Day 1 in Guayaquil

Well, I have arrived. After a long travel time and a few bumps in the road I have spent my first night in Guayaquil Ecuador. On my way to L.A., my flight, the next morning to Georgia was cancelled due to snow. So Day 1 of my trip was spent being a tourist in LA. I went to Beverley Hills, Santa Monica pier and plazza, ate at Pink´s hot dog stand, went shopping on Melrose and cruised sunset. It was a great day. I was going to go to Disney land, but knowing me I would blow a lot of my money before I even left the states...so we opted out and did the other tourist thing instead.

The next day, Day 2 I spent the entire time on an airplane. I had to check my backpack, which made me nervous but all came through. I spent 4 plus hours on a plane to Georgia, 4 plus hours on a plane to Quito and almost 2 more hours on a plane to Guayaquil. It was a long day.

We arrived at our hotel after midnight. The security guard at the front unlocked the gate, and pulled up the steel door to let us in. (not the best neighborhood?) Then of course, he locked us in. That was a little freaky, but at the same time made us feel pretty safe because we were double locked in and we had a guard outside.

In the morning we decided to stay in this hotel a few more nights, but we were warned to be back befote dark or take a cab…No problem here. We went and explored downtown a little today which was really nice. There are not many tourists around, but we seem to do ok. We went to Iguana Park today, called something else in spanish of course, and there were trees with hundreds of iguanas. They were walking around, climbing trees, swimming, it was amazing. You had to becareful walking under the trees because they have a tendency to let it flow if you know what I mean. We then went to a great church arccross from the park with tons of stained glass Windows and tombs. The church had to be 500 feet tall. We also saw a man polishing a statue of Jesus. Then we went to go and look at another hotel for later in the week, where we almost died in the elevator. It got stuck and the man we were with started banging on the door…the elevator began to drop little short drops. He then bangs some more. My aunt and I thought it was the end. Finally the doors oponed and we took the stairs and booked the hotel for later in the week knowing to never take the elevator. The perks where it was closer to downtown and in a nicer area. I hope to post some pictures soon so everyone can look at them.

Its hot and humid here and I think I smell. Cars move at a fast pase and if you aren´t careful they will run you over. The horns honk and streests are a little dirty. You see people begging and working in the street, which is really hard for me not to notice. However the architecture is spectacular. It is very stereotypical movie seen. I´m not screeming to come home yet.

We leave for our cruise to the Galapagos on the 25th of this month and come back on the 5th of February. I am so excited. However I am trying to overcome my fear of sharks so I can go swimming with the...might not happen but I hope I overcome my wussey ness by then.

Sorry if there are any typos, but I´m using a spanish keyboard and the program keeps telling me my words are wrong and trying to change them. Hope to write again soon. I hope everyone is well. Keep in touch.

Mags

01/21/08