Ecuador and the Galapagos – Day 9

Ecuador and the Galapagos – Day 8 can be found here.

Up at 5:30 am this morning despite my best intentions – but my 9:30 pm bedtime still gave me eight blessed hours of sleep. Plus I got to laze around in bed for an hour so that we didn’t wake the kids. Sorely needed after the past week’s mayhem.

Not that the future is looking mayhem-free, despite our entering Silversea’s protective bubble – we still need to take an after-dark bus trip from the airport to our hotel in Guayaquil, which is currently a ‘do not travel’ zone for the Canada, the United Kingdom, and many other countries due to increased drug crime.

Originally, we were due to stay in Quito for two nights – only briefing stopping in Guayaquil for fuel on our way to San Cristobel. But Quito airport is under renovation, so Silversea needed to rejig the route. I’m still not sure that a late-night trip through Guayaquil is advisable, and I will be very glad to have that portion of the trip behind us.

Kids woke up at around 7:30 am, and we managed to get ourselves mostly packed before heading to JW Marriot’s Botanica restaurant for a delicious breakfast buffet, which was included in Silversea pre-departure hotel stay:

Back to the room to continue packing (and weighing) our luggage. Carry-ons are limited to 17 pounds instead of the usual 20 pounds, so there was a lot of juggling and cursing as we balanced everything out.

Then down to the lobby for a trip to Quito’s Old Town. Silversea had wanted $75 per person for a 3 hour private guided tour – we asked our previous driver Ivan Suarez if he would do the same trip and he quoted us $50 total. Though he would only be driving and not guiding us.

We were mostly interested in taking in the sights at our own pace, and didn’t really care if there was anyone there to provide context. So we took Ivan up on his offer.

He showed up promptly at 9:30 am. We drove through downtown Quito…

Not the most flattering photo, but there is some truly stunning street art in Quito – and this is just a small piece of it

… And started off with a visit to the Basillica del Voto Nacional:

This is the largest neo-Gothic church in the Americas, and is frequently compared to St. Patrick’s Cathedral of New York and the Notre Dame in Paris. It was built from 1892 to 1924, though it wasn’t officially consecrated until 1988.

We climbed the many, many steps up to the top of the clock tower:

The clock mechanism – the original was built in 1986 but stopped in 1993. The current mechanism was put into action in 2012, by the son of the original builder. There are three clocks in each tower, each with a diameter of more than 4 metres.

The view near the top

Sadly as high as we were able to get – the route is then blocked off

But there are some lovely restaurants on the way, with seating out on the terrace – great prices and terrific views

The view along the attic walkway between the towers

Climbing the central tower is not for the faint of heart

But stunning views await

The interior is equally impressive:

This puts an end to my plans to establish the Ecuadorian Basillica Drone Society – but you know what they say, every sign is there for a reason

We then headed off…

Some more beautiful street art. The translation read, “For our missing people, a minute of silence means a lifetime of resistance.“

… To pay a visit to the San Francisco square, and the Independence Square:

We stopped briefly for a coffee and a croissant at the Baguette café, with a beautiful view over the square. There was one tense moment when we heard a series of bangs outside and the café was suddenly swarmed by police. But it turned out to be a coincidence – firecrackers going off outside, and the police going on break.

Just a church we happened to walk into, as we walked along the streets

There was a heavy police presence in town, as there is a protest planned for July 6^th – likely due to increased fuel prices, as was the case on July 4th. We went past the Presidential Palace on our way to Independence Square, and there was already a barricade set up around the building.

Our third destination was El Panecillo – the large hill in the middle of Quito – but we stayed longer than expected downtown so we decided to head back early instead.

Google Translate has proven immensely helpful during this trip – we were able to download the Spanish dictionary so it works offline, and have used it to communicate to Spanish-speaking drivers and staff when needed. Simply type your message into the app, and then click the speaker button to have it spoken aloud in Spanish.

(You can also use the microphone button to listen and transcribe, though thus far we’ve found it faster just to type the message instead.)

We also passed Moe’s Tavern (inspired by the Simpsons, presumably) along the way:

Ivan deposited us back at the hotel, and we gave him a large tip to say thanks. We’d highly recommend him as a driver should you find yourself in Quito. You can find his details here.

We were tempted to find a nice restaurant in Quito, but opted to have lunch at the hotel to minimize the risk of catching any gastro bugs before we embark. The lunch options are limited – we had the choice of either returning to Fogo de Chão or having the lunch buffet at Botanica. Fogo de Chão was delicious, but one Brazilian steakhouse trip is enough to last about a year.

The lunch buffet wasn’t quite as good as breakfast, but still tasty:

But they made up for that with an epic dessert table:

Cost was US$29 (before tax and service) for the adults, while the kids were again half price.

I then headed back upstairs for a quick power name, while my wife and kids headed downstairs to find a quiet spot to hang out and read before our group – blue group – departs for the airport at 3:45 pm.

I briefly stopped at the Meet Gourmet Café to pick up a cappuccino and some cookies. Another small peculiarity with Ecuadorian pricing – the cappuccino was $5, while the cookies were $3 for 5. Not too bad if you lump it all up together.

