Brisbane to Guayaquil.

We arrived here in Ecuador last night after over 33 hours of travelling. A couple of delays, firstly in Sydney (QANTAS flight was late arriving) and then in Santiago (Chile) when the LAN flight was delayed over an hour and we had to change gates. Our bags were checked in, in Brisbane and picked up here in Guayaquil.   

Stuart didn’t sleep (only cat napped) during the flights. Lesley managed to sleep on and off, but was still very tired when we finally got to Guayaquil. Got a very long sleep – way longer than either of us expected, and after going to bed around 11.15pm, we woke up after 9.30am this morning. It was a scramble to get dressed and look awake to get downstairs in time to get breakfast!

Because around 16 of us (including the tour director) had arrived the night before, the Tour Director organised an optional bus and walking tour of Guayaquil, the largest city in Ecuador (population over 3 million). Our hotel is in the business part of town and there isn’t much to see here. Parque de Simon Bolivar, known to locals and tourists alike as the Iguana Park, is home to hundreds of these creatures. We also visited the nearby Catholic cathedral, which has the only image in the world of God as a man (normally God is never depicted as a person), and a long walk along the river front.

           

Tomorrow we fly to Galapagos, where we will be out of phone and internet reach. Expect to hear from us again in about 6-7 days.