June 11- Salinas Cultural Society Day Trip to Guayaquil

Larry from our Salinas Cultural Society, had organized a trip to Guayaquil in order to check out as many of the photographic sites as we could fit into a day trip. I know, what could possibly be interesting in busy, dangerous old Guayaquil- well, you will definitely be very surprised. And today was the day!

Our 15 passenger van met us in Salinas at the old and now unused bus terminal at 8AM. Getting up early and ready took me back to my other life when I actually had to work for a living LOL.

When my friend Lee and I got there, the van was already waiting. We were down to 10 passengers and since everyone arrived early, away we went.

Our first stop after a 2 hour trip was at the Plaza Lagos, Samborondon, a very high end outdoor mall –think Rodeo Dr. in Los Angeles. This place was very pretty with lots of water features but with stores way beyond the pocket books of these ‘pobres jubilados’ LOL. Which of course does prove that there are lots of very wealthy people in Guayaquil keeping these stores and restaurants in business.

                                                 Our group

One of the more interesting stores I found for my audiophile husband was a high end audio store! Needless to say, he wants to go there so another trip to Guayaquil must be scheduled for us.

Our next stop  was Parque Historico http://www.parquehistorico.gob.ec/- a really incredible place.

                       There were many school children there on an educational field trip

 

We first went to a pavilion with many local birds- mostly different types of parrots

Next, a wonderful wooden path through a natural mango forest with many animals displayed in very natural looking pens. For this, no admission was charged but a donation could be done at the entrance.

The path wound around this very natural place in the heart of the city for several miles

                                       Lots of wild animals

And on one of the worker’s shoulder a very friendly exotic pet- still haven’t found what kind of animal it is

                       The park ended at the river with a long pier and great views

Our next stop was Iguana Park- a small park right downtown Guayaquil. A beautiful church was on one side of the park.

And many many iguanas all around. To be exact, it was at your own peril to walk beneath the trees as they were also full of iguanas who pooped where ever and on who ever.

Since it was now close to lunch time and our group was starving, we were dropped off at the Malecon where there were many restaurants.

The Guayaquil Malecon is a must see for all visitors. It is 2.5 km long and so very interesting.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g303845-d317919-Reviews-Malecon_2000-Guayaquil_Guayas_Province.html

                                               There are tall ships

                                                 Many many interesting walks

                                                 Children’s areas

                                            And gardens

                    I walked the entire way and took lots of photos

                                          plus met a very interesting man- LOL

In the afternoon we went to las Penas. This is the oldest neighborhood in Guayaquil and has many restored  100 year old homes, galleries, bars and restaurants. Here is also where Santa Ana Hill is located. Steps numbering up to 444 lead you through the many colorful homes and stores.

                                              All the steps are numbered

                                                Lots of great views

                                       The tower at the top has another 56 steps

                                      The views from there are amazing

                               One of the cute little senoritas living in this neighborhood

Our last stop before heading home was the Artisans’ Market. This had many of the same articles for sale as we had found at Otavalo along with the same pretty bloused indigenous women- great bargains in paintings, clothes, glass ware etc etc. I bought a beautiful apron with pretty stitching and a small leather purse with many zippers.

                                            Busy bargaining- it is expected

                                The pretty young woman who sold me my apron

So that completed our day trip to Guayaquil. After seeing all these beautiful photos even the most skeptical person must now be convinced that there are many spectacular sights to be seen in Guayaquil!

May 24- 25- Visit to Isla de La Plata

On Saturday morning at 7AM our friend Eddie, his wife Paola and daughter Maria picked Uwe and I up at our condo for our over night trip to Puerto Lopez in order to take the boat ride to Isla de La Plata. This island which has been compared to the Galapagos is 23 miles off the coast from Puerto Lopez  

                  

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isla_de_la_Plata

The name for the island involves pirate lore- read link below

http://www.mantarayalodge.com/machalilla-national-park

After a pleasant 2 hour drive we arrived at our destination and went to pay for our boat trip to the island. The cost was $40/person and included our 1 ½ hour boat ride, and 3 hour hike, lunch and then an hours snorkeling including the equipment plus the boat ride back- and no discount for my tecera edad status- damm!

http://visitpuertolopez.com/explore/IslaDeLaPlata/

Next we drove to the new pier in town to wait for our boat. The pier was very nice, well made and large.

The only problem was that the tiles that had been used on the long surface  became quite slippery during our rainy arrival.

                             Our rather small boat- sitting 11 persons comfortably.

We boarded on time at 10AM and off we went. I must mention that both Uwe and Paola do not like boat rides. Uwe was OK as we never went out of sight of land but Paola held on the Eddie’s hand for dear life- not her favorite trip. The other problem was that Uwe and I got absolutely splashed on the side of the boat where we were sitting. At first it was refreshing but after an hour we were totally soaked!

                                  Approaching Isla de La Plata

The boat came as close as possible to the beach and we had to jump off into the shallow water.

After bathroom breaks and wringing out my soaked clothes, we started our hike with our bilingual guide. The first 15 minutes were nice and flat but not very scenic. ( yes, that is Eddie you see hiking! LOL)

                                       And then came the stairs

                                               And more stairs

Our climb to the top of the island ( the whole island is a plateau hundreds of feet above the sea) was tough- luckily we are in reasonable shape- so be fore warned!

Once at the top, we took a break in one of the many resting areas to wait for those in our party still climbing. And there we saw our first pair of Blue Footed Boobies!

Much like in the Galapagos they had no fear of us at all and allowed us to get quite close.

We hiked around a trail at the top for a couple of hours. Some of the scenery was awesome even if our day was cloudy.

We saw many more boobies including a 3 month old male that the guide called Jonny who came right up to us and even tried to bite Eddie’s back pack LOL( their feet turn blue with maturity)

As well as the boobies, we saw a large colony of Frigate birds including the colorful males and some juveniles.

After negotiating those same stairs back down, we arrived back at our boat for lunch. Our guides gave us some fruit first- watermelon & pineapple- and then 2 buns one with tuna and the other with cheese. A drink of pop or water completed our meal. While we were eating, huge sea turtles swam around our boat attracted by the pieces of fruit our guides threw into the water. These turtles were awesome!

The best part of the trip was the snorkeling we did after lunch. We went around another part of the island, put on our bathing suits (yes, there was a bathroom aboard), picked out a mask & snorkel and let ourselves into the water from the boat. And what a surprise!

There were schools & schools of colorful fish that swam right up to us- WOW! The water was crystal clear and maybe 20’ deep. Our snorkeling lasted 1 hour and we loved it!

The trip back to shore was definitely not part of our most enjoyable part. The ocean had become much more wavy and our captain drove the boat like we were in a race- way too fast for me considering the conditions. We went up on the waves and crashed down on the other side over and over again as this trip took slightly longer than our ride out.

Even I wanted to kiss the ground when we arrived safely on shore.

We next drove to our hotel- Victor Hugo- right on the beach at the other end of the malecon.

http://www.victorhugohotel.com.ec/

            We got very nice large rooms overlooking the beach.

 After a rest and a warm shower we met in the bar for some needed alcohol- LOL

A nice meal with friends at a Colombian restaurant in town completed a very busy day.

                                           View of Puerto Lopez beach