How many miles to Mall del Sol?

Tuesday, 23 August 2005

Today, I set out on foot, to find the graffiti that I saw from the tour bus the day before. It was just about the only decent graffiti I've seen in this city, on the wall of the University of Guayaquil.

So I left the hostel and headed on, I think, Francisco Roca R. toward the other malecon down Blvd. 9 de Octubre. After several blocks, I ask a man at a corner where the malecon is. He pointed left, but then I spot what looks like graffiti in the opposite direction. So I head in pursuit and find some political graffiti. And realize that I am on the right track, have taken the right direction, and that the graffiti which I seek is about 150 meters down the road.

I took about eight shots of the graffiti, but it was risky having my butt out into heavy traffic. Afterwards, I asked a newspaper guy which direction to the Mall del Sol. I follow his direction. Finally, it seems like five miles in all, I arrive at the mall, in pursuit of a biography of Fidel Castro. The name of the book and the author, I left in my notebook in Lima and have totally forgotten.

In the second bookstore, I see a book which appears to be the one I am looking for, a hardcover which cost $34. I am thinking about the weight, as well as the cost. Later, I find a really big bookstore at the other end of the mall, upstairs.

But before I enter the bookstore, I set to take a photo of an ad outside a store and heard a young woman call out to me to tell me that it is now allowed. However, I already have the photo. Shoot first, ask later.

This bookstore has the book, paperback, for $9. Great.

I leave the bookstore and talk to some heavily armed policeman about how to get to the cemetery. They call a cab. The driver warns me against visiting the cemetery by making a slashing motion at his throat.

I then shift the discussion to the Botannical Garden. I don't seem to be getting much encouragement here either, but I insist. So, we're off, and it will only cost $4. We arrive, and I he rejects a $1 tip. The guy at the gate assures me that there are lots of flowers. But my tour of the place makes him out to be a lying motherfucker.

It is a grand excuse for a botannical garden. Nobody has spent any time making the place live up to its name. And the bathrooms have no toilet paper, not soap either.

But I do get a few pictures of orchids, about seven varieties. Got close to a few butterflies, and very close to hundreds of dead ones used to spell out Botannico de Guayaquil, or something close.

The driver, as promised, returned at 1:30 PM, and I stopped him for a minute to take photos of graffiti on a wall nearby, and alighted on Blvd. 9 de Octubre, near Escobedo. I tipped him about $5 and this time he accepted it.

I wandered around quite a bit, got about five of my smartmedia cards with photos transferred to CD, then the one CD copied. I am learning my lesson quite late, having lost 17,000 photographs, many of them irreplaceable.

Then I sat at a juice bar, drank too much juice and felt quite uncomfortable. Walked slowly back to the hostel, read a bit, and then went to bed.

I arrive in Guayaquil, Ecuador

Friday, 19 August 2005

It's 12:44 PM and I am standing in a long line, one of about six, at immigration in Guayaquil. Taca 026 from Lima had landed about 15 minutes earlier. I want to pee but there is nothing to be done about it until we pass through immigration, and they are being interminably slow because, apparently, the machines are down or something of the sort.

The line hasn't moved in 10 minutes.

Eventually, I pass through immigration and exit the terminal building. A man approaches me with a hard sell. I am asking for tourist information, but he says he has all the information I need. Finally, I find information, not tourist information per se but get booklets and a hotel and a hostel. I figure the hostel because it costs $12/night.

I return to the hard sell guy and he tells me a taxi will cost $5, and that I have to give him a tip. I give him a dollar and he hands me a map of central Guayaquil. Free.

At 1:48 PM, I'm in a room with two beds, in Pacifico Hostelling Int., at Escobedo 811 between Junin & L. Uerdaneta. I am only three blocks from Blvd. 9 de Octubre, the main drag, and about 5 or so blocks from the malecon, the best looking malecon that I have ever seen. Makes the malecon in Buenos Aires look sort of ordinary.

I visit the malecon and take a bunch of pictures.