Blue church nearby 7438
Central Statue in Plaza 7439
From the plaza I walked straight down 9 de Octubre street to the Malecon 2000, which is a long, long waterfront park. It is wonderfully built up, with brick walkways, observation towers, playgrounds, boat pond, cafes, shopping areas, a museum and even an IMAX theater! This, too, was almost deserted except for a few family groups out enjoying the lovely morning.
I turned left because I wanted to go to the museum and to Cerro Santa Ana (Santa Ana Hill). When I passed near the IMAX theatre, which wasn’t open, I took some photos of Santa Ana.
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When I got to the long flight of stairs that led up to it, I saw no one going up and no one up there so I asked a guard at the foot of the stairs, “Museo?” he said, “Once” (pronounced on-say), meaning eleven. I figured the museum would open at eleven o’clock so I continued walking to the end of the Malecon and right to Cerro Santa Ana, which adjoined the Malecon.
Cerro Santa Ana has come in for some dramatic restoration by the Municipality of Guayaquil in the last decade. Now it appears well-kept and brightly colored but before the renovations, it was a dump. Other TSSers who visited there said they’d seen inside some of the houses as they passed by and they were in as much disrepair as the outsides had been before. I didn’t look inside any windows or doors but did happen to see through a gateway that had been left open a dirt alley leading past decrepit adobe-looking buildings. So, past the painted face is the true story.
However, what is visible and available to tourists is a lovely, colorful place to be enjoyed. Stairs lead to the top of the hill. Four hundred forty-four stairs, to be exact! Each one is numbered and there are many landings along the way.
Numbered stairs 7448
View up the stairs, first section 7447
Partway up I had to stop, gasping for breath – I’ve never been good going uphill or up stairs. To cover for this, I took some photos. When I looked up from taking the flower photos, I saw on the next level up a security guard or policeman (I didn’t look closely at the uniform). Uniformed men are everywhere in Guayaquil and they usually don’t interact or react but when I looked up and saw him watching me, I gave a little grin and he gave a brief grin, too.
View down from partway up 7452
View up from opposite side of corridor 7453
Cat 7455
Close-up of flower in mini-garden 7458
Flower bed 7459
White flowers blooming on tree with water in background 7460
Next to last flight of stairs, numbers in the three hundred eighties and up 7462
When I reached the last flight of steps I stopped to photograph the lighthouse at the top of the hill. I noticed that the flag of Guayaquil (blue and white stripes) and the flag of Ecuador (red, blue and gold) were both flying. Guayaquil’s Independence Day is 9 October and Ecuador’s is 12 October, so the city was in the throes of major celebrations during the first part of our stay. Also note the numbers on the stairs: 422-444. I was nearly at the top!
View of Lighthouse with Ecuador and Guayaquil Flags Flying 7470
Close-up of Lighthouse 7471
There was a nice viewing platform there so I took shots of the view in a semi circle. I finally figured out that the blue stars on all the lampposts represented Guayaquil and were probably displayed for the independence holidays, especially Guayaquil’s, since that particular blue is in their flag.
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The last numbers 7481
As I climbed the last set of stairs a cement wall was to my left, at the top of which was the area where the lighthouse was. On the wall were two brass plaques, one commemorating Rodrigo de Varga and the other a name plate for the area above, Plaza de Honores (Honors Plaza).
Rodrigo de Varga Guzman 7479
At the top was a level plaza with the Lighthouse at one end and the Chapel of Santa Ana at the other. I walked to the middle of the plaza, looked back at the lighthouse and took a picture then turned around and snapped the church. In the photo of the lighthouse I tried to get both flags in full view but this is the closest I got. Beside the lighthouse were mounted cannons representing those with which Guayaquil had once defended its territory against pirates.
Lighthouse with flags 7485
Cannon 7482
The church is very small but has a lot of nice stained glass windows. Three are in the front, the two on either side honor the importance of maritime activity to the city (represented by the ship), and a woman playing the piano. I’m not sure what that represents but I like it because I play the piano and have done so at church innumerable times over the years. The central window appropriately features Jesus. The cross of the church is directly above that window.
Santa Ana Church 7484
Close-up of church 7487
Sailing ship window 7488
Window of woman playing piano 7491
Central window with bell above (and cross above the bell) 7489
Interior of church 7493
Close-up of church light fixtures 7496
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The view from the top of the hill was panoramic. I took three shots.
