restaurants here were hit or miss. Crabs are popular here but a tad out of season. All in all, I'd recommend a visit here, but 2 nights was plenty for us and we were itchin' to get to the Galapagos. Instead of booking an expensive boat-based tour, we are doing a DIY visit. We have that sweet, sweet luxury of time and are going to wing it. Tomorrow we fly on Ecuador's LATAM air on a one way ticket to Isla Cristobal and when we've had enough wildlife, we'll book another one-way flight back to Guayaquil. But we'll probably just jump right over to the humongous bus station near the airport so we can head to Cuenca.

      All photos are here.
      https://photos.app.goo.gl/3S8S8Xvcw76gj4Cz8
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    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Parque Centenario de Guayaquil

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