Ecuador 2017: Guayaquil: Cangrejos and Rio Guayas

Cangrejos
Today was cangrejo day! Cangrejos is the star dish of Guayaquil and has long been one of the favorite delicacies of the coastal city. Cangrejos are crabs but they are not just ordinary crabs. These crabs are found in mangroves and live in the dirt. Kary had been telling me how delicious these crabs are for the last 5 months and I finally have a chance to taste them!

I met up with Kary before lunch and we took a taxi to a neighborhood called MiraFlores. This neighborhood is known for it's restaurants, bars and also Cangrejos. In a cangrejo restaurant, cutlery and tableclothes are replaced with hammers and I soon found out there is an art to eating cangrejos which Kary was very happy to teach me about :)

Because of my voracious appetite and my tactical decision to skip breakfast, I also ordered conche ceviche in addition to rice and the tales of how delicious these crabs are were finally put to rest. Ceviche is raw seafood marinated in some acidic sauce and is often served as as an appetizer. It's a popular dish in South America (and a lot of other Latin countries including the Philippines).

The price for 6 medium sized crabs was roughly $15USD. The ceviche was around $8USD. So we ended up paying under $30USD in total for our lunch and it was worth every penny!

Kary taught me how to 'properly' eat the cangrego and I learned how to take it apart and eat every piece so as not to let any of it go to to waste. My tutorial also included how to take the head apart because there is some meat inside there also! After eating 1 crab, I was a PRO! Delicious!!

Rio Guayas
After lunch, Kary and I headed back to Malecon 2000 where we took a lancha (boat) tour on the Rio Guayas. We got to see the entire Malecon strip from the river's perspective. The boat ride lasted around an hour and cost only $3USD per person. It was relaxing and fun especially with the loud Latin music blaring in the background!