Ecuador Part 1

I will start this series of posts with an apology of sorts. We had such an incredible time in Ecuador that I really think this needs to be done in a series, so that I can both process it and also so that I can upload the pictures to do it service.

On our first day in Ecuador, we had some time to kill in Guayaquil. Frankly, the few hours we spent there will probably do me for a lifetime. I’m sure there’s plenty to this port city I don’t know about, but given the events of this several hours, we had plenty.

We were joined on our journeys by a fabulous couple on the ship, Lisa and Tanya whom we really, really enjoy. It had been Lisa’s birthday the day before so they were off to Galapagos the next day and we were off to Cuenca later that night.

Tanya, like The Kid and I really wanted to check out this iguana park. It seems that iguanas like to be in this park. It’s not clear why they do, but this is absolutely their place to hang out, quite literally. They were everywhere. In the walkways, the grass, the trees, you name it. It was unbelievable. The Kid was astounded. He took a million pictures (actually these are all his except the ones of Ricardo).

It was a magical experience, until…

Let’s just say that Ricardo found out the hard way that one should not stand under a tree covered in iguanas, lest one find that you yourself become covered by an iguana. As luck would have it, iguana poop does not stain, but it is most certainly unpleasant to have it rain down upon you from a height. I’m not sure which part The Kid liked more, the iguanas or what they did to his father.

From there, we walked along the Malecon. This was a lovely festival marketplace type place. We had a very nice meal at a place just below the boardwalk, where I discovered this terrific English translation of Cream of Carrot soup, just for you Beth!

And then the real Ecuador began. You see, Ecuador has changed a lot in the last few years, but some things remain inscrutably Latin, and therefore, are mysterious at best. At school there is a saying that our school secretary is fond of, “Just don’t make no sense.” That basically sums up some parts of Ecuador.

Because you see when we got to the airport, we had no reservations for our flight to Cuenca. Why didn’t we have reservations? Because we were booked to Quito. Except we weren’t going to Quito. We were going to Cuenca. And this is all well and good, but I had an email with a freaking screen shot of our reservation to Cuenca. Where was this screen? Why had I not printed it out? Why had we spent a bundle to call Tame Airlines not once but twice to get this information? Why did their online site not work? Why could they not be helpful?

After about 25 minutes of waiting around, they finally were able to book us on the flight. We literally got the last three seats (I’m sure that someone just came really, really late and we got their seats). 30 minutes after the flight departed, we were in Cuenca, freezing our butts off. It was about 55 degrees and we’d been in ecuatorial heat for weeks. God it felt good!

We checked into our completely show-stoppingly gorgeous hotel, ate a fabulous dinner and prepared for our next day.

Stay tuned for the next day post!