Ya estoy en Machala ...

Hola novia, familia y amigos mios ...

I'm in Machala tonight. I like this town. It's pretty crazy; it feels all poor and everything until you see the main square surrounded by stuff and you kinda remember that actually, it's probably not too bad to live here ...

Machala describes itself as the world banana capital. I can see the association. On my way here I saw pretty much nothing but banana plantations, which was awesome but kinda weird. There don't seem to be that many bananas for sale here, but I guess I'm not looking in the wholesale markets where apparently there are prodigal amounts of bananas on offer. Thanks, Rough Guide.

What did I do today? Well, I caught a two and a half hour bus from Machala to the Reserva Ecológica Manglares de Churute. It's a mangrove reserve, for those I've not told about it, although I didn't succeed in seeing any mangrove trees today as I couldn't arrange a boat trip in advance as finding the Ministry for the Environment in Guayaquil proved a little difficult. Actually, it proved impossible. Anyway, I digress - instead, I took a walk through a dry forest. I don't want to ruin the photos which I'm sure you'll check out when I can upload them, but I saw lots of cool stuff. And nearly got lost! And nearly drowned, but only in sweat. It was HOT today.

Anyway, afterwards I had to get the coach back. Needless to say, the people sitting next to me were none too pleased about the smell, but it couldn't be helped. Next time I'll have to douse myself more in insect repellent.

Yesterday I spent most of the day travelling from Guayaquil to Machala (a route, incidentally, I basically made twice today) but I did get around to seeing the famous Guayaquileño districts of Las Peñas and Cerro Santa Ana. The latter is set about (and above) 444 steps at the northern end of Guayaquil's downtown. It's very, very pretty architecturally, but the downside to both districts is the heavy presence of armed guards, which kinda detracts from the place and makes it so no Ecuadorianos can set up street stalls ... which they would do otherwise, and which makes the place feel more like Ecuador.

Actually, from my promenades up and down el Malecón 2000 on Wednesday and Thursday, I've come to the conclusion that Guayaquil is really very like a European city, just a little bit more dirty in parts, and perhaps a bit more enterprising. And yes, maybe a little more dangerous, but it's nothing as can't be sorted by keeping your wits about you. In particular, the Malecón put me in mind of Geneva, but the rest of downtown Guayaquil reminded me more of either Wien or maybe the bits of Zürich that I ventured through.

Yeah, Ecuador is nice. It's pretty nice to be here. I've seen some pretty cool stuff so far. Tomorrow, with a bit of luck, I should be going to a petrified forest a little further down south, near the Peruvian border. In the event of my failing to locate the bus station, or their refusal to drop me off at Puyango, I'm off to Zaruma which is almost in the Andean Sierra. I think.

Anyway, that's it. Hope it didn't make you feel TOO jealous. It would me.