R. Doug Wicker's Blog, page 137

Ecuador — Road to Cuenca; Cocoa Farm

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Cocoa pod

On the morning of Tuesday, February 16, 2016 our tour group boarded the bus and headed out of Guayaquil southeast bound for the city of Cuenca. This is a 200-kilometer/125-mile journey that normally takes about three and a half hours. But we had several stops to make along the way, the first of which was a cocoa plantation.

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Plantation flowers — not cocoa

We learned much about cocoa farming that day. For instance, the cocoa bean comes from the cacao (cocoa) tree, or Theobroma cacao,...

Fun Photo Friday — Guayaquil, Ecuador 3

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Shutters

Next week we move on to our next destination, Cuenca, with a stop along the way to a cocoa plantation. Until then, here is this week’s Fun Photo Friday photo gallery/slide show of Guayaquil favorites:

Filed under: Fun Photo Friday, Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, vacation Tagged: Ecuador, Fun Photo Friday, Guayaquil, photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, travel photography, vacation

Ecuador — Guayaquil: Lighthouse of Santa Ana Hill

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Guayaquil from Hop-on/Hop-off bus

On our first day in Guayaquil, Ursula and I didn’t just hoof it around. We also took a Hop-on/Hop-off. While on that bus we passed this lighthouse atop a very tall hill:

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Santa Ana Hill

Fortunately we were in for a pleasant surprise, as our tour guide led us up the long trek to that lighthouse. After a brief break at the gardens (Monday’s article), we headed over to the base of Santa Ana Hill and began our climb:

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Climbing Santa Ana Hill

Near the bottom was a r...

Ecuador — Guayaquil: The official tour backtrack

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Plaza de la Administración

As you can probably tell by now, once we joined up with our tour group Ursula and I wound up backtracking much of what we saw the day before. But there were things we had missed that first time around, so we weren’t disappointed. For instance, next to the City Hall is Independence Square:

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Guayaquil Independence Square

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Guayaquil Independence Square

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Guayaquil Independence Square

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Plaza de la Administración

And next to City Hall is something we had missed completely, th...

Fun Photo Friday — Guayaquil, Ecuador 2

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Street color

Here is today’s Fun Photo Friday gallery and slide show:

Filed under: Fun Photo Friday, Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, vacation Tagged: Ecuador, Fun Photo Friday, Guayaquil, photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, travel photography, vacation

Ecuador — Guayaquil: More Iguana Park and turtles, too!

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The ultimate sandwich

We returned to Iguana Park the next day after we met up with our tour group and guide. What we missed the first time around were the turtles, but Daniel made sure we saw them on this visit.

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Turtle soup

I wouldn’t trust my finger to all the turtles here, as this one appears to be of the snapping variety:

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Snapper?

Watch out above, as well, because I hadn’t realized the day before that the iguanas here were also tree climbers:

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Tree ornaments

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Stepping down

of our repti...

Ecuador — Guayaquil: To the Metropolitan Cathedral and Iguana Park

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Parque Seminario (a.k.a., Iguana Park)

West of the Torre Morisca is yet another park, but this one contains a twist. It’s overrun with some very friendly iguanas. This is Parque Seminario, directly in front of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Guayaquil. It’s also aptly nicknamed ‘Iguana Park”, and for obvious reasons.

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Parque Seminario (a.k.a., Iguana Park)

These guys and gals are running around all over the place. While it’s illegal to feed them, or even approach them, they will come right up to...

Fun Photo Friday — Guayaquil: Ecuador 1

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Faro Cerro Santa Ana

Over the next three weeks, Fun Photo Friday will feature favorites from Guayaquil, Ecuador. So, for a taste of what’s ahead, here is today’s photo gallery and slide show:

Filed under: Fun Photo Friday, Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, vacation Tagged: Ecuador, Fun Photo Friday, Guayaquil, photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, travel photography, vacation

Ecuador — Continuing on our own around Guayaquil

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Guayaquil building art

Reaching the Malecón, Ursula and I turned south to enjoy the gardens, statuary, and buildings along the way. We’ll return to the Malecón with our tour group later the next day, and you’ll see more of that next week. But today is our tour without the group, so here we go southward. Here are examples of some of the statuary you’ll see along this park:

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Statuary

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Statuary

Plaza de la Administración, or City Hall, with its magnificent architectural details:

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Plaza de la Admini...

Ecuador — First look at Guayaquil

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Guayaquil Malecón Simón Bolívar

Yes, we sometimes travel by land rather than cruise ship. Ursula and I did so in February, 2016, for a comprehensive tour of Ecuador. We flew into Guayaquil, Ecuador, one day before we were to meet up with our tour group, which meant we had an entire day in Guayaquil to explore on our own. So, departing our room at the Hotel Oro Verde, we headed east along Avenue Nueve de Octubre to Malecón Simón Bolívar. It certainly didn’t take long to start finding photo opp...