Tag Archives: vacation

Yes, we sometimes travel by land rather than cruise ship. Ursula and I did so in February, 2016, for a comprehensive tour of Ecuador. We flew into Guayaquil, Ecuador, one day before we were to meet up with our tour group, which meant we had an entire day in Guayaquil to explore on our own. So, departing our room at the Hotel Oro Verde, we headed east along Avenue Nueve de Octubre to Malecón Simón Bolívar. It certainly didn’t take long to start finding photo opportunities, less that half a block.

At 2.7 million people Guayquil is the most populated city in Ecuador. We found the city energetic, colorful, pulsating, and very photogenic.

The buildings, both traditional and modern, were a nice visual mix that seldom clashed. And the highly traditional street lights really seemed to tie it all together.

Of course the colorful façades didn’t hurt any, either.

I found some buildings even deserved multiple photographic treatments from various angles.

Our stroll eastward took us directly through Parque Centenario with its beautiful statuary.

It was here, in the park, where we ran across this rather famous gentleman:

Beyond the park is the Church of San Francisco.

From the church we turned north for a couple of blocks before once again heading east, which turned out to be rather fortuitous turn because we came across the Bank of Guayaquil. On the side, above the bank’s entrance, was this beautiful mosaic mural:

Close-up images reveal the fine detail of this colorful work:

Less than ten minutes later we arrived on foot at the Malecón Simón Bolívar and the rotunda commemorating the meeting between Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín at the Guayaquil Conference of 1822.