East Coker comes to Guayaquil......again.

Yesterday I found a place where they would sew my badges on to my riding jacket. I had quite an impressive pile to do so I left it with them and collected it in the evening. It wasn't until I put it on this morning that I noticed they have sewn the Chilean flag on upside down! I will have to get that re-done before I bump into any countrymen!

It was another ride up through the mountains, into the cloud, fog and cold. It is a drive through a national park called Cajas. From the little I could see it was a bit like the Scottish Highlands (including the weather) , lovely waterfalls and rivers. I am sure when the sun shines it would be spectacular.

Once out of the other side of the mountain the sun shone and you could see right down the valley, including the next band of cloud you would have to ride through. It is so very green here and it must be a botanists delight as you pass all sorts of weird and wonderful plants.

I stopped for a coffee and some fuel .There has always been a lot of interest in the bike but this beat them all. Families were having pictures with the bike, me (which is unusual) and taking it in turns to sit on it for yet more pictures. I really don't mind as they are smitten with the bike but I was there so long my coffee got cold.


The area is very fertile and once on the plain you pass banana, water melon, avocado and pineapple plantations, plus just about every citrus fruit you can name. It is not that I am good at plant recognition, it is just that the stalls at the side of the road have it piled high.I was going to stop and take a picture of one of these stalls as they are very impressive, but I didn't pass another one and was closer to Guayaquil than I thought.

The other thing you see a lot of is standing water. This is clearly Mosquito heaven as the temperature was in the 30's (it was only 5 degrees in the mountains an hour earlier) and puddles of stagnant water. I didn't hang around to let them find me. I am relying on the internet which says Guayaquil doesn't have malaria as I don't want to start taking my medication until I absolutely have to. I haven't been bitten yet!

Guayaquil is a complete surprise. I had anticipated a rather rough and ready port town on the Rio Guayas. It couldn't be more different. Modern, high rise buildings, enormous grain silos, impressive bridges and road system with a downtown area that wouldn't look out of place in Florida (about the same number of Spanish speakers too), indeed the houses that front the river look very Palm Beach.

They have taken a "slum" district called Las Penas and turned it in to an artistic quarter with cobbled streets and lots of steps - 444 to the top (I didn't count them). Walking around you don't see any foreign tourists but this is a where the locals spend Sunday, here and all along the board walk which is miles long.

Right next to this area they are building some smart new buildings with a view across the coffee brown swirling waters of the Guayas. It is tidal as you can watch the tufts of Water Hyacinth I have been reliably informed (not mangrove as I said) sail up and down depending on the time of day.

 There are very few boats on the water, this was a rarity to see one plodding by. The bits in the water are the Water Hyacinth which seem to live quite happily floating about.

Surprisingly Guayaquil has a link to Somerset, even more amazingly to East Coker (where we lived).  In 1709, the English captain William Dampier (born in East Coker) along with 100 other "chaps" or "pirates" -depending on your point of view, looted Guayaquil. They didn't hang around long as an epidemic of yellow fever broke out. I bet they talked about that in the Helyar Arms over their cider. I wonder what their skittles team was like in those days.

I have a few concerns abut my bike as there is no secure car park so it is parked on the road by the hotel. They do have 24 hour security patrolling the street. I gave him a decent tip and hope that will be good enough to find the bike in one piece at the end of my stay!