guayaquil

 after our time in cuenca, we travelled on to guayaquil. we passed through the national park "El Cajas", famous for it's many lagoons

 passing through villages with nice swimming places in the river...

 in the countryside of the lowlands

 beutiful sunset just before arriving in guayaquil

 after going to our hotel, we went to see the "malecon", the waterfront of the river "guayas". guayaquil is ecuador's most dangerous city (it's also the biggest one), but these 2km are supersafe, even until midnight. there are so many policemen, you can even see children having fun on the playground.

 looks like some virgin..

 on this promenade, there is a lot of leisure-stuff. like this oreo-park for kids to play in (for those who don't know it, oreo is sort of the most famous biscuit here, with a milky filling between two chocolate biscuits like you can see here on the toys)

the hill of "las peñas"

 having ice cream at night, wearing a dress. so warm there!

 la rotonda - monument dedicated to Bolivar and San Martin, two super-important guys for the latin-american liberation.

 our view out of the hotel room, you can see the hill of "las peñas" again

 next morning, we went to visit the cemetary. should be the most beautiful one in whole latin america. but it's difficult to get in: there are more than 10 entrances, and the guard didn't let us in with the cameras because it's forbidden to take pictures. he told us we could go to some building close-by to ask permission. so we went there, had to give our ID in order to be allowed to enter, then take numbers to wait with the other people - all ecuadorians planning a funeral (weird situation for us tourists, and probably also for them). when it was our turn, the lady told us that we had to talk to the architect. so the guard let us in his office, and the famous mr. wong (chinese architect of the cemetary) explained us that the guards of the door we have been don't know anything. so he called the guard of another door and sent us there. finally, we were allowed to get in, because a guy working on the cemetary came and gave us a private tour. such a hard work, but finally, it was worth it:

 almost like the monument in the malecon, but this time it's a grave of some bank guy. on this cemetary, there are about 20 ecuadorian presidents, a lot of bank guys, some footballers, artists etc.

 such a nice "park"

 the most beautiful "gravestone"

 after visiting the cemetary,  we went to the waterfront again, to see it during in daytime.

 the old maret building of guayaquil - architect: gustave eiffel

 the clock tower and behind, a government building

 probably the best park in the world - parque de las iguanas. just an uncountable number of free iguanas inside this park, just next to the cathedral and a lot of busy streets!

 they so don't care about the people - one tried to get up this bench where the old lady was sitting :-)

 having a fight, looking like dinosaurs

 that's my favourite one - sunbathing with folding back the legs :-)

 also a little pond with turtles and fish is there - such a mess with so many turtles!

 a bit afraid to touch him, but i did it :-)

 beautiful reptile

the park with the iguanas, behind guayaquil's cathedral.