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After hanging out at the Dream Kapture travel office for a while, socializing with the staff and gathering information, we ventured out on our own to see what we could see.

We headed down toward the museum for anthropology and modern art, at the beginning of the new waterfront development that stretches across the coastal edge of the city for a fair distance. The museum had some great art and photography exhibits, as well as a fairly large section for artifacts and informational displays on the ancient and indigenous cultures of Ecuador. David and I snapped some images and video clips of the various exhibits, several of which gave me some ideas for group art projects. (I´ll be posting these lesson ideas on thelessonmachine.com´s blog as time becomes available.)

Some artifacts from the antiquities exhibit.

One of the pieces by a particular artist who uses these miniature dolls in every piece of his artwork. We are not sure if these dolls are a local folk art form or not. Do any of you know?

A close up David shot of the miniature dolls. I think these would make a great children´s art project in and of themselves to celebrate cultural diversity. Get a whole class, grade level, or school involved, and you could compile quite a display. . .

David thinks this one looks like a large display of decorative drinking straws. It´s individual pieces of pvc pipe decorated differently, and you enter the modern art exhibit by wandering through them. Some are quite abstract, others are carved and stained to look like ancient ruins, others look like giant insects. Another great school-wide idea for open house at the beginning of the school year. We really enjoyed this display.

Another piece we really enjoyed . . . modern and yet very tribal.

Pure modern here . . .

From the museum, we continued strolling down the waterfront at a leisurely pace. The development project is very conducive to making the trek between downtown Guayaquil tourist attractions extremely enjoyable. Water features, classical music, lush landscaping and artistic displays coupled with convenient and atmospheric cafes, kiosks, resting spots, the list continues.

There are also plenty of family features for the local people of Guayaquil, including an outdoor exercise area with various fitness stations, playgrounds, go carts and more. Nearly to the Rotunda (pictured below) coming down from the art and anthropological museum is a restored antique train car that is being used as a free internet cafe, compliments of the ministry of tourism. The hours are a bit tricky, but we thought the idea was a good one that any community could use if they were looking for an economical way to add charm and function to their local tourist scene.

The Rotunda on Malecon 2000 in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

The restored train car being used as a complimentary cyber-cafe by the tourists. We love this idea!!!

Further down is the Moorish-style clock tower that several of the locals and the guide book told us to be sure to see (see below).

We didn´t finish walking the full distance of the water front development, but instead turned and headed up the street through the historical district to see the exquisite cathedral and beautiful front courtyard which is also known by the locals as “Lizard Park”. This place is full of live iquanas. Snoozing in the trees, posing with the tourists . . . we got several pictures and video clips. (Stay tuned for video postings)

The cathedral in the historical section of Guayaquil, Ecuador.

An iguana posing for us in a tree in Guayaquil´s Lizard Park.

Also, directly across the courtyard and street from the front door of the cathedral is a great little restaurant in the Continental Hotel called La Canoa. Our friend Gus (who is from Ecuador) recommended this as a great place to go for Ecuadorian food, and Monica the English-speaking secretary from Dream Kapture hostel reiterated the same opinion. We have to say . . . we agree! If you only have one opportunity while you´re in Guayaquil to sample various forms of typical Ecuadorian fare, you won´t be disappointed at this establishment, we were there at lunch time and it was bursting at the seams with locals . . . always a good sign. Not a great deal of quiet romantic atmosphere, but the food is great and they have a varied selection so you should be able to find something to your liking.

As for finding the archeological museum, second on our list, we gave up after an hour or so of street searching with no name recognition from numerous locals. By this time, it was close to evening and we´d had a full day anyway. It was time to catch a taxi back to the hostel and rest up (Myscha did so for 13 hours) for the next day of problem solving, travel research, and bus riding.

Posted on January 15th, 2007 by Myscha Theriault
Filed under: Trips and Destinations