Moving on . . .

---

It was an 9hr journey to Quayaquil which was our next stop in ecuador. Quite a comfy coach though - were given one drink and a packet of crisps as well - all for $9.

When we arrived got a taxi for$3 to central quayaquil - used a hostel recommended by niks lonely planet guide. Hotel Delicia. It was $5 a night which was more expensive than what the lonely planet said. Then I realised that the lonely planet which nik was sold on ebay is infact 10 years old. Things started making more sense then.

What can we say about Quayaquil apart from it is an absolute hole. Quito was very clean and a nice city. Quayaquil was dirty and we felt more unsafe there so got alot of taxis which again are very cheap. The problem was, we had been recommended to book the galapagos Isand trip from there so had to stay.

Once we settled in to the hostel we went straight out to book it. Turns out its not really a good place to book it because we walked blocks after blocks all round quayaquil and only found 2 travel agencies. FIrst one seemed very pricey and said we couldnt leave until fri (it was only mon) we really didnt want to stay in quayaquil that long so said we would come back the next day if didnt find anything better. Went to the next one and he offered us an amazing deal on an amazing luxury boat which we would have been stupid to believe. The price he offered was better than the prices in our 10 year old lonely planet.

Decided to go for a meal, couldnt find any restaurants open (it was 6pm) Found one along the sea front which is actually very pretty and feels alot safer. Forgot to say - ecuador has armed police and security guards everywhere (men with pistols to machine guns) but I must say I do feel safer when they are around. Lovely meal but Nik and I havent had much of an appetite since we arrived (cant complain I might lose some weight).

Went back to hostel. Woke up in the morning, couldnt find any more travel agencies so went back to the first one (agency had a good reputation). He gave us a much better deal. 3nights and four days on a cruise around the islands but it didnt leave till friday so I asked if we could get a flight wed and stay in Puerto Ayora by ourselves and meet the crew at the pier for the beginning of the cruise on friday. He said this was fine and would be no extra cost. (still $1000 dollars for the whole trip though).

Left feeling absolutely brillaint and so excited. Walked around the sea front then people started gathering along the main road. Turns out it was Quayaquils Independence day so they were having a parade. Was amazing - as you will see from the amount of photos I took.
Then once it had finished they did the best fireworks display I have ever seen from 5 boats in the sea (better than centre parcs pedro). I thought, if they spent as much money on the city as they did on the fire works then they might stand a chance of having a beautiful city.

Nik and I thought that was our perfect finale to end our time in quayaquil and coudnt wait till our 10am flight to the galapagos in the morning.

---