RANSVESTIA

as they do in the States and Europe. Then it was back aboard and off to Guayaquil.

We landed in Quayaquil about 3 p.m. and after passing through immigration and customs I came out the other end and started looking for the tour guide who was supposed to meet me. No one recognized me and I couldn't see anyone with any ID as a tourist guide. I went on outside to the taxi stand and though I "no habla Espanol," I showed a taxi driver the voucher that said Metropolitan tours on it and he indicated he knew who I was looking for. He went back through the guarded gate and I followed him and he finally saw the guy who was supposed to meet me and we got together. But that's a little upsetting, too, expecting to be met and taken to a hotel and then not finding the man.

But he got me into a taxi and we arrived at the hotel and checked in. I found out where I would have to walk to to find a money exchange place and leaving my baggage in the room I took off. I was wearing white flat shoes and bobby socks and a dress so I attracted considerable attention from the others on the street. Guayaquil would be a TV's delight because every woman in town except the old, the young and the Indians wears high heeled shoes. You have never seen so many little stores selling women's shoes-often three or four in the same block. Not necessarily regular big shoe stores but little hole-in- the-wall places with maybe a dozen styles in the windows. So I in my flats and bobby socks was a conspicuous minority. But I got the checks changed and on the way back bought a nice large mango from one of the street peddlers to have half for desert that night and the other half for breakfast in the morning.

Walking around town you as a stranger run a definite risk of a sprained ankle since each shop seems to be responsible for the side- walk construction right in front of the store and no two of them are at the same level so you are forever stepping up or down a few inches every 20 feet or so. If you miss you either stub your toe against a higher section or jar yourself unexpectedly by stepping down four to six inches. The curb side of every street is lined with street vendors selling everything you can think of and this cuts pedestrian space to a minimum and it's pretty crowded to walk.

Well up early the next morning to be taken back to the airport to catch the plane out to the Islands. They are 700 miles west of

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