Shrunken Heads

Saturday, Oct. 14, 2017--Machala to Guayaquil

I am getting tired of the stress of travel which is compounded here in Ecuador by the added fear of danger when traveling.  There are warnings from everyone about where NOT to go, what not to do, what to do, etc.  And now that I have been moving every 1-3 days, these travel stresses are occurring more often.  I am glad I only have 3 more travel days and will be coming home in two weeks.

The bus trip today didn't include as much stopping and starting.  The stress was mainly after getting to Guayaquil which everyone says is more dangerous than other cities in Ecuador.  I bought a charged-up card for the rapid bus transit to get me from the terminal to the center of the city.  Everyone warns about the dangers of doing this with luggage, so I was gripping my suitcase tightly and looking back often to make see no one was trying to get into my backpack.

When I arrived in town, I was 1 1/2 hours early for checking into my apartment.  So I continued to grip my luggage tightly.  I eventually went into the Cathedral and found a seat to the side against a column.  I wanted to read in my Kindle, but there is always the worry that someone will see it and try to grab it out of my hands.  I wedged my suitcase between the pew and the column, threaded my left arm through the two straps of my backpack and between the two solid, raised arms of my suitcase, gripped my Kindle tightly as I read for an hour, and tried to be alert to whoever was near me.

No one showed up at 14:00 outside of the apartment building.  I started to worry about not getting in.  About 14:10, a woman living in the building and familiar with the fact that Apartment 601 is often rented to tourists let me inside the building.  I had the WiFi password for the apartment, so I went up the elevator, stood outside the door, and connected to the WiFi.  I was in the middle of writing a message to the owner in Spain when the agent showed up about 18 minutes late.

The rest of the day went smoothly although I remained tired from all the initial stress.  I went to the City Museum sice it won't be open again after today until I leave the city.  It has archaeological, natural history and historical exhibits.  One of the best was a set of shrunken Heads from the Amazon region.  Some were of men who lost wars with the tribe.  Others were of westerners such as missionaries who entered the tribal areas.  But there were also interesting maps, drawings, photographs, and diaramas of Guayaquil at different points in history.  And there were wonderful bug collections capable of causing nightmares.

From there, I took a short stroll on part of the Malacon, the riverside walkway that is the centerpiece of renewal in downtown Guayaquil.

I was tired, so I decided to leave any more explanation for tomorrow.  I stopped at a supermarket and bought some breakfast and dinner supplies before returning to the apartment for the rest of the day.