Las Peñas Traditional Neighborhood & Lookout

Genesis of the city of Guayaquil, the Pearl of the Pacific. Considered its oldest neighborhood. Las Peñas is at the same time a tourist place, an artist's residence and a place of dynamic cultural activity. In its patrimonial houses there are art galleries. When the sun goes down, an intense night life begins.

 

Cultural Heritage of Ecuador since 1982. In the modern and giant city of Guayaquil, this neighborhood is considered the starting point of the metropolis. Present in the historical development of the Port since the 16th century. It extends to the foot of the Santa Ana hill, next to the majestic and calm Guayas river.

 

To visit Las Peñas is to go into the memories of its colonial street. Recreating the view with the pastel colors of its historical houses. Blue, pink, green, yellow. The great fire of 1896 left very little built heritage of the old city. That is why Las Peñas is so loved by the people of Guayaquil, as the only vestige of its past.

 

For those with a strong heart, there are the stairs. You have to climb 444 steps to the top of Santa Ana hill. On an esplanade, the lighthouse and the chapel of Santa Ana The view extends over Guayaquil and the Guayas River. Ideal place to film or photograph the city.

 

Numa Pompilio Street, the heart of the tourist, artistic and commercial activity of the neighborhood. Full of old houses, built with wood, transformed into art galleries or craft shops. A comfortable place to walk slowly on its cobbled streets, paying attention to details. At the end of the tour, football fans can enter the Museum of Barcelona, Ecuador's most popular team. Or have their photo taken next to the monument to Julio Jaramillo, the world famous singer.

 

At the beginning of Numa Pompilio Street is La Planchada, a reconstruction of an old Spanish fortress, with metal cannons, which once served to defend Guayaquil from pirate attacks. From this fort, the Malecón 2000, the main tourist attraction of the port, begins to the north.

 

For those with time and a bohemian spirit, during the night from Tuesday to Sunday, bars, discos and karaoke bars open in Las Peñas. Friends from the past can visit Plaza Francisco de Orellana or the Memorial to Leon Febres Cordero, former president of Ecuador and former mayor of Guayaquil.

 

Attached to the memory of Las Peñas are the names of at least 11 former presidents of Ecuador who once lived there. Writers, historians, painters, educators, musicians, made it their home. The sculptor Yela Loffredo Rodríguez founded the "Asociación Cultural Las Peñas" in this neighborhood. Three names attract attention. Ernesto "Che" Guevara, lived there for a short time. And Ernest Hemingway and Pablo Neruda, winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature, were its illustrious visitors.