Museums, a Protest, and a Colorful Barrio

Sunday, Oct. 15, 2017--Guayaquil

My first stop today was to see Plaza del Centenario.  It is a beautiful plaza with a large monument honoring the heroes of the 9th of October.  It was just a brief stop, because I was really headed for the Museo Presley Norton.  Housed in a nice old mansion, it is a private museum with an archaeological collection of ceramics of unbelievable quality. 

Walking back down the street named 9 de Octobre, I saw and heard firetrucks in the distance.  It seemed to be a protest, but it could easily have been a celebration.  Lined up in the middle of the street for at least 3 blocks were fire trucks.  Their sirens were sounding.  Then they started spraying water into the air and occasionally aiming the sprays so that they would come down on the people on the sidewalks.  It was becoming a party atmosphere.  Before I took a side street, a group of firemen started performing a balancing act.  One went up between two ladders as If he were on stilts.  Then another used a third latter to extend the construction so it was then two firemen between 3 ladders.  The last sighting I got was of 4 firemen between 5 ladders.

When I reached the riverfront, I walked south on the Malecon.  I passed a children's area with rides and a playground, the botanical gardens, a cinema, and finally reached the Museo Anthropologico de Arte Contemporaneo.  It is the major museum in the city.  Although the quality of the ceramics didn't match those I had seen earlier in my first museum of the day, there was much more variety with many nice pieces.

As I entered the art area, something interesting happened.  I saw a man and his wife.  He looked directly at me, so I greeted him and turned away to look at the first painting--one of a man standing at a sink shaving.  The subject in the painting looked like the man who I had just seen.  I turned back toward him to check.  Then I used pointing and hand motions to ask if it really was him.  He shook his head in affirmation.  Later, I saw him as the subject of another painting in the exhibit. 

Just outside of the museum is Las Penas.  It is a waterfront neighborhood along one old cobblestone street at the base of a mountain and the river.  I wandered down the street enjoying the atmosphere created by the street and the colorful, large homes along it.  Then, on my return, I started taking stairs up the mountainside through Cerro Santa Ana, a former barrio slum that is now a vibrant, colorful tourist area.  At the top of the mountain, there is a lighthouse and a small church, but even better are the views of the city. 

It was hot and I was tired.  I stopped for an empanada and a juice, then I returned to the apartment.  I stayed inside the rest of the day.