As we were out on an excursion this morning, we opted for a room service breakfast, the ship having docked in Guayaquil.

Whereas the last time we did this worked well, not so good this time. Jean had ordered a salmon and cream cheese bagel, but the bagel turned up naked. Also, it wasn’t as hot as it could have been. Pity, but it means we’ll revert to getting out of the room for breakfast.

Our excursion this morning was titled Arts and Crafts of Guayaquil (it was the included one).

It was hot (33⁰), much hotter and more humid than Lima.

Our guide was Felix, born and brought up in Guayaquil. The coach was of a certain age and very noisy, and it was difficult to hear Felix over the audio system.

He regaled us on the way to Las Peñas, an older part of Guayaquil, with facts about the city, but very little I didn’t already know. The name comes from the strategically important Guevas River.

It’s not a lovely place. Not quite as shabby as Lima, but industrial and rundown. It is the commercial capital of Ecuador.

It recently had a reputation for drugs gang warfare, causing the resignation of the then president. The new guy seems to be doing a much better job. He has created tourist police, and they were everywhere, taking pictures of us on their phones, presumably to ensure some kind of safety record. Slightly disconcerting, but there was not a shred of evidence of violent activity. Felix assured us that downtown Guayaquil was now safe. We ain’t taking the chance.

Right in front of the cathedral of San Pedro is a small iguana park. The iguana is an iconic animal in Ecuador. I managed to get a poor picture of one up a tree.

We stopped at the bottom of Santa Ana Hill. 444 steps up was a monument to the foundation of the city, but we didn’t even go up one step.

Felix led us up a side street which gave us a view of some wooden houses built in the early 20th century. Not sure why. There was also a retail opportunity for chocolate – cacao is another major Ecuadorian export.

The clue is in the title. Next stop was an artisanal market and we were allocated a whole hour here. As I hate this sort of thing like poison, I opted to stay on the air-conditioned coach. Right decision, as it turned out. People returned to the bus within 15 minutes, saying there was nothing there of any value whatsoever. Jean had a wander round with two Brits we have befriended, Suzanne and Richard, but they all came back with nothing.

Next was a Panama hat retail opportunity. We stopped near a small courtyard where a woman was demonstrating the construction of one of these hats.

This was at least worth seeing, but – guess what? Another retail opportunity presented itself with a visit to a Panama hat factory. Except that it wasn’t a factory at all – just a shop flogging these hats.

The name comes from the hats made for those working on the Panama Canal, of which much more later on this blog. However, they’re not made in Panama – the vast majority are made in Ecuador.

It was packed and noisy. Nothing for me here, so I went back to the air-conditioned coach, once again to be joined by others of a similar disposition. Suzanne and Richard, bless them, allowed Jean to join them and they came back with hats.

Mercifully, that was the last stop before returning to the ship. You have probably gathered that I didn’t enjoy this much, and you’d be right.

There was a stampede for lunch at The Marquee on Deck 10, but, by God, it was hot. A number of people decided to wait until a place in the shade was available, but we decided to risk it on condition I fetched our hats from the cabin.

I still had very little appetite – this on a cruise ship, for heaven’s sake! – but Jean was hungry. It was at this point I decided I needed to seek medical advice. I was also feeling dog-tired again and was lousy company.

I had a nice rest in the cabin and went down to the ship’s medical centre. I was seen very quickly and, after a fair amount of paperwork, a doctor who must have been 6’6″ tall, examined me.

His diagnosis? Acute bronchitis.

I hadn’t expected this, and I’m still not sure it’s the right one, but I was prescribed antibiotics, Beecham’s in tablet form and some Strepsils. Total cost? A hair-raising $177, including a consultation fee of $125. Hopefully I can get some of this back on insurance…..

Dinner was in La Terrazza, where all I could manage was half a bowl of pasta. I have also lost my sense of taste and smell, a common symptom for me when full of snot.

I managed to attend the show, which was music from Elvis Presley, the Rat Pack and James Bond. All a bit random, and the Presley tracks were the balladic ones – no Hound Dog or Heartbreak Hotel, the ones I really like. All quite well done, and Suzanne gave me some lozenges which help her when she gets bouts of bronchitis. Above and beyond, this. I am so grateful.

Time for bed, and just hope I get a good night’s kip.