Last weekend, I traveled to Ecuador's largest city in the south of Ecuador to attend a Rotary Club meeting with the President of Rotary International (see previous post for me info!). Although my host Rotarian here returned to Quito immediately after the meeting, I stayed the whole weekend to get to know the city. A friend from my language school whose family is from Guayaquil traveled with me, and we had a great time. Our first night there we attended a packed soccer game of a team called Emelec...normally the rival of the team I support but I had to cheer them on (especially bc they were playing Venezuela!). Friday I went to the Rotary Meeting, then we went to the mall and watched a movie, and then met up with her cousins. We had a great dinner--a new favorite of mine served here in Middle Eastern Restaurants (like the Afghan restaurant that just opened next to my school)--called Shawarma. Love it! We walked around the Malecon 2000, a beautiful boardwalk along the huge Guayas river...walked through an antique neighborhood full of brightly colored houses and climbed up 444 stairs to visit a lighthouse. The next day we drove an hour and a half south to a beach that could have been just about anywhere in the US....ate some amazingly fresh and delicious seafood. We drank coconut water straight from the coconut and went for a ride on the banana boat. Unfortunately, it was a bit chilly (which I still don't understand....we are on the Equator afterall); its best to visit the beach here in December, January, and February. Sunday we wandered around the Malecon again to see it during the day and toured the Iguana Park in the center of the city. It was a nice relaxing weekend. I tried to keep this short because the pictures are better!
A few notes about the culture of Guayaquil----
First, it seems that in general, the population there is more wealth than Quito (of course both cities have their poor and their wealthy but overall). The mall we were in is one of the nicest malls I have ever been in in my life! Fancy fancy! The streets there are wider and cleaner than in Quito....and the weather is warm! Quito can be quite chilly some days because we are 9,300 feet above sea level, but Guayaquil is at sea level and near the coast so its much nicer! The city used to be much dirtier and more dangerous, but a few years back a former President of Ecuador who then became the Mayor of the city cleaned it up. It is nice! The people there speak completely different then in Quito so it took a day to get used to the dialect. On the coast here, the people speak really really fast and leave off the "s" and sometimes add "h" to words. For example, the common phrase "more or less" is Spanish is "mas o menos" but on the coast, it sounds more like "mah o mehno." The also use different words there...like instead of "chevere" for cool or great, they say "vacan." I had a great time staying with Cati's family once I got used to the dialect and they got used to speaking a little slower for me! That is another cultural note too....the people here are so generous when it comes to welcoming guests. They are so warm and open and would literally give you the shirt off of their backs. Cati's cousins were so generous! They took us all around the city, teaching us about their home town and its unique culture and food, paid for nearly everything, and forced us to sleep in their beds while they shared a thin matress on the floor in front of the open patio doors. On the coast, the people are more laid back. I am definitely adjusting to the culture....I am becoming more patient and getting used to not having personal space. The people are more intimate....giving a kiss on the cheek to say hello or goodbye...welcoming you into their homes and into their families. Both times I have spent a weekend with an Ecuadorian family I quickly just became the "gringa" cousin....I love it!
Guayaquil pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2364417&id=12603504&l=ebb308da06
Updated pictures of Banos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2360512&id=12603504&l=ab1214e5ba
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