Guayaquil, you tug at my heart

The other day my filling fell out of my mouth. I dutifully called the Peace Corps and they told me I had two choices. Take a 14 hour bus up to Quito, the capital, a city I know semi well (thanks to many good times getting lost there, strange cab conversations) or take a shorter, 4 hour buseta ride to the crime ridden, ¨scary¨ city of Guayaquil. I chose the latter. Thus begins our story.

Guayaquil is the biggest city in Ecuador. It´s the opposite of Quito. While Quito is conservative, cold (not really cold...more brisk...but for Ecuadorians who don´t know the true coldness of ¨snow¨, anything below fifty five degrees is ¨bien frio¨), Guayaquil is HOT. Hot, humid, liberal. Full of some of the ritziest malls in the country and the poorest peoople. Full of businesmen in expensive looking suits and poor street kids, four or five years old, begging clubgoers for change at 2am. Truly. It tugged at every emotion I had.



I started the day out in the dentist´s office, then met a friend and went walking up over 400 steps to the top of the city. It was HOT. Half of Guayaquil also looks like someone dumped Crayola colors all over it. This part is called Las Penas. So, on one side you have the Guayas River, and then huge billowing gray skyscapers, and then on another side you have Las Penas, which is so colorful it makes you happy just looking at it.

I got to see some people from training I didn´t know too well but who are fantastic and hilarious. We sat and did what Peace Corps Volunteers do best when they are together: bitch! Vent! Speak in English! Make vague cultural references that people in site shake their heads over but that we understand. Yearn about far away love.

The night was topped off with STUFFED CRUST PIZZA from Pizza Hut. You Americans are so incredibly lucky to have access to this luxury with frequency. You could even get it delivered to your door! You could eat it all day, every day, and never even have to leave your host.This, my friends, is a great difference. Here in Ecuador, most places don´t have food delivery. I miss it sorely. I will go home and not leave my apartment for a good month because of the awesome power of food delivery. Can´t wait.
Anyways, beer, pizza, and good people made for a lovely night. I´m always surprised how such different people who, under normal circumstances, wouldn´t be friends, can come together and connect because of the incredibly strange situation we´re all collectively in. It´s one of the best parts about Peace Corps.


Today, I wandered around for a few hours on my own. I found this park called the Iguana Park. People friendly iguanas bask in the grass and walk around on the stones, looking for lettuce. They are very energy efficient, either spending their time not moving a muscle, or running towards a piece of lettuce. Smart creatures. There were also a group of turtles. The park workers were cleaning out their little lake area and put all the turtles on the other side of this two foot high rock wall. The turtles kept trying to climb over each other to get back into the ¨lake¨. They would get halfway up the rocks, and then fall back down. Or, if one did reach blissful freedom, a worker would come over, grab it by the tail (ouch! do you think that hurts the turtle?) and put it back in its confinement. And there were pidgeons- erratic pidgeons- who would all randomly fly from one part of the park to another, as if they all had collective thoughts. I gave a few some food and they all started following me, for a second I thought I was going to get stampeded to death by those birds.


Guayaquil was the first time I´ve seen true, genuine, poverty in this country. Some people dress in really raggedy clothes and beg. There are MANy street kids at night. Girls who aren´t older than 5 or 6 who are begging customers in bars and night clubs for money. These kids have to stay up until 3 or 4 in the morning, begging. It´s a really sad reality of this country. I´m so glad there are volunteers here. Between the HIV, the poverty, and the violence that goes unpunished, this city has a lot, lot, lot of problems. For that reason, Volunteers are told to avoid it. Many foreigners have been robbed or involved in taxi kidnappings, and everyday on the news, there is a shooting or a robbery in this city. So it´s really everything- hot, humid, incredibly friendly, but also dangerous, congested, and sometimes overwhelming.

Here are some pictures:

The Iguana Park, where the iguanas will come up to any human who may, possibly, have food.









Las Penas, a crayon makers fantasy






That´s all for now. I´m about to enjoy some more delicious American food (hey bus terminal!) before leaving the craziness. I´ll miss you, Guayaquil. You´re like the Amy Winehouse or Mick Jagger of Ecuadorian cities. Unpredictable, seductive, exciitng, scary. See you again.