Guayaquil doesn't enjoy the best reputation. People from other parts of Ecuador say their country’s biggest city, with a population of some three million, is a steamy, smelly, malaria-infested seaport ridden with crime, corruption and pollution. Guayaquilenos might agree, to a point, but will also mention that theirs is the country’s richest city, contributing the lion’s share to the economy, where the hotels, nightlife, shopping and business opportunities are second-to-none. They may also add that nobody knows how to enjoy themselves better than lively Guayaquilenos, least of all staid, sierran Quitenos.

Guayaquil is on the way up, and the city is creating a new identity. Many gleaming new high-rises have been built or are under construction, including a massive World Trade Center. Sweeping new highways and interchanges are creating a Los Angeles-style landscape. The new Malecon 2000 project along the Rio Guayas rivals Barcelona's for slick and striking modern architecture, and the city’s Museo del Banco Central ranks among the country’s best.

The city is cleaning itself up, literally, by collecting trash three times a week, whereas before it was only once, if ever. Though there are still crumbling tenement blocks, slums and shanty towns resembling parts of Hong Kong or Shanghai, there are also smart and affluent suburbs in the north of the city. The state of emergency and nightly curfews imposed on the city in 1998 during an atrocious crime wave seems to have done the trick: the city’s nightlife collapsed...

Climate. From December through April, Guayaquil is hot and humid with temperatures reaching up to 35?C. The rest of the year is nice and cooler with temperatures between 20° and 25°C.

|Article contributed by Dominic Hamilton|||

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