Aloha from Guayaquil [Huaia-kil]. Its about 35 C every day here, and I think yesterday it was pushing 40 C plus humidity. Hot monkeys. There is no power between 5 pm and 6 ish, and we had a very nice dinner by candlelight yesterday – Gus was the name of the place, fried chicken the game (with a complementary order of beans). Where we are staying now, there’s a nice club with a very nice pool and other amenities but totally useless at 35 C- I love warm weather but the pool water was like soup almost. Oddly enough, pretty much all locals wear two layers of clothing, shirt or tshirt and a coat/ other thing and long pants and don’t suffocate.
Tomorrow we plan on renting a car, ours will arrive on Tuesday, and we’ll visit Cuenca, an supposedly tres pitoresque city/ village. We saw the botanical garden, grand disappointment, a mall- kinda small but apparently there’s one of godlike size that we haven’t seen yet. I like it here better than Quito, its bigger, brighter and malls to visit ( for the American in each of us). Guayas, the river, its like hot melted chocolate, filthy as hell and has lil kids in mud (the beach I think) who collect sticks- remains to be investigated as to why. We still need to find and visit the cathedral where Francesco Pizzaro is buried and the Cemetery. I saw the cemetery from the car only, its an attraction, it covers an entire hill and more and looks really imposing.
Shoppingwise, somewhat pricey, Walmart junk, but cigarettes and food are cheap. And the corn is disappointing as well, they sell it on the streets, corn on the cob, chocli, but it don’t taste like I think it should..oh ya, they put hot cheese on it..gah. However, beans, beans the magical fruit..we eat so much beans its a wonder we don’t explode considering the temperatures. They have menestra (their name for beans) with everything and anything, we had small beans, big beans, beans in sauce, beans with rice, beans with bananas, beans with shrimps, beans with eggs, beans for lunch and then for dinner and I made chilly with beans again.
So this is all about Guayaquil and its wonders. I shall continue on once I see Cuenca, and I also plan on visiting some beach, General Villacamba (?) but that’s iffy considering the temperatures and the sunburn our expeditionary corps has already suffered.
Hasta luego!
Daria