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Vulchers everywhere!Jun 5, 2008
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Beautiful morning at Puerto Lopez
Malecon 2000
Mel trying to see ´everything´ in Guayaquil
| Our second and final day in Puerto Lopez was gorgeous. The sun was shining and it was very warm. We walked down to the beachfront and had pancakes and orange juice for breakfast. Yesterday we were overwhelmed by how many fishing boats were there, however this morning they were all out at sea catching the days´truckloads. While we were eating, our mate Christian rode past on his Mototaxi and beeped at us. I think he loved the fact that tourists were in his home town! We didn´t want to leave this place, however thought it was best so we could keep enjoying the sights of Sth America. So, we got the bus to Guayaquil (pronounced Why-a-kill) and after another out of this world bus trip, we arrived there. This is Ecuador´s largest city and is very hot, busy and at least some of the parts are a bit more civilised than other places we have seen. The bus station station itself is about the size of a Westfield Shopping Mall. Our trusty Lonely Planet advised us of the dangers of this bus station with regular theft and pock-pocketing, and this was evident in the amount of stares we were receiving. It wasn´t exactly comforting! Our visit to Guayaquil only got worse before it got better.. We got a cab to Hotel California - advised by the Lonely Planet. What a dump! After taking a look at the room we decided to get our money back from the non-English speaking receptionist. Pretty funny coming from a couple of non-Spanish speaking tourists in a Spanish speaking country! Ah, we are trying extrenely hard to use the language and I must admit, we are doing quite well. We directed the cab to the Sheraton, as we were craving a bit of ´normality´after the bus trip and the horrible experience of Hotel California. The Sheraton was just what we needed - bliss! But then we got told that there were no rooms available. After some phone calls around by Glenn and the concierge at the Sheraton (I was close to tears in the corner!), they found Howard Johnson Hotel, about 100m away. And, it is just like the Sheraton - beautiful! We visited a place in the city called Malecon 2000 (I was having a great time making it sound like some sort of action hero in a movie - does that surprise anyone?!). It is equivalent to Sydney´s Darling Harbour, although definitely not the same or with the same feel to it. Dinner was an experience in itself. A whole bunch of restaurants share a common outdoor dining area. When we got to the entrance we were swamped by vulcher-like waiters trying to convince us to dine at their restaurant. We sat down with 5 different menus each and the ´vulchers´ did not leave our sides as we tried to read through the menus. With only one Spanish phrasebook between the two of us at that time, things could have gotten nasty from Mel´s end if the ´vulchers´didn´t leave us alone for at least a minute! Glenn decided to just pick a menu and get rid of the rest (the menus and the vulchers!), much to my relief. After a great Mexican meal, we retired to the room with full bellies and a need to get a good nights sleep. |
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