After a couple of hour's flight we were in Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city, for one night as the flights from Galapagos are known for delays and cancellations.
Until a few years ago Guayaquil had a dreadful reputation for crime and pollution and tourists were warned to avoid it but since 2000 a new mayor has done an awful lot to clean the place up - there is a large police presence on the streets, a lovely malaçon and it is without a doubt one of the cleanest cities we've ever visited.
They're very fond of statues and monuments too, this one is actually a whispering gallery (yes we tried it and it worked - amazing)
I don't know who copied who - Amsterdam or Guayaquil or maybe there are loads all around the world!
We were staying at the Grand Hotel which backs on to the cathedral and curiously uses the back wall as part of its pool area.
Just round the corner to us and opposite the cathedral is Parque Bolivar which has the unique attraction of being home to a colony of tame tree iguanas (hence the lovely sculpture by the hotel pool).
There are probably a 100 or so iguanas here, some green, some more biscuit coloured but of course they are so well camouflaged you don't notice some at first and then you realise.
Although they look so fearsome they are vegetarian and this lovely lady makes sure they're well fed by selling bags of lettuce.
They seem quite content to stay within the small park (approx. 100m2) but apparently if any are found wandering the streets, the residents quickly put them back in the park - they are very proud of them.
This one we spotted down on the river bank making a good bid for freedom.
As it turned out we didn't need to allow for flight delays but we're glad we had a day in this lovely city and much preferred it to Quito. Mid afternoon we transferred back to the airport for our 6:45pm flight to Heathrow via Amsterdam. Unfortunately I was ill as soon as we got on the plane (probably something I ate in the lounge) so didn't make much use of KLM's unlimited hospitality but I did have a good long sleep.
Each passenger gets a little Delft pottery Gin House which is rather a nice touch.
For some unknown reason I'd booked our connecting flight to Heathrow with a 6 hour gap and when I tried to change it before we left, KLM wanted £250 each so I didn't bother. However we only checked our luggage as far as Amsterdam and then asked again and got changed onto a flight leaving in 1 1/2 hours at no charge - result!
And that's our trip over, we're so glad we've done it now as it was so tiring and maybe too much in a couple of years.