Guayaquil

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For Guayaquil luckily we had out own personal guide for the 5 days we spent in the city. Kat, one of my mates from uni, is living there at the moment and so we could stay with her and see the city from the inside instead of just doing the touristy stuff. Having said that, the touristy stuff is fun and we did that too! We went to the Parque Seminario where there's loads of Iguanas just wandering around (bizarrely enough they don't leave the park even though there's nothing stopping them - i guess they just know they'll be run over)! We also walked along the nice new Malecon on the river bank where there's yacht clubs and shopping galore! Las Penas is also something which is worth visiting in the city. Apparently it used to be really dangerous but recently they've revamped the whole thing and now it's the safest part of the city which almost more guards than tourists! It's a big hill, with 400 odd steps to the top, from which you can see the entire city. There's also loads of bars and restaurants because part of the government's deal for the rennovation is that they would do up everyone's houses for free as long as every house had a little business in it.

Other than tourist stuff we drank and ate a lot and generally re-toxed after chilling out on the beach for so long! We spent a night in Kat's house with her flatmates while a girl got a tattoo done in the lounge, which was random! We also spent a night at Kat's boyfriend's house, which is veritably palacial and played pool, table tennis and poker all in the games room (rather)!! We also met his stinky bulldogs which Simon played with and then ended up smelling of cheese (i've made him wash everything he had on don't worry)! What with all the drinking we also managed to waste 2 entire days in hangover hell but there's a lot to be said for watching DVDs and pigging out all day! We also managed to organise our Galapagos trip, which was massively short notice! We had tried to get a tour arranged in Guayaquil but everything was booked so we decided to just get a flight to the islands and sort it out when we got there - fingers crossed!

On our final day in Guayaquil we left the city and headed for Salinas, a town on the coast, where we lazed around in the sun and drank enormous milkshakes! It wasn't a completely lazy day though as we also went water skiing (or tried)! Kat and Simon had done it before and were both pretty good, although Simon had some amazing falls. I, however, was rubbish! I barely even managed to get on my feet but to be fair i only had 10 minutes and i guess it's hard to learn in so little time. I managed to do some pretty good leg stretching when one ski went one way and the other went the other way and i even managed to give myself a huge wedgie so all in all not a waste of time! Maybe i should stick to sunbathing eh?!

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Photos

The view from Las Penas
Now one of the nicest and safest parts of Guayaquil - very pretty indeed!

Simon and Kat at Las Penas
Having yet another beer!