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Cross on the back of the church 7501
From above, I could also see down into the Maritime Museum grounds, located below. I took a picture of the top of the model ship, which shows an office of some sort. When I descended the steps to that level, I went into the museum grounds but was NOT up to climbing into the ship to see what was there and if there was any explanation.
Top of ship 7504
When I got to the museum I saw that it was the museum of the Fort of Santa Ana. The entrance had a lovely wrought iron sign. I took a lot of other pictures but I don’t know what happened to them.
Sign 7511
Entrance to Grounds 7507
4 Busts plus fantastic landscaping 7510
Wall ruins and seated sailor figure 7513
Interesting tree 7514
Front of replica ship and sailor figures 7516
Another ship replica with masthead 7517
Close-up of masthead 7518
Monument 7520
Sailor figure at work 7521
View of wall ruins from higher ground 7522
Along the walkway were some mounted displays of navigational instruments used during the time period represented by the museum.
Mounted Ballestina and explanatory signs 7524
18th Century two-section square 7526
Signs for the 2-section square 7528
Cannons 7529
After finishing my visit to the museum I started down the stairs. I have to admit that going down was almost worse than the uphill climb but I got two interesting photos along the way.
Gateway 7530
Colorful walls and lamppost (and garbage can) 7531
Museum Visit
When I reached the bottom of the stairs I sat on a bench to recover and adjust my shoes then headed back over to the museum on the Malecon. It was open and I went in. My favorite exhibit was the archaeological one – los 10,000 Anos Del Antiguo Ecuador. I think that means something like “10,000 years of Ancient Ecuador”. Visitors are allowed to take photos if no flash is used so I took some of the interesting ancient pottery and the wonderful signage.
Exhibit Sign 7536
Lovely red seashell – the symbol of the exhibit 7610
Indigenous cultures sign 7538
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I especially love “pots,’ having thrown pots at one time in my past, so I took photos of ones whose decoration or shape or both intrigued me.
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Flower-shaped pot 7549
Entrance sign to one portion of the exhibit 7557
Seats of some kind? 7558
Animal-shaped pot 7559
Reptile-decorated pot 7560
Incised-decorated pot 7562
Seated Figure 7564
Another seated figure 7567
Traditional indigenous culture scene from an animated projected history display 7568
Seated figure 7573
Standing figure 7574
Figure in a box (there were several of these 7575
Seated figure holding book 7576
Similar posture 7577
Four standing figures 7579
Axe heads 7580
Pottery stool? 7581
Display 7582
Flower-shaped bowl 7583
I think the next photos are of whistles but they might be jugs (the woes of writing this entry several weeks after visiting the museum!).
Hen? 7584
Gourd 7585
?? with punched decoration 7586
Miniature rowers and canoe 7587
Scenes from another animated display 7588
Fisherman giving a valuable red seashell to an important chief 7589
Typical sailing vessel and map of travels from North America to Ecuador 7591
Trading 7592
Standing block-type figures 7593
Interesting shaped pots 7594
Rows of human-like figures
Reptile-shaped pot 7598
Crab-shaped pot 7600
Bird-shaped pot 7601
Iguana-decorated pot 7604
Incised decorated pot of interesting shape 7605
Another flower-shaped pot (*I* think it looks flower shaped!) 7606
And another 7607
The whole group 7608
When I finished at the museum, I went to the artisan’s market and bought some souvenirs and then headed back toward the Plaza de Centenario. As I walked, I noticed interesting signs made of tiles mounted on buildings at the corner of each street so I took pictures of two of them.
Imbabura 7613
Junin 7614
I was walking down the same street the Malecon is on, but on the other side of the street because of the wider sidewalks and the arcaded buildings that shaded me from the hot sun. Across the street on the Malecon was a retired train car. I took a picture of it for my train-loving grandson. I also passed some great-looking small restaurants and cafes that I remembered a couple of days later.
Train car 7623
After catching the shuttle back to the ship, I took a few photos of the streets we passed along the way. These are taken from inside the bus.
Corner scene 7629
Street scene 7631
Ecuadorean (tri-colors) and Guayaquil flag (blue and white); pink building in background 7633
Close-up of flags, flying in breeze 7634
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