Guayaquil, Ecuador

---

Hello All,
Quick update as it´s getting late and we have to be up early tomorrow for our flight to the Galapagos. We will be there for a week so we won´t have interenet access until 16-17 September.

So, what have we been up to the last couple of days?
Yesterday was mostly spent in a bus travelling from Riobamba to Guayaquil, where we are now. The scenery for the first couple of hours was fantastic - high peaks plummeting to little valleys with streams running through, local people farming their land, dogs and pigs and cows sharing the fields and running on to the road when they felt like it.

Today we went into Guayaquil city and explored. It´s not as historical as Quito, it has a much more modern feel, helped a great deal by some shiny new buildings and fountains that have been built in the last ten years or so.

We walked along the river Guayas (the river that the city lies on) through some beautiful, well-maintained gardens. The first picture attached is of a lovely flower in the gardens. There is a packet of Fruit Pastilles on offer to the first person who can tell us what it is (Latin and English names please).

The second picture was taken from the back of our taxi (a Datsun!) on the way back to our guesthouse. The driver has found an ingenious way of combatting that annoying ´sweaty back´syndrome in the 35 degree heat in Guayaquil! (Notice the fire extinguisher also close at hand in case of emergency!) This 30-year-old deathtrap of a car was a big improvement on our taxi into town this morning, a Lada that looked like it had been used for Dodgem practice by the KGB.

Hopefully I (Jeremy) will see some lovely boobies on the Galapagos. Pictures to follow...

Bye for now
J and B
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

---

Photos

A red flower
Variety unknown.