Ecuador’s Big Port Gets a Makeover
GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador (AP) -- Construction crews arrive at sunrise, and within a few hours, dust envelops the financial district.
"It is harder to breathe here than in Quito," said Ana Luisa Durand, who wears a face mask to sell sliced fruit near the Municipal Palace. "Sometimes I go home early because of the dust and the noise."
A volcano near Quito dumped more than 1 million tons of ash on the capital in a single day in November. But for months, people in Guayaquil have been coping with soot and dust, as well as the deafening din of jackhammers, as Ecuador's largest city undergoes what politicians call the biggest urban beautification program ever in Latin America.
Some wonder whether city boosters will succeed in their multimillion-dollar effort to make Guayaquil a premier tourist destination. The commercial port has a reputation for crime, and its muggy climate contrasts sharply with the perpetual spring and snowcapped volcanoes of Quito, Ecuador's colonial-era capital and one of South America's top tourist spots.
Guayaquil's beautification campaign, conceived in 1992 by then-mayor Leon Febres Cordero, aims to clean up dilapidated neighborhoods, restore 19th century tropical architecture and replace potholed streets with cobble-stoned walkways.
Current Mayor Jaime Nebot, Febres Cordero's political protege, aims to make Guayaquil a pedestrian-friendly city for tourists, as well as a source of pride for its 2 million residents.
The centerpiece is Malecon 2000, an $80 million effort to turn the once seedy banks of the murky Guayas River, which drains the Andean hinterlands, into a riverside park and boardwalk rich with public art.
Completed in 2000 with public funds and donations from Malecon 2000 Foundation patrons, the riverfront includes sculptures of Ecuadorean presidents and dozens of restaurants and shops. It features a glass-enclosed computer kiosk containing the names of donors, and lush gardens with local flora and towering mango and almond trees.
Another cornerstone of the project is Cerro Santa Ana, a hill at the northern end of the 1 1/2-mile-long boardwalk. Also called Barrio Las Penas, the neighborhood had fallen on hard times in recent years. Its dark alleys became the haunt of criminals and stray dogs, similar to the impoverished and squalid encampments of Rio de Janeiro's shantytowns.
But in the past two years, Las Penas has undergone a facelift. The municipal government provided $3 million in grants. The small concrete-block houses that spill down the hillside gleam bright blue, pink and green from fresh paint jobs, and some of the roughly 500 squatters have opened small restaurants, cafes and souvenir shops on the ground floors of their homes.
Electric street lamps guide people up 456 steps to a chapel, observation deck and lighthouse. Miguel Esteban Delgado, who heads Guayaquil's tourist planning department, said once worthless houses could now sell for $40,000 or more.
Government officials modeled their renovation after similar beautification and boardwalk efforts in Curitiba, Brazil; Bogota, Colombia, and Barcelona, Spain. They say Guayaquil's metamorphosis will dwarf others and boost the national economy.
High prices for oil, the country's major export, and its conversion to the use of the U.S. dollar as its official currency in 2000 have given Ecuador a stable economy compared to much of South America. But economists remain worried that next year oil prices will fall and foreign debt payments will soar. The average Ecuadorean earned $1,460 last year, according to the World Bank.
"This is going to be the biggest urban transformation in Latin American history -- I promise you that," said Joseph Garzozi, director of tourism for Guayaquil. "This country is in a deep crisis. International tourism is the most logical ... way to bring money into the country and into Guayaquil and to spread it to a large portion of the population."
But many people wonder whether the initiative will attract foreign tourists and their money.
Despite the beautification -- which includes a substantial uniformed police presence in Las Penas and along the boardwalk -- businessmen still worry about kidnappings. Muggings and pickpockets are common. Streets outside the downtown area and new tourist zones remain potholed and dirty.
Guayaquil, founded by Francisco de Orellana in 1538, receives about 150,000 international tourists each year, according to the local tourism department. Some tourists, especially surfers and bird watchers, visit nearby beaches, tropical forests and mangroves. But most see only the city's airport or bus station before heading for the Amazon, Andes or Galapagos Islands.
"Travelers to Ecuador tend to avoid Guayaquil because of its reputation as a hot, humid and crowded port town with many dangerous areas," according to the most recent edition of Lonely Planet, one of several influential guidebooks to blast Guayaquil.
By contrast, Quito receives at least 250,000 international tourists a year. The capital has more museums, hotels and tour operators than Guayaquil. Many tourists from North America and Europe prefer its dry, springlike climate to Guayaquil, where daytime temperatures often exceed 90 degrees.
Patricia Batallas, manager of the Quito reservations office of Amazonian ecological resort Yachana Lodge, applauded Guayaquil's efforts. She said clients increasingly request a day or two in Guayaquil instead of hopping the first flight to the Amazon.
But she doubted whether Guayaquil could trump Quito as a tourist mecca. "There are no mountains in Guayaquil, and Quito has more history, culture and museums," Batallas said. "In this sense, the Europeans and Americans will ... continue to visit Quito more."