Mum is here!

I could hardly wait until the evening, when Mum was due to arrive! Somehow I got through the day until finally it was time for me to go to the airport to go to the hotel with her. However, this stage did not go quite as planned due to the monsoon rain that descended just when I needed it least.

It was in full swing when I left the language school. I'd intended to get a bus to the airport, but as soon as I caught sight of the torrential rainfall I asked reception if they could call me a taxi instead; however apparently no taxis were available at all, so I had to fall back on the buses. I've seldom seen rain so hard anywhere! I waited at the side of the road for the bus and although I had a small umbrella with me and my Bolivian coat on, my rucksack and I still got soaked. Due to the rain, everyone was in their cars instead, which resulted in the roads being gridlocked...

I ended up at Grand Hotel Guayaquil in the city centre (where Mum and I were booked for the next two nights), via four bus journeys, the bus terminal and a frantic wade through flooded streets, without having made it to the airport at all. I'd been foiled by a combination of the weather and the correct buses not running. Luckily I had already arranged the free hotel shuttle to pick up Mum from the airport, so although I wasn't able to use the shuttle with her like I'd planned to, at least she still got to the hotel OK.

It was wonderful to see her once I arrived, as I'm sure you can all imagine! She gave me a lovely little cloth with a turtle shape raised in the middle, which she'd knitted on the long plane journey; I've since put it out on show on my desk at the flat.

We had some dinner at one of the hotel's main café/restaurant but I've forgotten what we ate. It felt a great novelty to me to be staying in a hotel in Guayaquil, and a really nice hotel at that.