The Ox is Slow but the Earth is Patient. Old Chinese Proverb.

For those of you late to class, Ecuador has three major geographical divisions: jungles, mountains and volcanoes and the coastal regions. Leaving the jungle and mountain regions behind, we left Riobamba at 9035 feet altitude to head down to sea level and see what was up with some of the beaches in Ecuador. We found out that with a little effort you too can have some of them to yourself. Stopped in Ecuador's second largest city, Guayaquil for a couple of weeks to do some government work at the US Embassy and extend our visas at the Ecuadorian Embassy. Stretched out along the Guayas River is a large promenade that has a museum, entertainment, gardens, restaurants and river tours, The Guayas River has some type of plant mats floating on the surface; probably has something to do with nutrient run off. It was interesting to watch the tides change, the herbage pause and then head in the opposite direction. A gondola was built to ease car traffic to a residential area across the river; se