Central & South Coast - Adventure Guide to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands - page 307

Visitor Information
Guayaquil

The Ministerio de Turismo office is located on Ycaza
203 and Pichincha, 4-2568-764; and at the airport.

Travel agents in town offer useful information as well.

The Pacífictel communications office, 4-2560-200,

4-2531-713 or
4-2514-710, is in the same building. Internet services are available
in the better hotels and some shopping malls.

is located on P. Carbo and Aguirre. The post office ,

There is a tourism website for Guayaquil at
www.turismoguayas.com.

WWW

The US Embassy is on 9 de Octubre and García Moreno, 4-2323-

570, /fax [phone]. (See the Appendix for locations of other for-

eign embassies.) The Ministerio del Ambiente (Ministry of the En-
vironment) office, where you can obtain permission to visit the
Manglares Churute Ecological Reserve , is on Av. Quito 402 and
P. Solano, 10th floor, 4-2397-730.

A few of the major banks have ATMs that accept credit cards. All are
conveniently visible in the downtown waterfront area and keep regu-
lar hours. The high-end hotels offermoney services, such as accepting
credit cards and changing travelers checks. They also often provide
business/communication services after hours.

Unfortunately, Guayaquil is not the safest city
for the foreign traveler. Pickpockets and thieves
abound, particularly in the poorer suburbs.
Avoid wandering around at night and always
leave valuables at the hotel or keep them well
hidden.

Machalá

The Pacífictel communications office is on Av. Las Palmeras near
the stadium and the post office is at Bolívar and Montalvo. There is
an Internet café on Pichincha and 9 de Mayo. The Banco de
Guayaquil at Rocafuerte and Guayas accepts Visa. Banco del
Pacífico is at Rocafuerte and Junín, for MasterCard and changing
travelers checks.