Guayaquil, Ecuador
My travels have taken me to Guayaquil, Ecuador. There are two cities from which one can fly to The Galapagos Islands: Guayaquil and Quito. I chose Guayaquil simply because it’s less expensive to fly from here than from Quito.
First Impressions
The exit from the airport was devoid of the usual scene of general chaos and aggressive taxi touts and instead, despite my disheveled appearance and “swamp thing” aroma, I encountered very friendly people. What a pleasant departure from the norm! The airport itself is very clean and modern. As I have come to expect, my taxi driver from the airport was quite the character. When he asked where I was from and I responded “Wyoming” his point of reference was “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and Devil’s Tower. Later he made reference to “The Shawshank Redemption” in response to our conversation about the upcoming Dia de Los Muertos. Turns out the guy is a huge movie buff. Since I was willing to fly out to The Galapagos ASAP I hadn’t booked any place to stay (good thing since I arrived a day later than planned). I only had written down addresses for a couple of places. I went to the first one and it was fully booked for the night so I had them call another place for me and arranged a night’s stay downtown.
So, that’s it…I’m in Guayaquil until Tuesday. I haven’t got any plans but I think I’d like to get out and about today and shop around for Galapagos Cruises, but I’m fairly certain I’m going to wait until I get to the islands to make any bookings as I understand that prices there are lower than what I can book for here, though with the combination of my own research and advice from friends, I think I have settled on where I want to go and have a list of boats that go there and a price in mind so if I see anything that looks like a good bargain I’ll grab it.
I have lots more on my mind, so stay tuned for a “Will’s eye view” of Guayaquil.
Will @ November 1, 2009
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