Tuesday, January 18, 2022 – Photo of the Day – Guayaquil, Ecuador

The City with the Midas Touch

TUESDAY, 18 JANUARY 2022 GUAYAQUIL, ECUADOR
Arrival: 7:00 AM All Aboard: 5:00 PM Mandatory Life Boat Drill 5:30 PM Departure: 11:00 PM

DRESS CODE: CASUAL
For Ladies: DRESSES OR BLOUSES AND PANTS
For Gentlemen: SPORT SHIRTS AND SLACKS
No shorts or flip flop type footwear after 6:00 PM in indoor venues

TODAY’S WEATHER Mostly Cloudy High: 84°F 29°C Low: 74°F 23°C

Guayaquil is Ecuador’s city with the Midas touch. Politics and culture may center in perpetual rival Quito, but the country’s pocketbook lies here. The city is also one of the world’s premier examples of positive urban renewal. Less than a decade ago, you dared not walk downtown streets at night. But an exceptionally ambitious city government, determined to clean up crime and halt a long downward slide, has transformed the aging port in a few years into Ecuador’s most vibrant city.

Change is everywhere you look here, and some two million proud Guayaquileños have become the ultimate civic boosters. “Have you seen the Malecón?” they ask you, pointing to the riverfront promenade lined with museums, restaurants, shops, and ongoing entertainment. They also tout the new museums, the new airport, and the Metrovía, the new urban transportation network. Guayaquil remains a modern, financially minded city and will never attract the same number of visitors as the capital, but it deserves to be a place of pilgrimage for urban fans everywhere for a reassuring look at what a city can do right.

SIGHTS
• Malecón 2000
• Museo Antropológico y Arte Contemporáneo
• Museo Nahím Isaías
• Catedral Metropolitana
• Cementerio General

CUSINE
Ecuador has had a love affair with food dating back as far as the Incas – including these Guagas de Pan prepared for Day of the Dead celebrations. These sweet pastries filled with either jam, caramel, or chocolate are meant to resemble infants tightly wrapped in swaddling clothes.

Our Excursion

Our State Department issued a warning a few days before our cruise advising us not to go on cruises during the pandemic. When we got to Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city, we had our excursion plans changed. The city issued a Red Alert because of a high number of Covid infections. Instead of being able to take our planned excursion, the authorities would only allow us to do a Panoramic Tours where we could not get off the bus. We even had a police escort in front and back to ensure no one got off the bus. These are the highlight pictures from the bus.