Our position at noon is off the coast of Peru heading to Lima. It is a very pleasant 70 degrees with high overcast skies. We had some fog this morning so the bridge had to sound the ship's horn every two minutes as part of the international avoidance protocols. Our ship has radar but smaller wooden vessels will not show up on radar.
LAST EVENING
Cocktails in Mariner Lounge followed by dinner in Compass Rose. Fantastic evening with these good friends: (L to R) Marcia, Richard, Harvey, and us.
Charles serving our La Crema chardonnay.
Alin, Restaurant Manager (over all dining venues) and Executive Chef John Pugh stopped by the table to check on the 5 of us.
On the second row for Terry Bishop's show.
Very good instrumentalist and he writes his own very unique songs. Excellent show!!
YESTERDAY'S QUAYAQUIL PHOTOS
My tour for this morning. The same buses and tour guides today as were in Manta. They are based here and drive up to Manta when needed there.
Driving out of the port.
The port here is Ecuador's largest and 5 times bigger than the one in Manta. Bananas are the main export and shipped all over the world in these containers. Almost all bananas come from Ecuador. All the major companies, ie, Dole, Chiquita, etc, have plantations here.
Initially the traffic was not bad but in town it was. Better roads here also.
These two police officers followed our bus and stayed with us all morning. We also had a transit officer on another bike to help us get through traffic. Our guide said tourism is very important and the government does not want any incidents.
Our first stop was at Seminario Park. Main attraction here is the many iguanas in the trees and running around on the ground. Some posing for photos. I have been here on previous cruises and the main reason I wanted to do this tour again.
More police presence at the park.
Statue of Simon Bolvar. He responsible for giving Ecuador independence from Spain.
Across from the park is the grand Cathedral of Quayaquil. Built in 1947 so is as old as Rebecca.
Before the guide let us off the bus here he warned us not to stand under the trees as the iguanas may "bless" us by pooping on those standing below. I remember this from past trips to this park.
He also said if we wanted to pet them we could and probably would not be bitten but stay away from their tails as they may whip us. Sometime so hard that their tail comes off. But it will grow back.
Several of the ship's tour buses were stopped here.
Our guide said the iguanas are everywhere in Ecuador and eat mostly plants. Ecuadorians do eat the iguanas and call them "chicken in trees". YUK!
This one gave me a close up of its cute face.
These were chowing down on something.
More security in the park.
Harvey, Marcia, Richard were also on my bus. Along with several other friends we have cruised with before. Good group!
Harvey is giving Richard a back massage with his elbow.
This is our nice tour bus. While sitting on it waiting to leave the park I was looking out the window and saw a couple standing under a tree. Sure enough a few minutes later the man go pooped on.
Now heading for our next stop. These street stands were everywhere.
Hard to see but this tree had some pretty reddish blooms
Next stop was at Malecon 2000. It is a 2 mile long walk along the Chagres River. Yes, built in year 2000. They will be adding another 2 miles to it in the future.
This ship is a Navy training ship. It is used to train new officers how to navigate without the use of GPS. Using the stars instead.
Clock tower
City Hall building across the street.
Our friends, Eddie & Lyn Zito. They were on another tour bus.
Further down the Malecon was a huge ferris wheel and a aerial tram that takes people across the river to a town on other side.
Statues of the two men responsible for gaining the South American countries independence from Spain. They are Simon Bolivar and San Martin. They had not met but met here just one time. They did not like each other at all. The flags above them are from the countries they liberated.
This is the cable station for the aerial tram. It can take people across the river to other town in 25 minutes. If they drove there is a bridge but would be a 1 1/2 hour drive. There are a lot of folks who live on the other side but work here in Guayaquil so use the tram.
On this hill is the old town of Guayaquil where the city was started.
Old town again
Above two photos are of a flower market we drove by on the way back to the ship.
Above two photos are of the "spaghetti of wires" (what our guide called it) of electricity, cable, phone, and other wires. He said they are now being buried but will take time do do the whole city.
Our police escort still with us on way back to the ship.
Centennial Park with their Statue of Liberty. This is the largest park in Guayaquil that occupies 4 blocks.
Back at the huge cargo port where our ship is docked. Not sure what was in these huge white bags. Tour departed at 8:30 and back to the ship by noon. Good thing as I was hungry! Stopped at the suite to wash my hands good and collect Rebecca. Then up to La Veranda for lunch. Got a burger and French fries from the pool grill.
TODAY
Alarm went off at 7am. Ran down to get of double shot Americanos and a chocolate donut for me. Then I worked on getting the above Guayaquil photos and captions added to this blog post. We then headed to do our hour on the treadmills before getting cleaned up in time for lunch.
I also emailed back and forth with Alex back in Durango. Alex is my landscaper and also taking care of clearing my drive of snow this winter. He was not very happy that he had not been called to clear my drive a couple times during the big snow storm that dumped 15 inches on the drive. He will clear it this afternoon he said. From now on he will use his judgement as to when it needs cleared. He's only charging me $25 per clearing. Everyone else charges $50. I also asked if my roof needed to be raking (remove snow from the roof). I have a roof rake and have used it previous years. It is a lot of work. He said it probably would need clearing soon so added me to his list. Said it would be at least a week before getting to it. That's ok as the 10 day forecast for Durango is not showing any big storms.
Today's La Veranda lunch theme was Spanish buffet. I had two helpings of this delicious seafood paella and some black mussels. I generally do not like rice but love this dish.
This is Hendra. He's a waiter that we have known for years. I enjoy kidding him and generally just giving him a hard time. He loves it.
There was a "veterans and service members" gathering this afternoon in the Observation Lounge so I thought this t-shirt appropriate attire for it.
There were actually 13 veterans that showed up at the gathering. Everyone told about their military experiences. It was a very interesting 1 1/2 hours. A couple guys who had been on the ground during the Viet Nam War thanked me for my B-52 strikes. It was a conscience of the group that all young American people should be required to serve this country for a year or two in some capacity. Not necessarily military capacity.
Cocktails and jalapeno poppers in Mariner Lounge at 6pm. Dinner to follow in Compass Rose. Last night I asked the Executive Chef if they could prepare so French fried soft shell crabs for our entrees tonight. I had requested they be put on the cruise for us a couple months ago. We ran into him at lunch and he smiled and gave us the thumbs up for the crabs.
Tonight's show is featuring a comedian, Ritch Shynder. I may pop in but at back so as to make a quick escape if he is not good.
Centennial Park with their Statue of Liberty. This is the largest park in Guayaquil that occupies 4 blocks.
Back at the huge cargo port where our ship is docked. Not sure what was in these huge white bags. Tour departed at 8:30 and back to the ship by noon. Good thing as I was hungry! Stopped at the suite to wash my hands good and collect Rebecca. Then up to La Veranda for lunch. Got a burger and French fries from the pool grill.
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