Anfitrión accesible Puerto Azul

Jose and Lina are nice people with a nice middle class home that is about a 20 minute drive ($10 cab fare one-way) to downtown Guayaquil. It is a somewhat upscale suburban enclave that is physically isolated from Guayauil proper. There are a few restaurants and shops in the neighborhood but for basic groceries you would need to go elsewhere to shop and pay a cab fare. Their home has a 1BR apartment (it appears to be a former maid's quarters) attached to it and that is where I stayed. The interior of the apartment was generally clean and comfortable other than the fact that there is only one window A/C unit in the bedroom. Although it has a kitchen and you can cook, the range is old and does not work properly and the kitchen is under equipped by most standards.

Unfortunately, I did not feel welcome in this home from the start primarily because the family isolated themselves from me during my stay except for a single trip to the grocery store on my first day. Furtermore, the limited interactions I had with my hosts were sterile. The best way I can think to describe my overall stay would be that it was much like staying in a commercial hotel rather than being invited into a family home. My hosts were the landlord and I was the "tenant" rather than a guest. Also, despite the fact that I told Jose in advance of my booking that I was a smoker and would be glad to smoke outside, I was confronted by Jose when I smoked a cigarette in the outside patio/pool area and told that I must not smoke anywhere on the property as he considered smoking in the outside patio/pool area to be "inside" not "outside" (??) so my best advice to anyone who smokes would be not to stay here unless you are comfortable smoking in the street.