Spoiled in Ecuador

Written: 02/13/09

It was raining a bit in the morning so Jennifer (Gissel´s cousin) called us and said she would pick us up around 1:00 for lunch with her family and for some sightseeing. We had tea and bread for breakfast and hung out around the house. Jennifer came and got us and drove us to her parent´s house for lunch. We had a typical Ecuadorian lunch of chicken, rice and lentils that was delicious and cake and ice cream for dessert. Can´t complain about that. Though Jennifer´s parents don´t speak much English I attempted to muddle through some basic Spanish with her dad and tried not to embarass myself too much.

After lunch Jennifer and her sister Catherine took us to see some Guayaquil sites. We went to the Malecon 2000 which is a huge redevelopment project the cite has done to create a promanade on the waterfront of the Rio Guayas. Then we walked to the historic neighborhoods of Cerro Santa Ana and Las Penas which feature tons of brightly colored houses built into the hillside. There are about 500 stairs leading up the hill and to the lighthouse at the top which has a fantastic view of the city and the giant Jesus who watches over it.

After a day of sightseeing we were spent and called it a night early. We are being ridiculously spoiled by Alfredo and Co. Not only are they letting us stay in their home, but he keeps bringing delicious bread home for breakfast and they are driving us everywhere. We might never leave. More on our first meeting with Ecuador soon as we plan to tackle a beach, check out the gothic cemetery built into the hills and eat some serious soup. (The word on the street is they eat a lot os soup here.) We can´t upload pictures until we can get back on our laptop, but they are coming soon, we promise.