La Martha

The home where Marsha and I keep our extra things is located in the section of Guayaquil known as La Martha.  It's a very interesting place - built on the hillside.  The entrance to the neighborhood, next to the Civil Registry building, is commercial in nature with little shops and restaurants lining both sides of the street.  The streets themselves are full of jaywalking pedestrians and honking vehicles.  Many of the homes in La Martha have no direct access to the street since they are built right into the hillside.  That means that sidewalks and stairways connect residences until you arrive at another street.  It's not an easy thing to take pictures of, in part because it's not the best place to be waving around a phone or a camera.  Not many tourists venture in to this part of the city, so we stand out a bit.  Anyway, on Sunday afternoon, February 14, when our friend, Andrés, was bring us back to La Martha after having had lunch in his home, I managed to get a few shots of the area from the back of his truck.  Maybe I'll have better luck another time, but for now these can give you a little idea.

Our friends, Sergio and Fanny, live just up this staircase (on the far right side of the yellow building you can see at the top).

Moisés and María live at the end of this block.  

(up the stairs and to the right)