January 31, 2023

Last night we were in port overnight and there was a really fun deck party.  Our entertainment team can sure sing and dance and I had a great time.  Even had a dance with Jared from the Vagabonds! The picture of Ilya and Keenan didn’t come out too well but they were great.

Norm and I went different directions today.  I opted for the Flavors of Guayaquil tour and Norm took the shuttle bus into the town and explored on his own. I will post his pictures and commentary separately from the ipad because his new format iphone pictures weren’t jpg and wouldn’t load on the laptop! We fixed that for the future but this was the easiest way right now.

My guide was Javier – he was interesting and I learned more about Ecuador.  Jose (yesterday’s guide) told us that Ecuador is “the belly button” of the world located near the equator.  The weather is about the same all year.  Javier shared more about the country.

Public colleges cost $50/semester and private colleges are about $4000/semester.  Voting is mandatory here and if you don’t vote you lose your rights as a citizen for a year.  This means everything like having and accessing bank accounts, your medical benefits and much more – anything that is provided by the government is denied for a year.

Javier pays $95 per month for the public health care plan. He pays 21% tax on his earnings.  He loves soccer and says the tickets generally only cost $5.  Gas is between $2.40 and $3/gallon.  He says it used to be cheaper.

He pointed out a part of the city with upscale housing and many clubs.  Though most have not been to Miami, it is known as “Guayami!”

Our first stop on the tour was a public market, and you know how I love markets!  Here are some pictures.  The market wasn’t huge but it was very clean and had all kinds of fish, poultry, vegetables, fruit, meat, snacks and household items.  It also had an area where people could sit and eat.  Here are some pictures.  I bought 6 sunflowers, 2.5 pounds of cherries (almost the size of plums) and 3 mangoes for $10. The size of the avocados amazed everyone. They definitely have lots of cheese, bananas, plantains and  there is no shortage of eggs here!

This little boy came up to me and gave me a big hug.  I took his picture and showed him – he had a big smile.  Another little guy was walking all around and dropping his candy around him.  So cute.

After the market, we went to the Cacao museum.  The signs and information were all in Spanish but Javier translated some in each room.  It was a nice history of cacao and enhanced what we learned at the plantation yesterday.  We each got a piece of chocolate as we left.  We then went to the chocolate factory where we saw the processing of the chocolate and the finished products.  There was also cacao wine for sale and it was white so I assume it was from the same outer covering that was used for the juice we had yesterday.

Not sure what this mural is on the side of a building nearby but thought it was cool.

Our last adventure was at the River Garden Hotel, just across the street, where we had a cooking lesson and then had the food for lunch.  I, of course, did not have the pork, but everything else was delicious.  They use a lot of peanut butter in sauces, etc.  Here are the dishes we had.  First was a polenta and cheese wrap, followed by the pork, the avocado and the mashed potato cake with a salsa made from sliced tomatoes, etc, instead of chopped.   For dessert was a plantain pudding with 2 toppings – grated cheese and blue cheese whipped cream.  For me, an unusual combination but very tasty.

The restaurant was on the roof of the hotel so the views were great.  Nice pool up there too.

This is a shot of the around the world hostess, Carolyn, and me on the roof.

A few more pictures from around the town.

A cemetery with carrara marble crypts.

Watch for my post about Norm’s day.