We visited Ecuador on our last trip, we fall in love with Quito, the ecuadorean monument, and the beatiful historic center, but what really called our attention literally was a city located on the ecuadorean Pacific Coast call Guayaquil, we did know nothing about it, until our flight could not land on Quito's airport due to foggy weather conditions and was diverted to Guayaquil, the airline took good care of us we were transfered to the Hilton Hotel at Guayaquil, we were that impressed that we had to return two days later to do a city tour, went to the awesome Historic Park across the river on the nice Sailboat, also the Malecon or waterfront was very impressive, later on we found out that this was the economical capital of Ecuador, everything is brand new even its airport, locals are very proud of its innovations on urban restoration. Congratulations Ecuador, after all it has the world know Galapagos Islands as a majestic Crown.
Is Guayaquil the new tourist discovery in Ecuador?
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We went to Salinas on the Pacific ocean, drove from Guayaquil had a blast, loved the fresh seafood at the Barcelo hotel, our tour guide suggested we take the double decker tour bus, we had fun that day, had the chance to see what Guayaquil really was, we loved, is tropical city but with a glimpse of Miami, I must admit, all the highways surounded by Palm trees, malecon is a "Must see" visit, actually both malecon's are worthy to pay a visit, we are still deciding which one we liked better, the one on the Guayas river or the one on the other side "Malecon del Salado" is call.
Precisely this is where we saw the "Water dancing show" which runs every night at 7:00 pm the last show started at 9:00 pm the lights, colors, and the music are Spectacular, I thought I was back in Vegas, but oh no!, I could be so wrong, it was Guayaquil, yeap, that really call our attention how southamerica is taken giants steps to develop tourism on the area, and Ecuador is not the exception, keep the good work Ecuador, you guys are certainly going on the right direction.
As a Journalist was send out to cover the beautiful Galapagos Islands, our team was so impressed for the beauty of this paradisiatic islands, every single corner turn out to be a majestic picture, we all loved. On our way back, we ended up doing a full touristic cover on Ecuador, this beautiful country was the best, according to my working team, we'd ever been!!, we had the opportunity to be on many places all over the world, but there are few countries that we really enjoy the most, Ecuador is among them.
Guayaquil & Quito are awesome places, we enjoyed both places, until our visit we did not know anything about Guayaquil or Quito, but after this visit, as soon as my editor saw the pictures, we have now a guarantee ticket back to Guayaquil, in July 2013, Guayaquil is summery city located on the Pacific ocean by the Guayas river, the facelift that this place had done over the years, is very impressive. Everything had been restored, the city itself had develop many new areas, the whole city had been completly transforemed and turned into a tourist destination, you can see many "Gringos" as locals call them, walking around with their big cameras taking pictures all over the place, actually Ecuador had been recognize for being on the Top 10 places for retirement, due to the low cost of living and their economy is based on the US Dollar.
I really do like Guayaquil. There's more to see and do there than most people realize. Ecuador's wealth and prosperity are concentrated there. I give them credit for turning a once dangerous, grimy port city into a real jewel. I wrote in the Ecuador chapter of the Fodor's guide to South America that if you're interested in urban renewal, you should visit Guayaquil to see what they've accomplished.
But ...
It will never rival Quito as a tourist destination. Guayaquil is still a mostly modern city and business center. For a first timer to Ecuador, I would never suggest sacrificing time spent in Quito, Otavalo, Cuenca, Banos, or the Galapagos for Guayaquil. I like the city. I just wouldn't go quite as far as some of the comments here.