Guayaquil

Howdy,
A 2 day stop in Guayaquil was required to recouperate and regroup before heading off to new adventures in Peru. Guayaquil is Ecuador's financial centre and most populous city, and from our perspective looks modern and fairly affluent. There seems to have been quite a bit of regeneration, and the 'Malecon' along the river, a pedestrianised boulevard, with gardens, kids play areas, restaurants etc is positively European in style and feeling. Can't admit to doing a whole lot here, though managed to get my 'Brent Cross' fix (need to indulge myself in a spot of retail therapy to feel at home again, not the non consumerist travel chick I though I was it seems) in a big shopping centre- apparently the biggest in South America, though not convinced.. Just depressed myself by not being able to make any seasonal purchases so made do by buying Leo a replacement for the much missed Mr Frog. Hope it'll go down well. Had to suppress urges to by him some more toys as we just can't carry any more, hope he'll not know what he's missing out on, but there was SUCH cute stuff.
Enough consumerist nonsense, we did manage to do something cultural, by visiting an area of the city known as 'Las Penas', colourful houses build up the hillside that houses the Afro-Ecuadorian residents of the city. Was a slightly run down dangerous area but after a bit of a spruce up is safe enough for the likes of us to drop by.