Day 5 Guayaquil Ecuador 21 March 2015

Guayaquil   –   pronounced   “Why-ya-kill”!!

The name suggests it all. 🙂

You know things are a bit different when you’re handed a brochure on your way through Customs at the airport that is headed “Guia de Seguridad – Safety Guide”. Inside it gives you tips on how to tell if the Taxi you just got into is real or not, that medical care is free in their hospitals (if you don’t have travel insurance), the old standard of only drink bottled water, all travel guides/tour operators should have government issue licenses, etc.

After all that, nothing “interesting” happened on the security front.

I got a good 6 hrs sleep last night, Deb not so much. (deb here, I did get 51/2 hrs sleep, things are looking up)     After breakfast we muddled about a bit  and just took things slow.   Late in the morning I went to the gym for a run and Deb was going to try and get an hours sleep.  On my way back to our room I noticed that we were on one of the Executive Floors and so we should be able to use the Lounge on the 9^th Floor (we are on the 8^th). The lifts are security keyed, so you can only get to certain floors depending on your room. Ours let us get to the 9^th Floor, sweet, we walked into the lounge, checked it out, no-one questioned us so I guess we are in :-).    Complimentary afternoon tea and Happy Hour here we come. 🙂

We had lunch in the Cafe attached to the Hotel, and then I suggested we do another Geocache, just happened to be one very close to the Hilton.  So we strolled outside and were immediately impressed with the heat and humidity.  I guess the country isn’t called Ecuador because it’s in a temperate region!!  Anyway, I digress, after a short walk (of course avoiding all taxis and strangers)  we got to the area of the Geocache and couldn’t find it where it should have been (you have to use clues given in the description to find it), so I looked a bit harder and finally found it on the ground a short distance away. Yay, another find in another country. We put it back where it should have been and went back to the hotel for a drink in the Lounge.

The next 8 days are going to be pretty full on, exploring the Galapagos Islands, so our easy day continued into this afternoon. We did toy with the idea of going out to buy a rain jacket each, but after speaking to the Front Desk, it seemed a bit too much trouble. The nearest shopping mall is a 5 min walk away, but he suggested we get a taxi and then ask the driver to come back in an hour or so to pick us up and bring us back. When we suggested we might walk, his eyebrows shot up and he sort of politely indicated that probably wasn’t a good idea. In the end we decided that if we get wet, we get wet, at least the rain will be warm.

We had the late afternoon in the Executive Lounge, drinks and some light snacks. We were lucky to get a pretty good sunset this afternoon just as everyone back home were starting their day.   It is a bit strange being out of sync with home by so much, Adelaide is now 15 ½ hrs ahead of us!

An early start tomorrow, for a flight to The Galapagos Islands and boarding our ship. Excuse my pun, but I love how this holiday is “evolving” 🙂