(Version française plus bas)

I hadn’t planned to visit Guayaquil. From the little I knew, it was too big, too urban of a city with too many skyscrapers and a high crime rate. Until some friends told me that in late medieval times, there used to be a lot of piracy activity. That was enough to change my mind.

You see, I am from the coast. Just like Guayaquil on the Guayas river, my hometown is located in the Loire river estuary. Just like Guyaquil’s Malecón, my hometown recently built a waterfront with fancy cafés and places to hang out. It’s called Le Hangar à Bananes (The Banana Warehouse) and has become a popular place to go out.

Unlike Guayaquil however, Nantes doesn’t have a lighthouse nor did we have pirates, although we were involved in transatlantic slave trade…

Patting an iguana

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