At the heart of it all in Guayaquil’s Malecón

It didn’t take long to discover that the life of the Ecuadorian port city of Guayaquil all unfolds along the Malecón 2000.

This is the name given to an ambitious urban development project, a large and pleasant is the name given to boardwalk skirting along the wide Guayas River.

This project to revitalize central Guayaquil and the colonial districts located in this area expanded the old Simón Bolívar boardwalk. It is a pleasant 2.5 kilometer (1.5 mile) walkway.

I spent a lot of time here during my week in Guayaquil. I woke up before dawn to jog here each morning, timing my arrival on this promenade for when the guards opened the gates in the morning.

As I jogged along this boardwalk, I watched fishing boats coming in, I mixed with the Ecuadorian military troops who also used this boardwalk as their training space, and I watched the city wake up.

In the evenings, I often found my way here for dinner or a walk, enjoying the breezes off the Guayas River. It was always filled with young people enjoying a drink or families out for a walk.

At all hours of the day, life certainly passes by on the Malecón. Stio by yourself – for a morning jog, or an afternoon stroll, or a dinner of crabs and beer, when you’re next in Guayaquil.