Our stay in Columbia was much longer than anticipated due to issues with the Civil Aviation Authority and also because of weather. Today, our plan was to fly from Tumaco, Columbia to Manta, Ecuador. As usual, however, things did not go as planned. When we reached the Ecuadorian airspace, I was told by the Air Traffic Controller that I could not land in Manta (which shouldn’t have been a problem because it was an international airport). Because of the swine flu (H1N1) breakout at the time, we had to be re-routed to Guayaquil, the largest city in Ecuador. Once on the ground, we found the airport to be fully equipped to check each passenger for body temperature, fever, cough, etc.
Downtown Guayaquil is very well kept and there have been major changes and improvements in the last two decades, despite the country’s economic struggles. There is a very nice boardwalk in town, Malacon, which is right next to the Guayas River and Cerro Santa Ana (Santa Ana Hill) is the oldest part of town, with 500 steps up to the top where you can enjoy a wonderful view of the whole city.
The media was really interested in our mission, especially the television stations. Overall, the people of Ecuador were very nice, though security was a factor due to the economy – especially at night. On a positive note, the street food was economical and very tasty.
