Guayaquil... city of danger...

I was actually fairly dubious about visiting Guayaquil, but had chosen it as my primero Equador destination as I knew it was best best chance to secure a last minute (relatively) cheap trip to the Galapagos Islands. Guayaquil has a truly terrible reputation among backpackers and Peruvians alike, if you go there you'll definately get mugged, raped and killed apparently. So arriving somewhat sleepily into the bus station at 5am I cautiously waited for the sun to come up before venturing into the city centre at around 7am. I had a Lima moment again when I realise that not only was the twon prisine, but it was also gorgeous and deserted, to my joy, because it was Saturday nothing was open until 9. But I actually had an enjoyable if sleepy couple of hours enjoying the strangley people-bereft streets to myself, especially enjoying the recently refurbished waterfront park. I've actually never seen a South American city even close to as quite as Guayaquil was that morning, and it speaks volumes about the amount of time and money Equador has poured into its largest, and previously most dangerous city, that my total experience there spoke more to me of a European holiday destination than the noise and smell I now associate with South Am. As soon as the buisnesses opened I was away to the recommended travel agaent for Guayaquil to see if there was any chance of getting me onto the Islands made oh-so-famous my Mr Darwin. After about and hour of searching it seemed my luck had run thin, and all the cruises leaving in the near future were well out of my budget, however eventually the travel agaent had success and they found me a spot on the good boat Angleito, leaving the next day from Baltra Island. Beyond exctied, my flights booked for 9am the next day, and a return flight booked into Quito for 5 days time, I was delighted to find out that not only did the travel agent offer free airport transfers, but they also offered free accomodation the night before the trip so I was sorted for my single night in Guayaquil- for FREE! And the apartment was lovely, so I whiled away the rest of the day exploring the city, perusing the apartment books and sampling the Equadorian food (markedly much more American in influence than all South Am food sampled so far). I especially enjoyed my evening in Guayaquil which I spent wondering along the seafront (having been assured by Douglas, the fab travel agent, that I would be very safe) surrounded by crowds of young equadorians enjoying the mild evening air.
And then (luckily, because I was waaay too excited to wait a moment longer) it was the next morning and time for my flight! And I will say that Guayaquil airport is by far the most efficent air based operation I've ever been privy to, with the minimum of waiting and all things perfectly on time, I was off to the Galapagos!!