Guayaquil, Ecuador - An Unexpected Detour - Wonder Road Travel

It takes a lot of courage to walk out the door of a hotel and into a city that feels completely foreign from anything you know. The streetlights look different. The traffic moves in peculiar patterns. Forget finding fast food chains or clothing stores that signal something familiar. And that’s the beauty of a place like Guayaquil. It’s just so different from home.

I’m in Guayaquil because a few days ago, I received a positive COVID test after a glorious ten days exploring the Galapagos and Ecuadorian coast. My first reaction was to beat myself up. I foolishly thought I would get through this pandemic COVID-free. I wanted to get an A+ in COVID—an impossible goal with the new strain wreaking havoc here and everywhere in the world. Omicron is so highly contagious that I caught it from someone outside on a boat.

So here I am on the very same day as the one-year anniversary of my father’s death alone in a hotel room with the same affliction that killed him. I have no idea how long it will take to receive a negative test result. What I do know is that the only way to get through this moment is to practice patience by praying for clarity, strength, and good health.

Thankfully, Roxy has not been infected. She is flying home without me, and the pain of saying goodbye to my daughter is profound. Kind, loving, grateful, and beautiful, she is the one constant in my life and my favorite person in the world. We get each other, sharing the same lust for life. I feel so alone without her.

Thursday 12:00 pm

Quarantine at the Oro Verde Hotel

Luckily, through her boss, Roxy connected me with a kind man named Patricio Tamariz who lives in Guayaquil. He recommended a hotel called Oro Verde that offers a COVID rate of $85 per night. Upon check-in, the front desk tells me that breakfast is included, and they can arrange for a private test daily. As a visitor in a foreign land, I am ever grateful to have made this connection.

My symptoms are very mild, most likely because I am double vaccinated and boosted. I feel really good during the day and just a bit congested at night. After two days in quarantine—tackling work projects, taking Zoom meetings, and ordering from Uber Eats--I test negative for COVID. Omicron has swept through my body as quickly as it came in. Now, I am free to explore my surroundings, and I am determined to make the most of my time in Guayaquil.

Saturday 10:00 am

Walk to The Waterfront

I venture out of the Oro Verde Hotel down Boulevard Octobre 9 towards the city’s waterfront. Although everyone I pass on the street is wearing a mask, no one hides their eyes from me. I’m blonde with green eyes and rather tall by Ecuadorian standards. I feel like an interloper until an old man with a shaggy dog looks at me, points to his eyes, and then thumps his heart.

The gateway to the Galapagos, Guayaquil seems unconscious of its geographical significance. At first glance, it appears gritty and unvarnished, and the architecture is haphazard. There are charming Spanish colonial buildings painted in steel gray or cornflower blue and trimmed in white standing pristine and stately next to 1970s crumbling concrete and steel high rises. Visually disconcerting at times, Guayaquil is not recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site like its Andean sister Quito. But give her time, and this Latin lady comes to life.

At the end of the boulevard stands a triumph of urban planning. The Malecon 2000 is a two-and-a-half-mile paved urban park and pedestrian zone, right next to the Guayas River that rises and falls to meet your feet. There are scores of bars and restaurants, historic monuments, a manicured garden with water features, an amusement park featuring the tallest Ferris wheel in Latin America, stalls selling candy and children’s toys, an IMAX theatre, and even a modern art museum. I imagine being a child and what fun it would be to play in the grass and ride all the attractions.

11:00 am

See Bohemian Life in The Barrio

All of this enjoyment leads to the entrance of the Barrio Las Penas, the oldest neighborhood in Guayaquil. Houses, in an array of rainbow colors, are stacked upon one another. Colorful and romantic, the Barrio has a Bohemian vibe. Ernest Hemingway walked these narrow cobblestone streets. So did the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. The revolutionary Che Guevara was said to have run a pediatric clinic here. And if that’s not enough to make you want to see this hillside marvel, how about a climb of 444 numbered steps to a lighthouse and tiny church with pastel stained glass windows depicting scenes of the passion of Christ? The use of baby pink against the pale-yellow stucco walls reminds me of a frosted cupcake at a baby shower. It’s just too good to be true.

Standing on top of the lighthouse, I breathe in 360-degree views of the majestic Guayas River, the islands, and the cityscape. On the way down, I duck into a shop selling hand-embroidered tablecloths and napkins. I snap up a lovely floral set and practically skip down Panama Street, thinking about the paella and sangria I’d be serving to my friends with such beautiful linens on my dining table at home.

12:00 pm

Have Lunch with Iguanas

On Panama Street, I use my restaurant radar to locate Café Colibri, a charming outdoor bakery and bistro. The bowl of quinoa, cherry tomatoes, chicken, and pesto over crisp romaine is fresh and fantastic. After lunch, I head back to where I began. Making a detour to Park Seminario, I watch dozens of bright green iguanas eating a hearty of lunch of cabbage and lettuce leaves. I check my phone to see that I’ve clocked in at close to 20,000 steps. I think to myself “That’s enough,” hailing a taxi back to the hotel where I buy alpaca scarves for myself and Roxy from the well-curated gift shop.

7:00 PM

Savor The Cuisine and Kindness

That evening, I make my way to dinner at Lo Nuestro, treating myself to a crisp glass of Chilean wine and an aromatic bowl of risotto with parmesan, cream, chorizo, and big, plump shrimp. Drizzled with homemade picante sauce, it is a bowl of heaven served by the kindest waitstaff. It’s the perfect end to my solo day.

Before turning in, I call one of my dearest friends, fellow adventurer Will Halm, and tell him about my day. “Robin, it sounds like you turned lemons into a lemon drop martini. Well done!”