Guayaquil

The last time I was in Guayaquil, I was with a tall, skinny, balding ex-FBI agent and a 230 lb Australian guy. It was Sunday, and because everything was closed and because we didn't know anything about the city, we walked into a packed "Chinese" restaurant for dinner. Things were different this time. :) Most of our group walked to the Malecon (a riverfront mall) to explore the area (it's a nice walk), and eventually, all of us ended up at the local park, which has a resident iguana population. The iguanas were very friendly, running up to people if the prospect of food presented itself, and allowing us to pet their rough bodies.

In the evening, we went to a restaurant called Congrejal Mannny's, where we gorged ourselves on crab and other seafood. We all had wooden mallets to bash crabs open with, and the table looked like a disaster area by the time we were finished with it! Crab bits were in everything: beer glasses, salsa bowls, hair, and clothing. After dinner, we were denied entry into a local disco/bar because Sean was wearing shorts (although, the rest of us were wearing sandals, so they probably wouldn't have let us in anyway). Annie, Kristin, Sean, Katrina, and I ended up getting a few drinks at the bar in the Grand Hotel, where we were staying. Annie waved at a large Ecuadorian man, who briefly looked as if he might come over for some action before he continued onward to the bar.