Guayaquil with Rich and Nancy

Dear Family and Friends,

Last weekend we bopped down to Guayaquil for a couple of nights with our good friends, Rich and Nancy.  With two days of driving we actually only had one good day to sight see.

Here is a picture of Rich when we stopped at the top of the Cajas to enjoy the view.

We stayed at the Sonesta Hotel because it is located right next to the Mall del Sol and us girls wanted to shop in comfort.

On our first night there we enjoyed a wonderful sushi dinner at Kioto Sushi Restaurant.  We had heard that this is a good restaurant and wanted to check it out.

We scored big time!!!

We ordered two boats of sushi and ate like pigs!!  It was very good and the staff was very attentive.  We highly recommend this restaurant.  It is located in the Hilton Colon restaurant.

Such a handsome couple...sushi agrees with them!

We take Sunday walks together every week here in Cuenca.  Last Sunday was no different except that we were in Guayaquil.

We started our walk at the Park of the Iguanas.

This is a very popular park.  It is lovely to look at and stroll through, but what makes it really special is the inhabitants.... Iguanas.  They live in the trees.  The city feeds them and the tourists and locals come to enjoy these dragon-like creatures.

If you look up you can see them in the trees.

They grow to get quite large.

Learned from a tour guide in the park that the Iguanas that are red in color are the dominant males.  They will fight other Iguanas to protect their family.

I posted this picture on Friday Foto.  They are so ugly they are cute.  That is easy to say knowing they don't have teeth.

After leaving the park we sauntered over to the Malecon.  Here is Nancy enjoying the view.

And, we enjoyed viewing Nancy.

Here is Rich enjoying the buildings in this area of the city.

We sought out shade where we could because the sun was shining brightly.  Some of the trees there are so much fun.  This tree for example (sorry, don't know the name) grows roots down from it branches.

After walking the malecon for awhile, one of us (me) decided it was just too warm.  Everyone indulged me and we all went to the Mall San Marino.  It was really good we did, because Nancy was looking for a new tote and she found one while shopping.

Sunday night we went to Noe's Restaurant to have another go at sushi.  We wanted to compare the two restaurants.  We went to the Noe's in Mall del Sol.  We enjoyed our dinner but all agreed that the Kioto sushi was more plentiful and authentic.  It probably helped that on Saturday night we could have wine with our dinner and on Sunday night, because of the Ecuador law, no alcohol is served after 4:00 pm.

Monday morning we got up and headed back over the mountains.  We drove the major highway and were not surprised to find that it is used not only for autos, but for transporting animals.

We were a little concerned when the oncoming traffic did not stop.  But somehow it all worked out.

We were back in Cuenca by mid day.  We were tired but full of some great memories.

Now here it is Sunday again and we are off to walk with Rich and Nancy, but this time we will be walking here in Cuenca....no Iguanas, but that is ok because the temperature is much better for me.

Love,
Nancy

PS:  Check out Rich's and Nancy's blog for their story and pictures of the Guayaquil trip.