Sundays in Guayaquil city are usually a day for family outing so the city fills with extended families chatting and the sounds of children mucking about and enjoying one another's company. As we walked on towards the riverside we passed many families mixing and mingling in restaurants, across parks or in open plaza areas where pop-up eateries were busily selling their fare.
When we reached the riverside area we saw an impressive lighthouse standing prominently on what was once the foreshore entrance to the Guayas River on which the city lies. Today it sits atop a renewed and extended boardwalk: the old Simón Bolívar promenade was recently restored and is now referred to as the Malecón 2000 boardwalk. It runs along the west shore of the river's recreation area. It stretches for 2.5 kilometres along the riverside and on this day a beautiful cooling breeze was wafting across the waters as we walked part of its' length. Families were enjoying a relaxed afternoons walk or gazing out at the ships and fishing vessels moving across the wide river from the many viewing platforms which have been built along the promenade.
Standing proudly beside the entrance to the promenade is The Rotonda monument. It was built in 1938 as a memorial of the famous 1822 interview between the two liberators, Simon Bolivar and Jose be San Martin in Guayaquil who met together after the independence of Ecuador was achieved. They both held different political views and opposed one another but what could have caused more civil unrest was settled peacefully by these men who whilst not having the same goals agreed to compromise for the sake of peace in their city. This elaborate memorial testifies to the democratic way of dealing with issues as opposed to the dictatorial ways of the past.
We completed our city tour by having a late lunch at a famous, local restaurant, "Lo Nuertro". We were treated to some traditional Ecuadorian foods of rice, meats and many spicy vegetables.
Following lunch we were whisked to the airport to catch our plane to Cusco, in Peru.
