Manta Ecuador

Wednesday, Jan 12, 2011 – Manta, Ecuador
Even though Ecuador is one of South America’s smallest nations, it is a place of broad cultural diversity. The country was named for its latitude and Quito, capital since 1830, is situated on the imaginary line. Manta is the 2nd busiest port, after Guayaqauil. Just a few miles from the coast, banana, cocoa and rice plantations spread inland all the way to the base of the sierra. Panama hats originated in Montechristi, Ecuador! Their currency is the US dollar. There is a rich pre-Columbian history; the Spaniards/ conquistadors looted much Incan gold and introduced the horse to the region.

Cloudy and warm; the dock is large and we had the U.S. Navy’s HSV2 docked next to us. Of course, we tried to get onboard but were denied access. It is actually the catamaran ferry used in Hobart, Australia and has been converted to a Goodwill vessel. They dropped off water supplies in Haiti, an ambulance in Guatemala, built a classroom on an older school in Peru and will be in Manta for three weeks meeting with doctors, schools, orphanages and other military officials for training. It is all gray and has a huge cavity for storage. There were guards on the top deck and we saw a female guard, with a machine gun, at the front of the ship. There were Ecuadorian guards around the fort also.

Free shuttle to the port entrance and while still in the port area, we were approached to hire a taxi for $80 to go to Machalilla. We declined and outside the port, hired a taxi for $40 for the day. Jose was our driver and we found out the muffler on the car was bad so it smelled terribly as he was driving – stinky! But we had the windows open the entire time. We drove along E15, a brand new highway along the coast. Wonderful road with very nice views of the beaches, small villages with small restaurants, many colorful blue and white fishing boats, a small mining area for petrochemicals/concrete (hard to tell what it was for), desert-like canyons with spindly candelabra cacti…we continued for about 1.5 hours and then we approached the Machalilla National Park, one of the most threatened tropical forests in the world. The park preserves a small part of the country’s rapidly vanishing coastal habitats, beach, tropical dry forest, cloud forest and ocean.

After paying a park entrance fee of $5 per person, we continued on a dirt road for 4+ miles to the small village of Agua Blanca, an indigenous community. It is nothing more than a scattering of simple wood and bamboo dwellings and the citizens live simply with the wandering cows, pigs and goats (for meat only), chickens, birds, horses…the bamboo homes have beautiful designs and rooms can be rented for $6 a night. There is a small archeological museum with well-preserved ceramics and funeral urns. The sulfur pool is a combination of hot water and therapeutic mud and was in a relaxing setting. The citizens bathe there and are said to have soft skin and it is difficult to tell their ages. There is woman of 105+ years old in the village.

We walked through the forest and saw the algarobo tree, which as a green bark and is able to photosynthesize even when it loses its leaves. The ceiba/kapok tree yield a fiber that floats and doesn’t get waterlogged; it was used in life jackets. The birds were singing beautiful chirps and we saw the pigs wandering and in the yards of the homes. We treated the driver and guide to drinks and were pleasantly surprised when 5 drinks and one snack cost $1.75 total! Big spenders…

During the drive back to Manta, the driver tried to buy some fresh fish for dinner but they supplies were already sold. It was interesting that the fish were still there in the shop but had been sold.

Back in Manta, he left us at the Civic Plaza, where there was a large outdoor market with many vendors. All kinds of crafts: carvings from the tagua nut (similar to ivory), leather belts, silver jewelry, weavings, Panama hats (yes, they are made here in Ecuador), feather paintings, coffee beans…very nice market and I’m sure they do well when a ship is in town.

We walked back to the port, tried to get on the internet but failed and were ready to rest since it was quite humid and hot when we did not have the car windows to cool us down!
My choice for dinner was a shrimp/crab/scallop brioche, romaine salad with nuts and raisins and cucumbers/tomatoes/carrots, a seafood skewer with vegetables and carrot cake – my favorite!
Daniel Bouchet entertained, an Argentinian singer now living in Miami. Laundry and computer work and ready for bed!

I’ve pictures to upload but the connection is too slow…may have to wait until Lima, Peru/Saturday to attempt that one!