Ecuador, Day 2

This was our first full day in Ecuador. Neither Jeff (my colleague) nor I slept very well so we lingered over breakfast & tried to come to terms with the fact that this was to be a working day. And not just any working day, but a full working day in a place in which we had no firm arrangements. So we decided to walk around a little, wake up a bit further, & plan a strategy.

We headed down to the Malecon, that beautiful riverside walk that is the crown of Guayaquil. We walked to the end & looked for the huge semi-illegitimate marketplace known as the Bahia. The Bahia (rumour has it) is the place where 150 years ago pirates used to unload their booty & trade it at bargain prices. But we couldn't quite locate the entrance so we headed back inland & looked for the Iguana park instead.

The Iguana park deserves a mention. If you have ever been to 'Pigeon park' in Vancouver you will understand the concept. Like Pigeon park, the Iguana park is right smack in the middle of the city, surrounded by the usual buildings & busy-ness of urban life. The park has trees but they are the sort of generic unremarkable trees you could see in any unremarkable tropical city. At first, you might wonder why it is even called 'the iguana park'; after all, where are the iguanas? Then, suddenly, a 1-meter long lizard runs across the sidewalk right in front of you. It continues onto the lawn & starts climbing a tree & as your attention follows it up the trunk you realize that there's another iguana already up there. And as your eyes adjust to the clever camoflage, you realize that there's yet another. And another. And another & another & another & another... Then you start to feel just a bit creepy as you come to the realization that there are maybe hundreds of iguanas -- one or two on every single tree-branch -- in this tiny urban bit of real estate. And it's not that they are little iguanas: each one is 1 to 2 meters long. People bring their bread crusts & rotten fruit here to feed them. If you don't have any rotten food, you can buy a bag of corn or whatever just outside the gates.

After the Iguana park, we organized ourselves & headed to work. The university (UEES) has grown a lot since I was here last so we started out with a tour. It was challenging to find the specific individuals & the curriculum we needed to start our task but people were helpful & we were able to make a good start.

There's really not much else to tell. We worked, we returned to the hotel, we ate a bit of supper, and now I'm just tidying up some loose ends & email before heading for bed.