Today was amazing! KH and I spent our morning at El Parque Historico. The park was divided into three sections: the Wildlife zone, the Traditions zone, and the Urban Architectural zone. We started by walking through the wildlife zone, which is made up of four different ecosystems found in Ecuador: mangrove forest, flooded plains forest, tropical dry forest, and drizzle forest. We got to see so many local animals, including Macaws, Sloths (which are called Oso Perezoso in Spanish...direct translation is “Lazy Bear!”), Tapir, Agouti, Ocelet, Crocodiles, Caimans, and more!
After the wildlife zone, we walked through the Traditions zone, where locals showed us traditional homes made of bamboo. Some of the park re-enactors showed us how Ecuatorians would use all parts of the crops they grew - using fruit shells as bowls and plants for hair gel and make-up, etc. As we walked through this area, we saw a lot of cocoa plants, which used to be the main export of Ecuador. We also walked through an amazing garden of marigolds, basil, oregano, rice, maize, sweet potatoes, etc.
Finally, we went to the urban architectural zone, where we saw many original haciendas (one belonged to a doctor named Julien Coronel) and Iglesias (churches) and how they have been renovated over the years. All of the buildings were beautiful, with incredible craftsmanship and detail. They were all so colorful too, which I loved. After we left the park, we made a quick stop at a BEAUTIFUL church (Catedral Metropolitana de Guayaquil) and Iguana Park, where iguanas are free to roam unrestricted throughout the “square.”
As we left, we saw an amazing, GIANT sculpture of a monkey (mono) - see all our pix below :)
Macaws
Peacock
Inside a traditional home
Bedroom of a traditional home
La Hacienda 
Salon de la Hacienda 
Iguana Park - Wild Iguanas
Catedral Metropolitana de Guayaquil
Inside of Catedral Metropolitana de Guayaquil
Awesome Mono Sculpture 
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