Iguanaville

The Catedral

21 hours after we left Trujillo, Peru we arrived in Guayaquil Ecuador. It normally should not take that long to get there, but once we had crossed the border into Ecuador the bus kept stopping to pick up people on the side of the freeway. I mean I guess it's cool that the bus is down to help the people out who need a ride, but it was slowing us down! Even though we had just been sitting for hours we were dead tired when we got to Guayaquil, the traveling just wipes you out. As we pulled into the bus terminal I saw these shining golden arches, I looked at Briana and she had the same look in her eye, we were going to McDonalds. I must say, those chicken nuggets, whatever they are made of, had never tasted so delicious. The food down here is really incredible, but sometimes some good old american fast-food is what hits the spot.

So much cooler than the catedral

When we left the terminal it was so HOT! It was like 9pm though... and raining, so gross. We jumped in a cab and gave them the address of our hotel. There aren't really any hostels in Guayaquil, it was weird, it's just not really set up for low budget travelers. I mean yeah, our hotel was super cheap, but it was definitely a hotel and lacked the cool vibes that hostels have. Also the bed was like sleeping on a rock, but we were only there for one night so I could deal with it. Guayaquil was really just the connecting point to go to Puerto Lopez, aka the beach! 

So many!

I got to pet one!

We figured that we had to at least see something while we were in Guayaquil, so we asked about the main plaza and the security guard told us to head to Plaza de las Iguanas. I didn't realize that it's name came from all the iguanas hanging around the plaza. They were just hanging out everywhere, chillin with the pigeons and climbing trees and eating lettuce. So cool! There was also a really pretty church on the plaza, but the iguanas are what captured our attention. We stayed for like an hour, petting them and marveling. I've never seen a live iguana before so I was totally obsessed!

Eventually the heat was getting to be to much and we were ready to head back to the bus terminal. This thing is absolutely massive. It's bigger than the Guayaquil airport, it actually looks like it is the airport from the outside. It had three floors and every single one was bustling with people and food vendors. I think our bus left from platform 86 and there were still more platforms after that! Craziness. Waiting on the platform for our bus is where Briana and I first met Chrisitan and Edgar and they became our travel companions for the rest of the time in Puerto Lopez . So less than 24 hours after traveling for 21 hours, we were back on another bus. At least this time we were headed to hammocks, beaches, fresh squeezed fruit juices, and 5 days of relaxation.