8 – Las Peñas and Parque Bolivar

The Malecón 2000 ends at the foothills of a town called Las Peñas. Las Peñas is a beautiful town built on a hill and overlooks the city Guayaquil and the river Guayas. The hill is covered with small colorful houses, cobblestone streets, and steep narrow stairs.
One day I hiked up the 450 stairs to the top of Las Peñas. At the top there was a beautiful church and a small lighthouse. From the top of the lighthouse I saw a great 360 view of the city.
After Las Peñas I went back down into the center of town and walked all around the main part of the city (I walk a lot). I stopped at a bunch of churches, markets, and parks. My favorite part of the day was stopping at two parks that had HUGE iguanas walking all around. It was crazy, because the parks are in the middle of the most populated city in Ecuador, but there are giant reptiles meandering all over. People feed them, kids pull their tails, and pigeons stand on their heads! The park was also fun because I hand-fed a squirrel some peanuts. I would never do that with Boston Public Garden squirrels, but this squirrel was very nice.