We left Peru to enter Ecuador. Our first stop was the city of Cuenca in the south. A colonial city of middle size, nice, quiet, charming with its streets, its river and churches.
Our first impression of Ecuadorians was rather nice, people are friendly here.

The second night we went to a free concert of the Symphony Orchestra of Cuenca. Loved it! They played all styles, jazz, salsa, soundtrack films like Superman and of course classic too.

We met a French couple in our hostel, Mickael and Anais traveling in Latin America for 5 months. Together we went out with Xun, a Chinese woman who travels the world for 3 years already, having Colombian food and a nightlife Ecuadorian experience.

The next day we went with the French couple + another French couple, to visit the Saturday market in the town of Gualaceo, 1h by bus from Cuenca. This Market was probably the cleanest and the most organized we’ve visited in the world, with fruits and vegetables quality. The old people with their typical clothes were posing with smile for our cameras, just the opposite of what the old people do in Peru or Bolivia. We enjoyed the visit very much.

After three days in the city, we took the road to west in Guayaquil. With a population of 2.16 million habitants, it is the second largest city in Ecuador. Famous for its insecurity and its many assaults, we were basically going there to catch our flight to the Galapagos Islands. We made sure to stay only one day, and it was enough. There is not much to see but our short visit was actually pleasant.

We walked along the main avenue 9 de Octubro and we went to the park Bolivar. A small green park full of iguanas turtles and squirrels. We arrived at a time when the park rangers were feeding them, aaaaaah so cool! Dozens of Iguanas were going down the trees rushing to get their piece of salad, which was already enough for us to make Quayaquil worth the visit.

Then we walked along the Guayas River, which reminds us of the swamps in southern India.
Finally we visited the Las Peñas neighborhood, on a hill with its colorful houses and its lighthouse from afar it looked like a bit as a Brazilian favela, but from the inside you will discover a charming tourist area with old colonial houses and plenty of restaurants.

January 22 was the birthday of Alexis, so we went to a good restaurant in the city, he wanted lobster, Carol has found a seafood restaurant, unfortunately when ordering the waiter said that it was the lobster breeding season, so forbidden to fish it… Too bad… It was still good!