A Trip to Guayaquil

 

January 19, 2012

Last Sunday around noon, Todd and I headed to Guayaquil (pronounced “why-a-keel”, although at times I have heard some natives pronounce the initial “G” – as in “go”, though with a less guttural/softer “G” sound). Guayaquil is Ecuador’s largest city, and generally the jumping off point for the Galapagos. We had some legal business and shopping to take care of, and planned on staying until Tuesday morning before heading back to Olon. 

We took a “CLP” bus from Olon to get there. The CLP buses are nice, comfortable, modern, and safe (though they are full-blast air-conditioned chilly, so bring a sweater for the ride, and keep all carry-on stuff – say for instance, laptops – in front of you, or in the overhead bins where you can keep an eye on them rather than put those under your seat). Any luggage put in the outside-access bins of the buses is generally safe, though you should keep watch each time the bus makes one of the few stops along the way to let off other passengers and baggage.

The Olon "CLP"
Bus station

The cost is only around $6 per person; there is a CLP station in Olon (and Montanita), and it’s a 3-hour ride from here to the main bus station in Guayaquil (near the airport, which is around $4 taxi ride from the bus terminal).  Buses leave from either direction 3-5 times a day, though we recommend if you are planning on taking a bus from our area to Guayaquil (GYE), you should buy your seat ticket a day or so in advance at our local CLP stations, especially during busy/high season weekends, since seats can sell out fast. If you are arriving from the GYE airport to come to the coast, take a taxi (once again, around $4 to the Terminal Terrestre) and go to window #83 or 84 (can be subject to change) to purchase a bus ticket to the beach areas. I’m not quite sure of the current bus departure times from GYE to the “Ruta del Sol” towns, but I think the last one leaves GYE to the coast around 3:30-4:30 PM.

During our Guayaquil visit, we stayed at our friend Domenick Buonamici’s hotel – the Hostal Murali, which is close to the airport/bus terminal and the huge Mall del Sol (across the street from the Sheraton, which is connected to it with an over-the-street bridge walkway).

The Hostel Murali is reasonably priced and well-secured; our room was pleasant and included yummy breakfasts, reliable wi-fi through-out, and a flat-screen TV with satellite reception in our room, hot water showers upon request, and a friendly and helpful staff, including a bed “turn down” at night. Todd and I were very comfortable staying there, and met some fun fellow guests during our stay.

On Monday morning, we had to meet with one of our lawyers for a business matter that required our own translator for our portion of the transaction, so we had our Olon friend/driver Guillermo bring Melanie (our Olon/Montanita English friend who speaks and writes excellent Spanish) to represent us.  We met at the hotel, and then headed to our meeting together from there. After the meeting, we (Todd, Melanie, Guillermo and I) indulged ourselves to a nice restaurant buffet in the Uni Centro Mall for a fabulous buffet lunch, which was a treat for all of us.

Across the street from the Uni Centro is the “Iguana Park” also known as Parque Seminario and/or Parque Bolívar and is chockfull of iguanas (many of them huge), so of course I had to go over and see them. West of the park is a stunningly beautiful neo-Gothic cathedral, which we didn’t have time to visit.

On Monday night, Todd and I went to the Mall del Sol (a pricey mall, located in one of the ritzier sections of Guayaquil) to shop for household goods at the “Mega Maxi” inside the shopping center…Up until then, I thought there was no more tortuous place to shop than the vast, black-hole called HiperMart, located in the El Paseo Mall in Libertad (which I wrote about in “Thingamajiggy”). At the Mall del Sol Mega Maxi, very few items were priced, the things that were priced were ridiculously expensive, and lines at the check-out counter were nightmarishly long. We ended up just leaving our half filled basket in a random aisle and walked out. I discovered there was a deeper level of hell than the HiperMart (which now looks like a convenience store to me).

We took the over-the-street bridge way to the Sheraton side to have a drink instead and ended up at a sports bar that charged $7 for a thimbleful of cheap wine. Todd commented that we must be in the “Beverly Hills” section of Guayaquil (and I was thinking that may be true, but we weren’t exactly sitting at “The Ivy” either).  We ended up just catching a cab, stopping by a liquor store for a nice bottle of wine from Chile, and fled back to the Hostel Murali to relax for the rest of the evening.

Actually, one of the best meals we had in Guayaquil was at the bus station at one the many snack stands outside the terminal when we arrived. We love the sanduches de chancho (a pork sandwich and crispy skin that includes shredded cabbage, marinated onions and spicy ají sauce, if desired) for $1.25 each.  There are also sanduches de chancho stands near the Libertad mini Terminal Terrestre, and I never miss the chance now to grab one of those sandwiches whenever I make a chicken bus/shopping run into Libertad.

Speaking of food, a long time high school friend of mine (Dan Hudson) recently emailed me, asking if I had learned yet how to make any Ecuadorian meals. Now, I am not much into cooking, but interesting that he asked, since for the last year or so, I’ve been speaking with some of my Ecuadorian girlfriends (in particular Patricia at Oloncito Market) about getting a group of Ecuadorian and gringa ladies together – like once a month – to start a cooking club, where we could share and teach each other our favorite recipes.  And the idea has been greeted just as enthusiastically from the newly arriving gringo expats, especially Pam and Dee.

One recipe that I would like to learn from one of the local gals is how to make “llapingachos” (“ya-ping-gachos”).  Llapingachos are potatoes smothered in a peanut sauce, and it is delicious. The recipe below is just one that I pulled from a recipe internet site, but I look forward to learning how to make these authentically from one of our local Ecuadorian friends. Click on the "Llapingachos" title link below to go directly to that recipe for more details and pictures.

Llapingachos

The ingredients below should make about 12 medium sized llapingachos; you can make the patties smaller if you are serving them as appetizers.

Ingredients:

5 large Russet potatoes, peeled and cut in chunks

2 tbs sunflower oil

½ cup finely chopped white onion

2 tsp ground achiote

1 cup grated Mozzarella or Fontina cheese

Salt to taste

To serve: salsa de mani or peanut sauce, tomato and onion curtido, avocado slices, lettuce, fried eggs, fried sausages and hot sauce.

 

Preparation:

1. Boil the potatoes until soft
2. Heat the oil over medium high heat to make a refrito, add the onions and achiote, cook until the onions are soft, about 5 minutes.
3. Mash the potatoes, mix in the onion refrito and salt to taste.
4. Cover the potato dough and let it sit at room temperature for about an hour.
5. Make small golf size balls with the potato dough.
6. Make a hole in the middle of each ball and fill with the grated or crumbled cheese.
7. Shape the dough into thick patties and let rest in the refrigerator for about ½ to 1 hour.
8. Cook the patties on a hot griddle until browned on each side, be careful when turning them as they will be very delicate.


9. Serve with a fried egg, peanut sauce, tomato and onion curtido, avocado slices and hot sauce.