Day 09 - 10/15/23 - At sea to Guayaquil, Ecuador

Today was projected to be a relaxing day at sea on our way to Guayaquil, Ecuador. And we weren't disappointed.  As it was a Sunday, we attended the interdenominational service in the Wajang Theater.  It was a good service and was well attended as have been all of the interdenominational activities.  We ended up missing the Coffee Chat with Andrew, the Security Officer.  Tom Goltz gave another of his excellent presentations and this one was on one of the four Pizarro Brothers who was one of the if not the first European to travel from Guayaquil over the Andes and then down the Amazon River to the mouth in the Atlantic Ocean.  It was a chilling and brutal tale of a journey that lasted some 18 months.  We learned that the Amazon River was named after a tribe of women who were fierce warriors who would remove one breast in order to better shoot their arrows.  They were reputed to be tough fighters.

In the afternoon, a new guest presenter, Carolina Flores, a local, presented a nice lecture on Guayaquil, Pearl of the Pacific.  

Early mid day we arrived at the mouth of the Guay River and it took about 4 hours to sail up the river to the port proper.  We arrived there just before 4pm and were quickly tied up to the dock on the starboard side.  Our room looked out on to a nice view of the river which was about 1/2 mile wide.  Due to the possibility of civil unrest resulting from the Presidential elections which were occurring on this day, nobody was allowed on or off the ship until Monday.  However, I watched a gangplank be deployed.  I did learn the next day that voting is mandatory and the penalty for not voting is 10% of a month's salary.  The Democratic candidate won defeating the Socialist candidate.

We are docked in an industrial port and the covered warehouse next to our ship has largephosphate bags from China on one end, and coiled aluminum on the other end.  Containers are used as fences and there was also a large stack of containers next to our berth.  The rest of the port has many warehouses and lots of containers stacked.  We're about 30-45 minutes from the center of town depending upon the traffic situation.







Our dinner theme was a Bierfest (German) in the Lido area.  There were lots of decorations and the German food was quite good.



The main stage entertainment was a showing of the Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny movie which was fun to see once again.

Yes, it was a relaxing day and we are certainly getting into the rhythm of onboard life.  Jeremy keeps referring to this as a "vacation".  For us it is not a vacation.  It is truly life.  I should also note that there are many, many more activities onboard, but we don't take part in most of them.  We just like to relax, chat with people, I write my blog, and enjoy the lectures and other cultural events.

Tomorrow in Guayaquil, we have a tour planned.  We were here previously 5 years ago on the Maasdam and rather enjoyed it when we simply did an independent walk around the downtown area.    

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