PARQUE BOLIVAR

Right in downtown Guayaquil there's a little city park the size of one city block called Parque Bolivar. It's a nice little park with some gardens, a statue or two, a handful of old banyan trees, and a bunch of huge green iguanas. There are tons of them, lying on the sidewalks and hanging out in trees. I'm not sure how they got there, but I'm guessing it would be pretty hard for them to leave being that the park is surrounded on all four sides by a bustling city. They seem content, though, and don't seem to mind sharing the park with people. The locals don't seem to pay much attention to them either, casually stepping over them as they walk on the sidewalks. One man saw me snapping photos and in what seemed to be an attempt to impress me, grabbed one of them and picked it up by its tail. The guy was holding his arm straight out and the iguana`s front legs were still touching the ground. He looked at me and chuckled, and then let go after he was scolded by a nearby policeman. This was the first time that I discovered that you don't have to go into the wild to find wildlife in Ecuador...