Arriving at the airport early meant that we had to wait for a while in order to check in. We were flying on Copa Airlines out of Panama, a United code share partner. The counter had not yet opened for the flight, so we waited in the terminal until about 5 PM, when check-in became available (we were first in line). After that we breezed through security (with TSA pre-check) and proceeded to the United Lounge.
The flight to Panama City, where we were to connect, was uneventful but a little boring. We started, of course, with a glass of wine.
We were seated in business class, but the seats were not equipped with the modern business class amenities (i.e., did not fold flat). Nevertheless, we both managed to sleep. Rob, unassisted by any Ambien sleeping tablet, estimated that he slept about three and one half hours. Neither of us used the televisions, so we can't comment on the available programming options. I can comment that the food was quite good. I had a delicious piece of chicken, while Rob had beef with vegetables. We were eager to land in Panama City, but unfortunately we were seated on the wrong side of the plane in which to get a view of the Panama Canal. However, we were able to look down at all of the ships, both freighters and cruise ships, lined up to enter the canal. Landing in Panama City, we were able to find the Copa Lounge with assistance ("Donde esta ... lounge?"), which provided a nice place to sit while we had a three hour layover.
The flight from Panama City to Guayaquil, Ecuador, was to last about two hours in the air. Guayaquil is the largest city in Ecuador and is near the Pacific Ocean. We landed at about 11:15 AM. We were met by our Abercrombie & Kent local guide, William, accompanied by the driver, Tito. They whisked us out of the airport (which was very nice, by the way, and very close to the city center) to our hotel, the Oro Verde. Oro Verde means "green gold." The green refers to the color of bananas and plaintains that are central to Ecuador's economy -- they are the number one export product -- and "oro" means gold. So to Ecuadoreans, bananas are "green gold." William also told us about the surging business in chocolate. Ecuador currently exports about 60% of the world's specialty cacao. However, there is a movement to produce finished chocolate products in Ecuador, as opposed to simply exporting the raw cacao to Europe to make the chocolate. Pacari is a chocolate brand from Ecuador that is known for making "single origin" chocolate "from bean to bar" wholly within Ecuador.
Our hotel is very nice and centrally located. We checked in and showered immediately. We have the remainder of the day to explore Guayaquil on our own and then fly to the Galapagos Islands tomorrow. Per Ecuadorean rules, all transit to the Galapagos must pass through Guayaquil (some people start in Quito, but their flights will have a stopover in Guayaquil). Our first objective was to find some lunch -- fortunately, our hotel has a lovely cafe at the street level, where we ordered and devoured chicken and cheese panini style sandwiches!
Then, we proceeded to give ourselves a self-guided city tour! William had recommended a walking route using a city map from the hotel. Our path was to walk along the 9th of October Avenue toward the Guayas River. Along the river is an area called the Malecon -- a nice destination that is a sort of waterfront park. The weather today is not extremely hot but is very humid. The sky is mostly overcast. By the way, the avenue, 9th of October, is named after the date when Guayaquil (not Ecuador) declared independence in 1820 from Spain. We walked down the busy avenue (it was a Friday afternoon) that had a lot of shopping! Also prevalent: young men and others selling bottled water. We listened carefully and could hear them say "agua" for water and then a price, which we could not determine. We passed a major square that looked nice, but was fenced in on three sides, which discouraged strolling across -- however, we did step in (after a security officer pointed out the entrance to us) to admire that large statue in the center. It is Ecuador's version of the statue of liberty.
We continued walking toward the Malecon. The intersection of the 9th of October and the Malecon features a lovely monument to Simon Bolivar and Jose de San Martin, the two great liberators of South America. They had their only meeting here in Guayaquil on July 26, 1822 (the "Guayaquil Conference"). Although mutually respectful, the meeting was not a success. Bolivar, arriving from the north, had a vision of a series of independent republics in South America to replace Spanish rule. San Martin, coming from the south, thought that the Spanish rule should be replaced by new monarchies, even proposing the idea that a European prince should be invited to become a new King of Peru. Bolivar's vision would prevail, and San Martin would cede his position to Bolivar. He subsequently abdicated his powers in Peru, withdrew to Argentina, and then eventually returned to Europe. The statue to commemorate the conference is impressive as both men continue to hold positions of high esteem in South American history, regardless of the outcome of the meeting.
Now that we were at the park we turned left to follow the river in that direction, as our guide William had previously recommended. We pass many "amusements," including a nice play area for children, a very well maintained garden area, a large ferris wheel called La Perla (bubble style with slow moving cars to admire the views), a large movie theater complex, and an impressive arts center. This entire area is very nice and dates to the year 2000. As we strolled along, however, we did feel like perhaps a few people were staring at us a little bit. We were white-skinned people in a sea of brown (but not the only ones -- there were other tourists about).
At the end of the Malecon, there is an area called the old city. This is composed of houses and other structures built up on a hillside. We weren't sure what to expect here, but discovered that it was very nice. The area still needed some additional development, but we could appreciate that there had been significant spending on improved sidewalks and staircases. There were a number of restaurant storefronts that we passed that would likely create a lively scene in the evening, but were closed in the afternoon. There was also a large police presence. After exploring this area for a while, we decided to head back to the hotel. The following photo shows a small square in the old town. The darkness of the day takes away from the charm of the area.
Our return trip took us along a side avenue, but we decided that walking along the Malecon might be a little safer, given that we had received a few funny looks.
We rested a bit in the hotel and then went to the hotel bar to enjoy a free welcome drink coupon that we had received upon check-in. Now that it was time for dinner, we proceeded to the restaurant called El Caracol Azul ("The Blue Snail" in English). The restaurant had been recommended by Abercrombie & Kent and was only a few short blocks from the hotel. Its specialty was seafood, which was appealing to us as well. We arrived at the restaurant too early (it didn't open until 7 PM, the time of our reservation), so we found a bench along the busy avenue (9th of October) to sit and watch the people and thick evening rush hour traffic pass by. Two comments: (1) we felt very safe and (2) they really like honking their horns in this town!
The dining room at El Caracol Azul is old fashioned but charming. It had lovely paintings along the walls. We started our meal with aperatifs of margaritas -- why not? As a sort of amuse bouche, thin fried plaintain strips were served with two sauces: fresh tomato salsa and a yellow chile sauce. For our entrees (appetizers), I had a seafood soups with shrimp, fish, and calamari -- very rich and delicious. Rob had shrimp ceviche that was also delicious. For mains, I had the chef's special: corvina (sea bass) topped with spinach and shrimp with cream and cheese au gratin and a side of whipped potatoes.
Rob had sea bass with a mildly spicy ("macho") tomato sauce with shrimp and calamari with a side of white rice.
We enjoyed this with a Chilean chardonnay.
The service was "old school" with a head waiter who commanded the all male staff. He was nice, but didn' speak any English. This was okay since the menu was in English (you could have "whine" sauce). Our waiter taught Rob to say "mui bueno." He explained that when you say "bueno" sometimes that is understood to mean only "okay" -- not really a compliment.
After dinner, we returned to the hotel to go to sleep early (9 to 9:30-ish). We were very tired and in need of a LONG sleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment