Carnival Salinas 2019

Rescued from the beach here in Salinas

Fire department going out on a rescue

Looks like it was hit by a propeller

coast guard searching

the city works hard to keep the place clean

one boy recovered

helicopter search and rescue 

coast guard and navy

Carnival traffic

foam and water is thrown into the crowds

Guard kitty

so people can park signs are pulled out of the ground

Encouraging the public to clean up after them

police find a power cable down across the road

small shops open all hours

Earthquake February

2019

Palace hotel Guayaquil

we enjoyed previous stays

This morning, (22/2/2019 05.20 hrs) we were awakened by an earthquake-- 7.5.
We quickly got dressed and made our way down to the ground floor.
There was no alarm sounding, no flashing lights. What there was - confusion and little inconvenience.
We had no direction from the staff to move to an assembly point; there was no head count.
So the staff did not know if everyone had evacuated the building.
The person at the front desk had no real idea of what should be done.
There was no roll call or check to see if the guests were all there or if any guests needed any help.
I was not sure if they had a plan to implement for unplanned events.
We introduced ourselves as Red Cross volunteers- nurse and paramedic.
We found no plan or first aid kits ( we have
our own); every single guest we saw were on their phones.
We felt that the staff were not prepared for such an event.
As most of the staff ambled around the front desk, not one of them seemed to take charge and try to provide information to the guests.
Just as the guests felt it was safe to return to their rooms, a second earthquake was felt --5.9 ,which brought even more guests out onto the street.
We were shocked that no attempt was made by the staff to ensure that the guests were evacuated from the building.
This is not a review. This was our experience; it turned out well, this time.