Guayquil
Guayaqil, is it the Pearl of the Pacific or the Armpit of Ecuador? Several of the travel videos I watched suggested not visiting Guayaquil, saying that it was crime ridden, unpleasant, and uninteresting. After spending nearly six weeks there, this is my opinion.
Guayaquil is the largest city in Ecuador, located on a bay at the mouth of a river. Most of the goods that go in and out of Ecuador pass through it. There are a few tourist attractions in Guayaquil, but not many. It lacks the old buildings of Quito or Cuenca and the beaches of Salinas or Montanita. It is more a place to work than to visit or vacation.
I can only compare it to Medellin, Colombia, the last city I visited. While Medellin was filled with high rises and tightly confined within a mountain valley, Guayaquil is filled with low rise buildings and spreads out to the horizon. Medellin is a city built of of brick. Guayaquil is a city built of cement and concrete block and painted with colors that have faded under the harsh tropic sun. The effect is rather depressing, like an unending landscape of Brutalist architecture. However, the result is sturdy and practical, which should by the bywords of Guayaquil. Guayaquil does not trap pollution the way Medellin does between its mountains. However it was not a green as Medellin. One thing I did not understand about Medellin was the large number of pharmacies, one on almost every corner. In Guayaquil I did not understand the large number of auto service centers throughout the city. Malls are a big part of city life in both cities. There is no Amazon in Ecuador to drive the stores out of business. The upper class guards itself against the lower in both cities. In Medellin there are guards at the front desks of high rises. In Guayaquil there are guards at the gates of walled communities. The people of Guayaquil are nice, friendly and polite. I did not run into any crooks or scammers, as I did in Guayaquil. Though I was warned to be careful of my safety, I don't think Guayaquil is any more dangerous than big cities in the United States. The people of Guayaquil are friendly and polit, except when they are behind the driver's wheel. I was in one accident while riding in an Uber. I'm surprised I was not in more. I tracked the recklessness of Guayaquil drivers by counting the number of right hand turns from a left lane. There were many. Though to be fair, after I returned to Baltimore a driver did the same right in front of me.
The weather in Guayaquil was the same every day. Overcast in the morning, with the clouds thinning or clearing in the afternoon, and clouding again at night. Guayaquil is not a city for starry nights. There was only one brief shower one morning. Like California, the rains are confined to the beginning and end of the year. But unlike California, it is hot all year round. The weather was like a typical Baltimore summer day, minus the chance for storms. That means whenever I went out for a walk, my shirt stuck to my back. I preferred the cloudy days to the sunny. The tropical sun is fierce and unforgiving when not shielded by clouds.
Though a good part of Guayaquil drives, there are many buses and I was never more than five minutes from a ride. The buses are only 30 cents (Ecuador uses the dollar.) Most are without air conditioning, which I never minded. The driver gives change if you don't have the exact coins and there is no pass system. Most buses had music playing, the driver's choice. And at some stops vendors would jump on the bus to sell you food and drink.
A few things surprised me in Ecuador, despite watching videos about it. First, stores ask you for your cedula number (national id) when you buy something. I learned to say “sin data” when making purchases, meaning I declined. Second, all the dollar coins that people refuse to use in the United States have gone to Ecuador. I never saw a dollar bill. There is more trash on the streets than here in Baltimore, though the store owners sweep the street in front of their shops every morning. The local rstaurants are not vegetarian friendly. You have to hunt for a vegetarian or vegan meal, or cook your own. Prepared foods are not common in the supermarkets, except for cookies and sweets of all kinds. The selection of vegetables is not wide. Ecuador has a wide selection of fruits, but not vegetables. There were street vendors, but not nearly as many as in Columbia.
One final word about the refuges from Venezuela. Like Columbia, there are many refugees forced to flee from Venezuela because of the stupidity and crimes of its government, which turned the richest country in South America into the poorest within a generation. You find young men begging and sleeping in the street because however bad that is, it is better than life was in Venezuela. All of America should be stepping up to solve this crisis and if you remember anything from this post, I hope it is that the people of Venezuela, inside and outside, need your help.