Visiting Ecuador

Guayaquil

Below is a list of some of the best day trips from Guayaquil, Ecuador.

The Botanical Garden of Guayaqil is located at the foot of the Cerro Colorado hill at Avenida Francisco de Orellana. Here you can find three thousand varieties of vegetable species including hundred and fifty varieties of orchids.

Another great short trip is to Cerro Blanco. Situated at Km. 15 on the coast road it is a representative sample of a tropical dry forest and constitutes an important refuge for more than hundred and ninety species of land birds and six species of sea birds.

Puerto Hondo, 17 kilometers away on the road to the coast, is a large reserve of mangrove trees. Also here is an archeological site called Palombamba where fairly well preserved archeological finds have been made, and which correspond to the Huancavilca culture.

All are easily accessible by car or hitchhiking – normal larger buses aren’t always easy to find this far out of the city. However by asking locals you may be able to find a small minibus.

Guayaquil Malecon

Sightseeing in South Guayaquil reveals some of the city’s best monuments.

Parque Espana is located facing the Temple of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

In its center stands the statue of Sebastian de Benalcazar, the founder of San Francisco de Quito

In the Parque de la Armada lies the Calderon, a gunboat which played an outstanding role in the naval battle of Jambeli in 1941.

It now contains a historical museum.

Also nearby are the Centro Civico Theater, the planetarium of the Navy.

Finally you come to the Puerto Maritimo, Guayaquil’s main port and in fact one of the most important ports of South America on the Pacific side.

It is considered that 80% of the country’s exports and 50% of its imports pass through it.

Bellavista and Central Guayaquil

In the north of Guayaquil you find the Cerro del Carmen and Santa Ana, hilltops from where you have a view of the city and where the Daule and Babahoyo rivers that together form the Guayas River. The Rafael Mendoza Bridge is the largest in the country, 2,824 meters in lenght, 870 meters crossing the Daule river and 1,955 meters crossing the Babahoyo river.

At the top of the Cerro del Carmen, you will find the Monument to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, blessing the city and at the foot of it the General Cementary, also called the White City. It is considered the most beautiful in the country because of the large number and high quality of its sculptures. It has more than eighty monuments made of Carrara marble imported directly from Italy. The entrance has a long alley of palm trees at the end of which (entering by entrance No.3) you come upon the monument to Vicente Rocafuerte, the first president of Ecuador.

The Barrio las Penas located at the foot of the Santa Ana hill is an area of the city with a coastal colonial architecture. It was destroyed and reconstructed several times as a consequence of fires, in particular the great fire of 1896. It has only one street called Numa Pompilio Llona in honor of a famous Ecuadorian man of letters. This street starts at the Planchada wich was the place from which the city was defended and ends at the old installations of the Brewery, one of the Guayaquil’s first industries.

During the festivities conmemorating the foundation of the city, this area becomes the city of outdoor exhibitions where national as well as foreign artists expose their works. Today many of the houses along this street have been turned into a galleries. It is here that many well know poets, heroes and composers were born.

The Church of Santo Domingo, also known as the Church of Saint Vincent was the first church of this city, built in 1548 and reconstructed on several occasions because of fires. The Basilica de la Merced, San Francisco and the Metropolitan Cathedral should also be visited in this area.

Continuing down the Julian Coronel Street you will pass by the Old Jail House, the Luis Vernaza Hospital, the morgue and the General Cemetary.