A friendly mccaw in Guayaquil (and yet another gigantic Ecuadorian statue!)

Moo

A brief pause from our trip to Guayaquil to share some scenic views from our trip to a place called "Pasochoa" today, about an hour outside of Quito.

Just a couple of friends hanging out together. (To see their friendship a little more closely, click photo to enlarge)

It's an iguana party and everyone is invited! Come as you are. :)

Leapin' Lizards!

Here is one of my favorite shots from the Iguana Park in Guayaquil. These guys were incredibly people friendly, camera ready and came charging right over to say hello...especially to our little group since one of our friends had brought a lettuce picnic to share with the masses! If you want to get a little closer (he is smiling afterall...), remember to click the photo to enlarge it! More iguanas tomorrow. :)

This is the municipal building in Guayaquil. I'm sorry that I do not have more information about many of these pictures, but if I took the time to research them all before posting, it is highly possible that my family would end up going around hungry and unclothed. ;)

Tune in tomorrow for the first of my iguana photos!

One of the beautiful old buildings in downtown Guayaquil.

Something for every child like heart!

The City of Guayaquil

We just returned from two full, beautiful days in Guayaquil; Ecuadors largest city (3.5 million) and the commerical capital of the country. While it is a seven hour trip by car, it was a mere 30 minutes by plane...the highlight of the flight being our return this morning when we flew over the Andes Mountains. We packed so much in, I took many, many pictures, etc., and since I was days and days behind on my blog, I have back posted from October 27 - today. The pictures below are part of the Guayaquil Historical Park and are just the beginning of so many shots to share with you as it was a park divided into three sections, PLUS we went to other attractions as well. I hope you enjoy...I honestly think this trip was the highlight of my time in Ecuador so far...perhaps that's because there's a lot of nature yet to come in my recap. Tune in for many days to come, including the Iguana Park that will be featured starting on Thursday!

I was in awe of so many of the rooms in this home. WOW! I was move in ready. ;)

A peek around the inside detail work of this old plantation home.

This was the style, back in the day, for the shutters on homes and business establishments to open outwards.

So much beautiful tile work on the floor. Most of it was replicated but some original.

A friendly llama, out for a graze. :)

Peek-A-Boo

I could take pictures at the tennis courts all day long - I'm certain I haven't seen them all yet. It's such a maze of courts with fabulous views all around.

This is an "over the fence" peek at one of many, many, many newly constructed buildings in Quito. I keep wondering who is moving into all of them, who is forking over all the money to build them, etc. I continue to be amazed at the amount of construction.

I'm pretty certain that this building is among the most expensive places to live in Quito. It is found in the Quito Tennis "district", which is definitely the high rent part of the city.