Instead of staying in a hotel we stayed in a house belonging to a family friend in a small, and I do mean small, town called Ancon.  The town was big enough however to have its own fire department and a club house located on a cliff overlooking the water.  There were a lot of condors there.  We had cooked food (including 3 pounds of shrimp) delievered and served to us at $30 for 6 people.  They even cleaned up too.  You can’t really tell from the picture but the house has only a kitchen on the bottom with the rest open, and then 4 bedrooms on the second floor which is accessable only via a set of outside stairs.

As you can see, Oloncito is not very big – only a couple of blocks.

Onomatopoeia is a word, or group of words, that imitates the sound it is describing. We can recognize these in English – the car horn “honks”, the gun goes “bang”, and the mouse “squeaks”. However, in British English a car “hoots” and in French a gun goes “pan”. People are often surprised when they realize that these are somewhat arbitrary interpretations of the sounds we hear, and they differ among languages and cultures. Simply consider the fact that there are many sounds for a dog’s “bark” in English, including “bark”, “woof”, “ruff”, “bow wow”, and “arf!” In English, we use these pronunciations simply because we’ve learned them from other English speakers.

The Japanese language uses onomatopoeia perhaps more than any other language. Japanese contains hundreds of onomatopoeic words, usually coming in the form of a two-syllable word said twice, such as “gorogoro” (cat purring). Words that imitate sounds are called Giongo. There are also many words, called Gitaigo, that describe various emotional and psychological states. They are often attached to the verb suru (to do) to become verbs, for example, “wakuwaku suru” (to be excited) and “iraira suru” (to be irritated or impatient). Other words become adverbs, such as “geragera warau” (to laugh loudly) and “perapera hanasu” (to speak fluently/quickly).

Here is a quick chart of some noises and their interpretations in different languages.

English US = United States, UK = United Kingdom

Chinese C = Cantonese, M = Mandarin

The first beach we stopped at was Ayangue.  We stayed for two nights at $10 a person, right on the beach in a house that belonged to Americans who rent it out by the bed when they’re not there.  The water was beautiful, with small waves and soft sand.  They had tents you could rent for $5 for the whole day.  The cabana type buildings were restaurants that served delicious fresh seafood at great prices.  A large bottle of beer went for $1.25 and a water for $.50.  It was great.

Countryside Living

On our way to the beach we stopped for 1 hour massages that cost $4 and used real Aloe.

The pools are inside

You can also have a mud massage.

If you don’t want a massage you can just bath in the mud pool.

The city skyine can be seen as you go down the river on a boat, with a few tall buildings scattered around the skyline. The tallest building in Guayaquil (the white one alone in the picture) is 43 floors high.

Because there are not many tall buildings, antennas are put on the hills that are nearby. Buildings are built right on the edge of the water, making use of all the land they can! 

Here is a view of ‘El Parque de las Iguanas”. They are everywhere, not just in the park, but there are hundreds in the park where they are fed!

Check out the crabs. For just $6, you get 6 crabs and beer! 

There are casinos in Guayaquil, for now. The current president wants to close them down soon. He feels that instead of wasting money at the casinos, people should be investing their money. The Casino is very similar to those in America, but it was much smaller.

Some sights in downtown Guayaquil and at the Malecon 2000. The Malecon 2000 is like a huge boardwalk, with a mall, small restaurants, parks for children, gardens and much more. We will be posting more pictures form this great spot in the city in the future. It is along ‘el Rio Guayas’ and is very popular with the people who live and work in the city. 

Prepared fish and shellfish can be purchased also. A meal with conch, shrimp, fish, rice, beans and a delicious ‘salsa’ made with lime and cilantro costs about $2.50. After purchasing fish, we moved on to the vegetables and the fruits sections of the market. As you can see, this is a popular place to shop on a Sunday!

If you are in the market for typical Ecuadorian products, a trip to the Artisans Market is where you go. Here you can purchase many great gifts!