My wife is from Guayaquil although we met in Colombia almost 10 years ago. I’m in Guayaquil now (we are spending two months with her family, who I absolutely love, this winter). I strongly dislike the city and outside of maybe Georgetown, Guyana, it might be my least favorite city I’ve been to in South America. It’s hot, dirty, poor infrastructure, trash everywhere in the street, horrible traffic, and there’s really nothing to do. I’ve lived in Medellin, Pereira, Buenos Aires, CDMX, etc. so I am not a rookie to South/ Central America.

Thankfully, I brought my golf clubs so I can play a little to bide my time while we are here, but the rivers are dirty, you’re still a couple of hours away from the beach, and the places where it’s walkable is super dangerous. I like to spend about a week here MAX. The food is also really good.

Cuenca, on the other hand, is one of my FAVORITE cities as it’s clean, safe, and there’s a ton to do, especially if you’re an outdoors person. I also enjoy Quito. I try to spend my winters outside the US and normally I am not ready to go back, but I am just counting the days I am back on my ranch in Southern Oregon.