Whale Watching Tour -- Part 1 of 2

A week ago, we went on a three day trip to the coast to go whale watching.  We had beautiful warm weather with blue skies and sunshine on the whole trip.

Day 1:  We left Cuenca Sunday morning around 7:30a.m. in a large comfortable mini-bus that seated 18 (we had a total of 17 people on the bus which included the driver and the guide).  To break the trip up, we stopped in Guayaquil to tour the Guayaquil Historical Park.  http://www.parquehistoricoguayaquil.gob.ec

The Park is located  across the Guayaquil-Duran bridge on the east side of Rio Daule (near the airport).  The park is divided into three zones:  the Endangered Wildlife Zone which has 45 species of birds, animals, and reptiles in a semi-natural habitat; the Urban Architecture Zone which has a restaurant and showcases the development of early 20th century architecture in Guayaquil; and the Traditions Zone which focuses on local traditions with an emphasis on rural customs, crafts and agriculture.

Here are pictures I took of our trip to the Historical Park:

Our group ready to start the tour

Showing the different zones in the park

I took a lot of pictures of the animals but I'll show only the highlights.  Here are my favorites:

WILDLIFE ZONE

     Iguanas

     Parrots

     Macaws

ARCHITECTURE ZONE

Early 20th century architecture

View of the river, and you can see the airport tower in the distance

Lovely senora in traditional early 20th century dress

"Our Gang"

TRADITIONS ZONE

Cacao Plant (used to make chocolate)

Coffee Plant

After our time in Guayaquil, we continued to Montanita where we spent the first of two nights.  Early the next morning, we headed off for the whale watching part of our trip, which will be the second part of this blog.