Upon arrival into my host city, Guayaquil, Ecuador, I was surprised to see their metro-oriented environment. In every area of the city, there are streets filled with business buildings, apartments, highways and universities. This inspired me to find the older parts of the city that demonstrate the colonial style presented to Ecuador after being conquered by Spain. I realized that there were some, but not many, colonial landmarks to see and the city is currently working to bring it back.
The Guayaquil community has experienced a major loss in the historical architecture of their city. When the country of Ecuador was conquered by Spain in 1532, Guayaquil's land was used mostly to export goods and products to the King of Spain and to build new ships for exploration missions. Because Guayaquil's city was used as a port, the Spaniards did not have a great interest in building up the city with the architecture and style of their homeland. The few fancy buildings that were built included churches and government buildings, all of which were destroyed by fires. However, Guayaquil's government has launched a project to restore the beauty of their colonial architecture.
