Crossing the Equator and Guayaquil, Ecuador

We had crossed the equator during the night so the next evening we had the "King Neptune" ceremony.  It is always fun as the members of the performance cast dress us in costume and they have a skit with mermaids, pirates and King Neptune.  The passengers who have never crossed the equator by ship before are told to kiss the "Sacred mermaid"  All the men get excited because they think they will get to kiss one of the pretty girl dancers.  Then they bring out the real sacred mermaid and it one of the male crew members dressed as a mermaid!

Two of the dancers as mermaids

King Neptune

The "Sacred Mermaid"                                                    

We had a nice dinner in the main dining room "Compass Rose"

scored a window table!

 January 27,  Guayaquil is our last stop in Ecuador.  At we had taken a side trip to Quito the last time we were here we did not get to take any tours in this large city of 3.5 million (the largest in the country).  To reach the city we sailed about 4 hours up the Guayas river.

Our tour was of a historical park which does wild animal rescue.  There were a large number of exotic birds, deer, caiman, monkeys, sloths, tapir, ocelot and more. There were also lots of iguanas everywhere, mostly eating all the leftover food that the animals had not finished.  In addition to the animals they had a replica of a farm, their crops, and housing.  They are also in the process of restoring some historic colonial buildings that will become a hotel in the future although our tour guide told us that she sort of doubted that it would happen!

Two-toed sloth enjoying green bean

Colorful Macaws

"Fishing raccoon"

We also drove though the old downtown part of the city and saw the river front area that is called "Malecon"  that has lovely well maintained parks and even a small amusement park.  Part of our drive to the historical park passed the more wealthy residential areas.  There were several miles of gated communities with large beautiful homes.  Most of these communities had electrified fencing on top of very tall walls.  They also had large modern shopping centers in this area.

At the end of our tour we had lunch at a steak house.  It was advertised as a "traditional Ecuadorian meal"  but turned out to be what we would call a normal American type meal, steak or fish, rice and veggies!

Where we had lunch