Malecón 2000 (Malecón Simón Bolívar), La Rotonda & MAAC Guide, Guayaquil

Stretching for 2.5 kilometres (twenty-six city blocks) along the western bank of the Río Guayas from Calle Cuenca in the south to the foot of Barrio Las Peñas in the north, Malecón Simón Bolívar, universally known as Malecón 2000, is one of Latin America's flagship urban waterfront transformations. Rebuilt on piers over the river and inaugurated in stages between October 1999 and 2000, this gated, security-patrolled park divides naturally into three walking sectors.

1. Southern & Central Sectors: Palacio de Cristal (1908), Torre Morisca (1931) & Civic Palaces

• Palacio de Cristal (Antiguo Mercado Sur, 1908): Entering at the southern end near Calle Sargento Vargas brings you to the prefabricated wrought-iron and glass pavilion of the former Southern Market, fabricated in Belgium by engineers from the workshop of Gustave Eiffel, assembled in Guayaquil between 1905 and 1908, and restored in 2002 as an airy exhibition hall overlooking the river.
• Torre Morisca (Clock Tower, 1931) & Plaza de la Administración: Walking north through shaded avenues of mango and royal palm trees brings you to the four-storey octagonal Torre Morisca (Moorish Clock Tower), built in 1931 by architect Francisco Maccaferri and crowned with a Byzantine-Moorish tiled dome housing the historic 1842 London clock purchased by Governor Vicente Rocafuerte. Across the Malecón avenue stand the twin Neo-Classical arcades of the 1929 Palacio Municipal (City Hall) and the 1924 Gobernación del Guayas.

2. Hemiciclo de la Rotonda (1938) & the 1822 Guayaquil Conference

• Hemiciclo de la Rotonda (Where Bolívar Met San Martín in 1822): Directly at the riverfront foot of Bulevar 9 de Octubre stands Guayaquil's most famous monument. Inaugurated in 1938 and sculpted by Spanish artist José Antonio Homs, the semicircular marble colonnade frames larger-than-life bronze statues of northern liberator Simón Bolívar and southern liberator José de San Martín clasping hands in commemoration of their secret 26 to 27 July 1822 Guayaquil Conference (La Entrevista de Guayaquil), which decided the political future of Peru and South America.

3. Jardines del Malecón, La Perla (57m) & the MAAC Museum

North of La Rotonda, wooden footbridges wind through the Jardines del Malecón (displaying over 350 native coastal plant species alongside lagoons and parrots) to the northern cultural esplanade. Here you can ride an air-conditioned gondola on La Perla, South America's tallest riverside Ferris wheel at 57 metres, and step inside the boat-shaped Museo Antropológico y de Arte Contemporáneo (MAAC) to view 10,000 archaeological pieces from coastal Ecuador's ancient Valdivia (3500 BC), Machalilla, Chorrera, Guangala, Bahía, and Manteño-Huancavilca cultures alongside modern Ecuadorian masters; check official MAAC and Malecón 2000 portals for current exhibition hours.