A typical Ecuadorian mask
Lewis the Lion was ashamed to say that he’d never heard of the coastal city of Guayaquil when he set off on his adventure but he soon discovered that it is in fact the second largest city in Ecuador! However, he thought that that was part of the fun of travelling. You couldn’t possibly know about everywhere and everything beforehand and often he would rock up at a place not knowing much about it at all. He’d arrived in this city for one reason alone: from speaking with other traveller friends, he learnt that you could get cheaper flights to the Ecuadorian Galapagos Islands if you flew from Guayaquil. Going to the Galapagos Islands was something that Lewis the Lion had only dreamed of. (The Galapagos Islands are a unique place on earth in terms of their wildlife and environment). He barely didn’t want to believe it could really happen until he was sat on an aeroplane on his way there. (Watch out to see if Lewis the Lion really did make it to the Galapagos Islands in a future blog).
So Guayaquil was a surprise to Lewis the Lion at any rate and it gave him his first experience of the Ecuadorian culture. People here seemed very friendly: they would talk to you in the street and treat you like a local as he discovered buying fresh fruit juice or chatting with the owner of a local restaurant.
A parrot statue stands proudly in the middle of a roundabout
However, Lewis the Lion didn’t feel 100% safe in Guayaquil as his hostel warned him about only taking official taxis, and you literally took your life into your own hands as you jumped on and off the buses! Lewis the Lion couldn’t really complain though when bus fares were just 25 cents. Food was generally quite cheap too: you could get a two course meal at lunchtime for a very reasonable $2. (See one of Lewis the Lion’s next blogs on his surprise with the Ecuadorian currency).
So apart from trying to sort out his trip to the Galapagos Islands, Lewis the Lion was excited to find out that there was a park in town full of iguanas.
The Iguana Park outside the Cathedral
This small park was right in front of a big church and as Lewis the Lion wandered around at night, he could hardly believe how many iguanas he was seeing.
Every branch has an iguana resting upon it!
They were practically draped off every branch of every tree as they tried to sleep.
Iguanas sleep, draped over the branches of the trees
Lewis the Lion thought it was simply a magical sight to behold right in the middle of the city centre.
The iguanas totally ignore the passers-by
He was also surprised by the number of grand, elegant buildings and the attractive walkway running along the river.
Elegant archways in Guayaquil
Even though it was late at night there were many families with young children strolling through the park. It reminded Lewis the Lion of life in some Mediterranean countries and then he remembered that Ecuador was another colonised Spanish country.
Guayaquil is a city of many, many shopping malls but as Lewis the Lion was travelling, he couldn’t really benefit from that. However, one thing that Lewis the Lion did enjoy in Guayaquil was the string of crab and seafood restaurants. These were buzzing in the evenings and people would be given a big bowl of curried crab with boiled potatoes, a wooden mallet and chopping board and left get on with it. Helen told Lewis that eating crab was messy business but oh so tasty!
One of the delicious crab restaurants in Guayaquil
The hostel were Lewis the Lion was staying also brought a sense of the tropical closer to home. Not only did the dormitories have big fans for those hot and humid nights, but in the courtyard was a pond with turtles
Lewis is delighted to see turtles happily swimming around!
and a birdcage with some budgies and another with some squawky cockateels.
The budgies wake Lewis up in the morning with their song!
Lewis the Lion was very happy to have come to this tropical part of the world.
The parrots are very noisy!
Lewis the Lion didn’t know anything about Guayaquil before arriving there.
Look on a map and find a city or place that you know nothing about at all and see what you can find out about it?
