•We were disappointed that, at the last minute, you were not able to tour us and didn't let us know, though we do appreciate that you sent Eduardo in your stead, even with his late arrival. •Upon introductions, I showed him our list of what we wanted to see [the Malekon, Las Penas, Contemporary Art Museum], emphasizing that we had particular interest in arts, crafts, and how 'real people' live. He said we would see all those things. Then he took us on a 30+ minute tour of a Panama Hat shop, ostensibly to show us how they were made but also, of course, he was encouraging us to buy. We did not. •Then he took us to a GuayArte, which was interesting, and a park overlooking the city and explained a lot about nature. Not on our list nor particularly interesting. He treated us as students...Not very engaging. Just lecturing. •Then we went to the Iguana Park...again, not on our list, though we were happy to see. •Then, he tried to persuade us to tour the government buildings. We explained that we weren't interested but would be happy if the driver wanted to drive by them after the Iguana Park. So we did, but wouldn't get out of the car to tour, even though he kept asking if we wanted to. •We went to the Museums and, in spite of his continuing push for us to see the Anthropological Museum, we did visit the Contemp. Art Museum and loved it. •Finally, we drove along the Malekon, though he told us nothing about the area and I had to asked if that actually was where we were. •I asked about Las Penas, and he said the driver already had driven all the hours he was committed to and needed to be somewhere else. The three of us then tried to figure out how to do what we had been looking forward to all day, and Eduardo came up with the idea that I could pay for the driver's extra time. Eduardo said I could pay him directly and he would pass it along to the driver. •We went to Las Penas, with a cursory tour up 37 steps and along the new water-front development there. We found it fascinating, as we knew we would, and wish we could have spent an hour or two there, walking the steps and the streets. Alas, we were out of time. •We were driven back to the hotel. We paid the driver directly and tipped him handsomely. I gave Eduardo a $50 tip... though I'm not sure why. Probably because I would have otherwise felt guilty. Bottom line, Allyson: Our travel agent has booked us with a number of guides and we always have found them to be interesting and also interested in what we wanted to see. Many of those guides also were fun people, providing us with a great time. Eduardo is not that quality of a guide. He lectured, dismissed, and gave us a pre-programmed, sanitized "infomercial" on Guayquil. It was quite disappointing and I thought you should know.
