Chacayacu

Chacayacu lies in the coastal lowlands east of the Gulf of Guayaquil, on a route towards the Andean highlands. Local tradition recalls an Indigenous settlement on the river of that name, where shipwrecked Spaniards were helped on their way inland towards Cuenca. The place later became known as Naranjal, while its earlier name survived in the river and in the colonial name San Jacinto de Chacayacu.