And there were other treats for those so inclined:

But the cookies deserve a closeup:

3:40 pm, which meant it was just about time to board the bus to the airport. We milled around the front entrance and – sure enough – blue group was called right on time. It was a good set-up, with a driver ready to slot our various carry-on bags into the cargo compartment underneath. We were on the road about 5 minutes after our group was called, which is even faster than when we were in Dublin.

Unfortunately, there seemed to be some sort of technical difficulties with the traffic lights, so the traffic leaving Quito was brutal. We’d hoped to get dinner before our flight left, and we started to wonder whether that would possible. Thankfully, the traffic broke up as we left the city centre – and our Google Maps timeline improved dramatically.

Our Silversea rep got onto the mic to explain some of the logistics for the next few days. We’re not to remove our luggage tags, as our bags will need them again for the second half of the trip to San Cristobel tomorrow. We’re not allowed to bring plants, seeds, or coffee beans into the Galapagos so guests would need to get rid of them before we leave Guayaquil tomorrow. Bag drop is before 8:30 am, while our group will be leaving the hotel at 10 am.

Apart from the mic volume being about 20 decibels too loud, it was a good presentation – we also got into some of the history of Ecuador. We learned that the country has 84 volcanoes (include 6 active ones), that the Andes are the longest mountain range in the world, that Simon Bolivar liberated 6 different countries in South America – Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama and Bolivia.

We made the airport about 70 minutes after we left the hotel, and then it was simply a matter of picking up our checked luggage and then dropping them at the LATAM desk – which took about 15 minutes after we reached the airport.

Then it was time to head through security, and then on to the Guacamole Grill.

Photo credit – TripAdvisor

We’d first spotted the grill during our flight to Coca, but we’d opted to pick up lunch from the Amazon Café instead. But – as it seemed unlikely that we would arrive at the Oro Verde Hotel much before 8:30 pm – this was the perfect time to give the airport restaurant a shot.

And… it was actually pretty good.

I had the burger:

While my wife had the Cuban sandwich:

Apart from a brief bit of confusion (I ordered “uno chesburguesa, solo queso” – which the server took to mean as a bun with cheese and nothing else), the meals were hot, quick and tasty. Hard to ask for anything more.

Shortly thereafter, they started boarding our flight. We were in the air for perhaps 40 minutes, and then we touched down in Guayaquil.

Bags were off the conveyer belts 20 minutes after we landed.

We were impressed by how fast the disembarkation process went – we approached a van where our checked bags were loaded, and then boarded one of two waiting buses. Soon, we were on our way to the hotel.

It took perhaps 10 minutes from when we collected our bags, compared to the 2 hours (!!) we waited when returning from Greenland via New York City. Perhaps Ecuador should set up an exchange teaching program…

Here was the part I was dreading. The drive through a city where crime had become bad enough to dub the city ‘unliveable’ and the province of Guayas to be dubbed ‘the least safe region in the world.’ It seemed normal enough as we left the airport, but the regular flash of police lights – often marking off the location of major roadblocks – suggested otherwise.

Thankfully, we arrived at the Oro Verde hotel without incident. Armed guards looked on as we trooped through the heavy humidity into the tired-but-luxurious lobby, accepting glasses of Ecuadorian Rose and bowls of fruity ice cream as we collected our welcome packages from Silversea.

My wife groaned in annoyance when she looked at the room assignments – our rooms were sequential, which meant that they were across the hall from each other as opposed to being adjacent. But then we got to our floor and saw that – unlike pretty much every other hotel in the world – the Oro Verde numbered their rooms sequentially along a single room. So our rooms were, in fact, adjacent to one another. Another win for Silversea.

And the rooms aren’t half bad, either:

Each welcome package also included a voucher for two drink tickets, so we cashed those in post haste – first for white wine and a welcome cocktail, and then for white wine and a local beer.

All delicious and relaxing after a long day on the road.

Our bags were to be delivered to our room, but we managed to find them amidst the mess of luggage that was being sorted on our floor. We soon picked ours out and distributed them as needed to our rooms – which thankfully let us get the kids to sleep quickly. (No shade against the bellhops – they were moving at lightning speed, we just needed our bags immediately.)

All considered, we were able to get everyone in and settled by 8:30 pm. Quite impressive given that we didn’t arrive in Guayaquil until 7:40 pm.

Plenty of time to grab another drink from El Capitan bar, which was in full swing

Despite the security challenges in Guayaquil, there is a very real sense that everyone is doing there best here. It’s a shame to see a beautiful country disrupted by drug crime like this. I feel for them, and part of me wishes that I wasn’t hesitant to stay in Guayaquil with my kids.

But I am – and I don’t know if there’s much to be done about that right now.

I will say that the rest of Ecuador seems eminently stable and safe, and that I would strongly recommend people visit there. This is a wonderful country full of friendly people, and I like to think that people travelling to the safer parts will help the Ecuadorians to eventually stabilize the rest of the country.

It’s a nice thought, at least.

Something to mull over as we ready ourselves for the final hop to San Cristobel, and on to Silver Origin to explore the Galapagos.

Continue reading Ecuador and the Galapagos – Day 10.