Gradually, and with trepidation, life in Guayaquil is beginning to return.

Few residents have fully recovered from the shock – from the outright chaos and bloodshed – of this week, a moment which will live long in the city’s collective memory.

But Dina Moreno can’t afford to stay home any longer. She sells mobile phone accessories at Guayaquil’s biggest covered market and, like many of her fellow stallholders, has ventured out to open her business and get back to work.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” she recalls with a shudder. “When we saw what was happening at the TV station and we heard gunshots, everyone went crazy and started shutting up their shops and trying to get home.”

Behind her, as she talks, Dina’s seven-year-old son plays with some mobile phone covers. Schools in the city remain closed after the explosion of gang violence. Such was her loss of income from two days with no sales, Dina had no choice but to bring him to work.