“On this site, where Hotel Río Guayas is located, and whose last building was the house belonging to the former president of the Republic, Dr. Carlos Alberto Arroyo del Río (1940-1944), as happened with its predecessors, are the faithful reflection of the future of the neighborhood, which due to its double condition of being located on the north bank of the estuary, and settling in the natural base of Cerrito Verde, today Cerro Santa Ana, became a strategic and at the same time vulnerable location, during the Colonia, scene of heroic episodes of courage and nobility of its noble people in defense of the city and resilience in the face of the inexorable adversity of the passage of time and the elements.
The postcard of a Jesuit missionary from the 18th century, bequeaths us with its verses, a picturesque image of the spring seat of Guayaquil:
“Las Peñas, an Italian name that means The Rocks, is a neighborhood located on a slope of fractured rocks, of the Santa Ana hill, whose bases start from the same beach where the great Bodegas and Daule rivers converge. (…)
There all the houses are built as an open-air stage or theater in the middle of fruit trees and flowers and are very fresh and well ventilated, apart from the fact that the air is healthy you can enjoy the most beautiful, pleasant and delicious view. ”.
Mario Cicala S.J. Century XVIII