Today we arrived in Guayaquil. Culture shock is an understatement as to the reaction that has destroyed all my expectations of the city. Driving through the dim lit down town of the major city, the grim buildings are closed for the night yet customers still linger around-smoking, talking, wasting time. Some lights shine from the hill tops reminding us that not everyone can afford the luxury of living in the city. From my hotel window I can see the homes pilled ontop of one another like legos we used to build as kids. It's a while before I can fall asleep to the sounds of car horns, so I retrace the events of the day leading to my irrival at the premier hotel "Sol de Orient." To begin, Copa airlines carries a friendly atmosphere over the speaker and down the isles. Getting off the plane, the terminal never seemed to end but getting into the country was as easy as stealing from a blind man. Once we got to the bus, three or four men were eagerly throwing our "maletas" into the bus compartments. The bus ride seemed long as we tried to take in the "sites" of the locals wondering how far our hotel would be from it all. Once we arrived we still had no idea where our place was in the large city as the dim street lights were our only source of light. It wouldn't be till the next morning that the sun would shed some light into our surroundings.