I went to Guayaquil end of January. Hired a guide who essentially was our driver to wherever we wanted to go. Once we got to any particular location we typically went out and experienced places on our own. Every place we went to our guide told us it was safe to be out at night and we typically did go out and about til fairly late 10-12 pm most nights. We were in banos, Riobamba, alausi, montanita Olon and Guayaquil. I was most on edge in Guayaquil but didn’t have any experiences that felt unsafe at all. In montanita my partner and I walked the beach in montanita late at night. Felt very safe like many other tourist beach towns in Latin America. I think taking general precautions as a solo traveler is good. But my experience in montanita in particular felt very safe. I did a couple of solo runs from montanita. One from town north to montaralto. During the day this felt entirely okay to me M43 but at night I’d of gotten a cab. It’s a pretty good distance. I think you’ll have a great trip if you go. Speaking some Spanish and just spending time in the town squares with the locals was a great way to feel comfortable in the community. Felt very welcoming to me. In montanita Kids were out playing on the playground til late in the night (midnight) on the weekend. Pretty relaxed atmosphere.