Guayaquil
Day 6 (1/6/18)
Day 6 was a bittersweet day; it was the day we left the Galapagos, but it also marked the beginning of the rest of our amazing trip through mainland Ecuador. We departed Santa Cruz the same way we came- we took a bus to the Baltra ferry and then another bus to the airport where we waited for a few hours before taking off.
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A short time-lapse of our flight leaving the Galapagos.
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After landing back in Guayaquil, we took a bus to our hotel and quickly caught our breath before leaving for a city tour. As we walked around, we saw lots of statues and historical monuments, many honoring Simón Bolívar. Bolívar was a South American revolutionary in the late 18th and early 19th centuries; he played a large role in expelling Spanish rulers from South America, and from 1819-1830 he was president of Gran Colombia, a union of present-day Venezuela, Colombia, Panama and Ecuador (Masur, 2018).
One of the many reptilian inhabitants of Iguana Park.
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We visited a few more monuments, and then turned back in the direction of our hotel to visit Seminario Park (commonly referred to as Iguana Park) located across the street. We continued our city tour for the next few hours, visiting a large church that featured a stained glass window for every Catholic saint, hearing lots of peddlers yell "agua!", and climbing 444 steps to a lighthouse on a hill. Guayaquil was certainly very different from the Galapagos; it was dirty, packed with people, full of street vendors selling contaminated water- it had pretty much everything that I hate about cities. But, it did have a Wendy's. We ordered some familiar fast food for dinner to offset the discomfort we felt being in Guayaquil.
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I disliked Guayaquil, but it was important to understand why that was. Guayaquil's coastal location sets it apart from other Ecuadorian cities like Quito and Cuenca; it's a large, bustling port city, home to much of the country's industry (and aquaculture in the surrounding used-to-be-mangroves, which are now being converted into shrimp farms). In fact, it's the largest Ecuadorian city by both population and area (Britannica, 2016). It doesn't attract too many tourists (which of course meant we stuck out even more) due to its lack of major attractions and largely working-class, relatively poor population. As is true in most poor areas, crime is high in Guayaquil; this is yet another reason most tourists steer clear. Despite its flaws, Guayaquil does have some nice qualities. The traditional architectural style of many of Guayaquil's buildings is reminiscent of the city's origins as a colonial port town; this contrasted nicely with the French architecture we'd see a few days later in Cuenca.
Day 6 ended with a discussion of the next day's activities back at the hotel; we'd start the day at sea level and end it at 15,000 ft., so we had to start taking altitude sickness pills before leaving. Although I can't say I was the biggest fan of Guayaquil, I'm glad we went. Visiting Guayaquil right after the Galapagos certainly made me appreciate the islands more; it reminded me that not all of Ecuador was a natural paradise like the Galapagos.
Day 7 (1/7/18)
Our first stop on Day 7 was at a small cacao farm just outside Guayaquil. On our drive out of the city, Diego pointed out the richer suburbs where the city's administrators lived; it was disheartening, but not surprising, that they don't live in Guayaquil-proper. We also passed by a multitude of roadside markets, where merchants were selling produce at prices which were sometimes less than what we'd pay in the US by an order of magnitude. As we drove past the markets, we began to see larger cacao, sugar cane, rice, and teak farms. However, what struck me most was the living conditions of the farmers; many lived in small one-room elevated shacks, some with no water or electricity. I was surprised to see such a difference in lifestyle less than an hour outside Guayaquil.
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We passed many of these houses on our drive to the cacao farm.
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Shelling the freshly roasted cacao beans. They were hot!
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We soon arrived for our cacao farm tour, where we learned about the chocolate-making process and the debate over ccn51 cacao (a disease-resistant, higher yield, less flavorful cacao tree) vs nacional cacao (less productive, more prone to disease, much more flavorful). In addition to "helping" make fresh hot cocoa, we also had the opportunity to try fresh cacao beans (which tasted almost like mango), fresh mango, lychee, and 100% cacao paste. This wasn't the only time we heard about the debate between ccn51 cacao vs the nacional cacao; it would come up again when we visited the Pacari administrative building in Quito.
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Our next stop on this busy day was the Churute Mangroves Ecological Reserve. We took a small detour to see a mother and child three-toed sloth before arriving at the reserve, where we took a motorized canoe on the Guayas River (which continues all the way to Guayaquil) to get a closer look at the incredible trees and wildlife. Some of the birds we saw were quite familiar- we even saw a couple ospreys! Others, like the roseate spoonbill, I had only ever seen in zoos. It was disappointing to hear that many of the birds we saw were decreasing in numbers; shrimp farms have been quickly replacing the natural mangroves found along Ecuador's coast, destroying the habitat these species require. It was a startling reminder that although aquaculture can solve some problems, it creates new problems as well. |
One of many roseate spoonbills we spotted in the Churute Mangroves Ecological Reserve.
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After our short boat ride, we took a brief walk on one of the reserve's trails. Although we heard lots of howler monkeys, we unfortunately didn't see any; we soon departed for our next destination, Cajas National Park. Because Cajas is located at nearly 15,000 ft., we stopped for lunch when we were about halfway there to let our bodies adjust to the change in altitude. This lunch was the first time we tried horchata, a traditional Andean tea made from 14 medicinal plants; horchata would soon become my second-favorite drink of the trip, second only to the fresh blackberry juice we had in the Galapagos and Guayaquil.
Paramo tulips at Cajas National Park.
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Cajas National Park was different, but just as breathtaking as the Galapagos Islands. Cajas is home to the páramo ecosystem- a form of alpine tundra; specifically, the area we visited was dominated by native vegetation such as strawgrass and polylepis trees. Although we didn't see much animal life, we saw signs of it. We found countless piles of camelid droppings (probably from llamas) along the trail, and learned from Diego that the park is home to endangered South American condors, pumas, coatis, and more. Unfortunately, we also learned that many other parts of the park and the surrounding area are struggling with introduced Canadian pines and trout (and other parts of the Andes are infested with eucalyptus), brought to the Andes in the mid-20th century; they spread quite extensively in the comfortable climate, and this was not the last time we saw them. |
Day 7 ended in the beautiful city of Cuenca at the Victoria Hotel, which is likely the fanciest hotel I'll ever stay at. The architecture was amazing, the food at the downstairs restaurant was amazing, and the rooms were amazing (they even gave us chocolate on our beds!). If I'm ever back in Cuenca, I'll definitely be staying there again.
Please click the albums below to view all of my Guayaquil-area and Cajas pictures in full resolution on Flickr.
Please click the albums below to view all of my Guayaquil-area and Cajas pictures in full resolution on Flickr.