Guayaquil...two times too many

Marriott of Guayaquil (not our pic)

As we headed back into the city limits of Guayaquil, the nice woman next to me proceeded to remind me how dangerous the city is, and asked where I was staying, and showed me the safest place to carry money (in the waist belt of your spandex pants or tucked in your bra, naturally). So with such a warm welcome it's a wonder we weren't more excited to come back here. But, we did get hooked up with a wonderful hotel room at the Marriott, courtesy of Luke's mom, that helped brighten our day significantly. We welcomed the A/C, big pillows, comfy beds, and hot shower after a long day of travel. Liz and Luke spent their last night out on the town, going to a nice restaurant recommended by the hotel, while I caught up on the TV I've missed with some gummy bears from the hotel snack bar.

Hiding out on the 16th floor, waiting for clothes to dry

The next morning, after saying goodbye to Luke, we hit the breakfast buffet at the hotel. It was a dream come true with scrambled eggs, cereal, coffee, juice, bacon, pancakes, and all varieties of bread. We also took advantage of the free machine laundry, poolside lounge chairs, complimentary shampoo and conditioner, hair dryer, and free computer and wifi use. The only problem came when we realized the check out time was 12pm, and not 3pm as I had thought all along, and we still had clothes in the washer and dryer and hanging out to air dry. The hotel was really nice and accommodating and took pity on a couple of dirty backpackers and let us take all the time we needed. Needless to say we didn't make our way to our next hostel until well into the afternoon.

Dreamkapture...more in our budget (not our pic again)

Arriving at Dreamkapture was a bit of a change from the Marriott, but we probably blended in a little better. By this point traveling constantly was starting to take a toll on us weary travelers and I especially was thinking about heading home soon. We started to talk about our options now that  the rest of our time was wide open. Whatever ended up happening in the future, we both knew we wanted out of Guayaquil and into Peru as fast as possible. So, unsure of just how much time we had left, we made our way back to the land of mangoes, avocado, and maracuya...the land we love.