History

With more than 400 years old, Las Peñas was the first neighborhood of Guayaquil. It took its name from its cliffs and rocks that formed the hill, when the Spaniards settled, back in the 16th century. In 1982, the neighborhood was declared Cultural Heritage of Ecuador and from 2002 to 2008, it had a process of restoration and regeneration carried out by the Municipality of Guayaquil.

This neighborhood, born in the colonial era, was twice destroyed by the fires that assailed Guayaquil. The fact that it was rebuilt in times of the Republic, made it lose its condition of colonial architecture.

Distinguished personalities of Guayaquil lived in the neighborhood, including eleven presidents of the republic, such as Carlos Arroyo del Rio, Francisco Robles, Jose Luis Tamayo, Carlos Julio Arosemena Tola, Alfredo Baquerizo Moreno and Eloy Alfaro; writers like Enrique Gil Gilbert, historians like Rafael Pino Roca, painters like Manuel Rendon Seminario and Alfredo Espinoza Tamayo, the educator Rita Lecumberry, the musician Antonio Neumane author of the music of the National Anthem. It is said that even the revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara lived here for some time, giving free pediatric assistance to its residents, and that the neighborhood was visited by the American writer Ernest Hemingway and the Chilean poet Neftali Reyes better known as Pablo Neruda.

Attraction

It has a unique architectural style, with its beautiful wooden houses, its colorful and romantic aspect of narrow and cobbled streets; its natural landscape facing the river and its bohemian atmosphere.

Source: Guayaquil es mi destino