The Masked Pirate

Guayaquil, 1687

The pages of Guayaquil’s Harbour have not written worse tragedy than the one that occurred in 1687. The very noble and loyal city of Santiago de Guayaquil was completely ruined. Seventy-four fellow citizens offered their lives in the pirate invasion… Nobody gave them honor as heroes, although they deserved it. Many of them were not even buried. Many families suddenly moved from opulence to the most humiliating misery. The population fled in terror to the interior of the Country and Guayaquil remained devastated for several years. It was the city of corpses, the city of memories, the city of terror… No one walked again its streets anymore. In 1688 his demolition was ordered. But who remembers colonial Guayaquil? Who remembers that beautiful town that one day had the longest bridge in the world? The centuries passed and buried his memory, which Riofrio now takes out of the trunk and dust off in a masterly manner. This book tells us about the catastrophe of 1687, with characters perfectly sculpted by Riofrío's pen. Throughout these lines their customs, voices and thoughts appear diaphanous. A historical novel that revives in a very colorful way the forgotten history of old Guayaquil times.