January 8, 2025–Guayaquil, Ecuador

Yes, we are in Ecuador, not Uruguay. My post from yesterday said we were headed to Uruguay, which is about 5,000 nautical miles from here, and would probably take about 23 days to reach on this ship. So, my apologies. I do know better, but I usually write my blogs at night when I’m tired, and sometimes my proofreading skills are sketchy then. The arrow marks our location on the map below.

Guayaquil (Spanish pronunciation: gwajakil) is the largest city in Ecuador and also the nation’s economic capital and main port. The city is located on the west bank of the Guayas River, which is where we are at port. Guayaquil was founded on 25 July 1538 by Spanish conqueror Francisco de Orellana.

Ecuador is located barely 125 miles from the Pacific Ring of Fire, the most seismically and volcanically active zone in the world. Earthquakes are a constant threat here. In 2016 Ecuador was rocked by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that killed at least 676 people and injured 16,500 others. Over 250 buildings in Guayaquil were damaged and power and water supply to the city were disrupted.

Today we were supposed to go on a beach and lunch excursion, but when we looked at our excursion tickets last night, there were none in the envelope for today. Apparently, they cancelled our excursion and failed to let us know. By the time we looked, all of the other excursions were either full or for weird things like erotic art museums or bird watching tours. (Just kidding about the erotic art museums.) So, we were thinking about taking a shuttle bus into town, but what I read about Guayaquil was a bit off-putting. Something like “The murder rate in Guayaquil is very high, but it’s mainly gang-related.” Well, gosh that makes me feel a lot better. Also, we were warned to be particularly cautious in Guayaquil city centre, southern parts of the city and port areas. Plus, we needed to watch out for pickpockets. All in all, getting out in 92 degree heat with the sun blazing and tromping around, all the while worrying about pickpockets and gang shootings just didn’t seem very appealing. I’m not even sure why we stopped here, but I’m guessing that it’s just so they can fuel up and load on supplies before heading to the Panama Canal tomorrow.

It’s blog light today.