Guayaquil

The guidebook and other travellers told us that Guayaquil was another dirty, hot, nasty port town not really worth spending time in. We weren´t looking forward to it. But they were completely wrong! Guayaquil is fantastic, especially after the bombed-out port towns of Panama.

But let me back up a little. From Riobamba we took a train ride down the Devil´s Nose to a little town called Alausi. It was incredibly touristy - four boxcars, the roofs packed with gringos, countless vendors walking up and down the train roofs selling Oreos and alpaca mittens. The train didn´t actually *go* anywhere, either - the train line ended at Alausi, and then most people turned around and went back to Riobamba. It was incredibly scenic, though, and everyone we passed seemed to get a real kick out of watching the crazy gringos who prefer to ride on the roof. 8)

From there we took a 6-hour busride to Guayaquil, crossing the Andes for the first time. Most of the trip was on a narrow dirt road, and we passed two other trucks in six hours. Shortly after we left Alausi we entered a surreal misty green world. The fog was so thick we could only see a few feet from the bus, and everything was GREEN. The road was narrow and wet, and the ground dropped away from the bus just inches from the wheels, steeply down and down for hundreds of green feet. The bus stopped heaps of times to let people off in what seemed like the exact same middle-of-nowhere place - it was just a wall of mist and some green slopes. I have no idea how people knew where they were. At one point, a teenage kid who had been sleeping in a careless sprawl at the front of the bus woke up and asked us where we were, and we could only laugh.

Finally we came down into Guayaquil. It was raining, and how. The streets were filling up with water, and the taxi driver charged us extra to go out in the rain. It just started to rain as I´m typing this - this is the third night in a row. It´s like the peak of a Durham thunderstorm, but it continues for hours, never letting up. The streets fill with rain, then the sidewalks - ankle deep puddles everywhere. Everyone just continues with their business. I finally see the utility of the latina shoes - little strappy sandals with 4 inch heels. Only their toes get wet!!

Guayaquil is great. There´s a park full of iguanas. Giant iguanas, some of them 3 feet long. The roam around and stare down little kids for their snacks, climb trees and have naps, fall out of the trees because they´re sleeping, land on their feet, and go in search of something to munch on. They´re fantastic, and the park is a local hangout - everyone goes there with their kids to check out the iguanas. The juice is great here, too - the default flavor for just about everything is blackberry, which is probably my favorite fruit, after guanabana.

We can´t quite get over how nice it is here. The city is big and modern and chill, like Quito. Loads of people are out roaming around the streets at all hours (something we never saw in Central America). There´s a long boardwalk along the Rio Guayas with nice views of the river and the city, ice cream vendors, juice sellers, fountains, and loads of people out enjoying the day. The streets are wide, and the sidewalks are even wider. We keep saying we feel like we´re in a latin version of Vancouver.

We´ve spent a couple of days finding the shipping company, getting the bill of lading from them, going out to the customs office, etc. The boat with La Tortuga on it docked today, and they say they´ll open the containers on Thursday. We´re hoping to finish our customs stuff tomorrow, and set La Tortuga free on Thursday as early as possible. We miss the van!!

We just saw a bad movie at the multiplex and we´re off to have some dinner and beer, at a respectable latin hour (10pm). I think the people here are my people. Things open late (9, 9:30), everyone speaks very softly, eats late, and every second store is a cake shop. Ahhhh. Who could ask for more?