Mar 17, 2013 - Manta, Ecuador

March 17, 2013 (St. Patrick’s Day) Manta, Ecuador Manta is the main “industrial” city of Ecuador and is also their main shipping port. It is a major supplier of tuna to world markets, or so we were told. Ecuador is a very small country and there is not much here. The people are very friendly though. We had an afternoon tour of the ivory nut factory and Montecristi today. The started at the Indian market in “downtown” Montecristi, a short bus ride from Manta. We had a demonstration of how handmade Panama hats are made after which we were...

Jan 14, 2013 - Manta, Ecuador and "Panama" hats

Today started a little gloomy, misty, and just not so nice, but ended up as a real treat. We had a very comprehensive tour of both a hat factory and a button factory, along with a food demo. It might not sound very exciting, but stick around and see. We are today in Ecuador, the home of the Panama hat. Am I smoking something? Wait and see… Before we go there, let me tell you about our first stop: a demonstration of how they make one of Ecuador’s national dishes: bolon. Bolon is a basically a plantain “patty” or filled “pastry.” They start...

Dec 24, 2012 - at sea

12/24 at sea toward Costa Rica The ocean is a little rougher today because we are quite far from land. It was announced that someone fell in the shower, and that we are supposed to hold onto rails. Really, it wasn’t as rocky as that day much earlier in our voyage. Sessions held today weren’t of that much interest so I watched a few from our room. That’s a nice convenience…if you don’t want to sit in the chilly Union lounge listening to a presentation, you can turn on your room’s TV & watch it in the comfort of your cabin. Julian Bond gave...

Dec 23, 2012 - Manta, Ecuador

12/23 in Manta, Ecuador The entertainer last night was a Gaucho plus his wife. He was quite funny. I don’t know what their tools of the trade are called, so I’ll just describe them as short ropes with hard balls on the end which made lots of noise when they were twirled & the balls banged on the floor. In Manta we are less than a degree south of the equator. The climate varies little during the year. Hours of daylight are almost equal year round. We happened to hit an overcast day with a slight breeze and plenty of humidity. Manta is a...

Dec 22, 2012 - At sea from Callao, Peru to Manta, Ecuador

12/22 a day at sea It’s great to be back to something familiar where we don’t have to worry about drinking water from the tap and eating lettuce salads. We noticed a number of new people on board the ship. Portions of the cruise can be arranged if you can’t do it all. There were sessions today on writing, painting, meditation, creating blogs, and useful free apps plus others. Our native Nebraska guy, Dean Jacobs, gave his final photographic journal presentation this morning. It was a 5-month trip down the Amazon. You can see his fabulous...

Dec 15, 2012 - Manta, Ecuador - Home of the Panama Hat

We travelled by coach to MontiChristi from the port of Manta to watch Panama Hats being made. Panama hats are all made in Ecuador and were made famous by United States provisioners during the construction of the Panama Canal when they sent Jamaican labourers home on leave in white suits and a Panama Hat to entice more Jamaican men to the construction of the canal. Creating the image of the Panama Man. We were quickly whisked through the indian markets and on to see a typical Ecuadorian house and the making of the ticola palm into the straw...

Mar 9, 2012 - Manta, Ecuador

We had some time before our tour this morning, so after breakfast at Sabatini’s, Ernie and I walked the outside upper decks to see what was there. We already knew that Manta was the Tuna capital of the world from our visit here in 2009. We noticed the ship in the berth next to us was unloading and the cargo was tuna! The fish were huge, and being lifted from the cargo bays in huge nets and then dropped into containers on trucks. The tuna were frozen whole, and most of it is processed right here in Manta. On the other side another cargo ship...

Mar 6, 2011 - Manta

Sunday, March 6, 2011 The little town of Manta is quiet on the Sunday morning after celebrating Carnival last night. Streets had been closed off so people could go to the beach to hear their favorite music. The shuttle that usually ran from the ship into town was also not available. But today it will be running normally. Eduardo has been our guide throughout Ecuador as he was today. Manta is a fishing port with ships bringing in shrimp, yellow fin tuna, dorado (mahi mahi) and eel. Many ships and small boats were scattered about and where...

Feb 26, 2010 - Moving on to Manta and Quito

We took the bus from Puerto Lopez at 9:20 AM. Cost was $3. About 3 hours later we arrived in Manta after an exciting ride north up the coast of Ecuador. There were long stretches of deserted beaches and once in a while we came to a small fishing town along the way. My favorite was the little town of Puerto Cayo, a clean and small place right on the beach in the middle of nowhere. I could only get a look at it from the bus. We hopped a taxi to Manta airport for our 2:20 flight to Quito. The flight was $60. Forty-five minutes later we...

Jan 28, 2010 - In Manta

Arrived to Manta - its a quiet busy harbour town but still you can move around in a safe way. The city divides into two parts. Tarqui on the east is not that nice, but its worth to visit its beach especially in the morning when all the fishermen bring their catch to sell it directly on the shore. Also you can see how they still build ships out of wood - very impressive. The Manta Tribe that lived here from 500 - 1500 and gave the city its name where very famous for being excellent sailors - they sailed to peru, central america and maybe...

Mar 10, 2009 - Manta, Ecuador 16th Port of Call

Ecuador straddles the equator and is the smallest of the Andean countries in South America. At about the same size as the state of Nevada, the geography is diverse and the countryside spectacular. Manta, a mid-sized city, is fifth most population cities in Ecuador. It is a modern, prosperous city and that will be the impression that strikes you when you get off the ship, rather than that of some historic, colonial city. (There's even U.S. military people stationed there. That's a big part of why the place has boomed.) Manta is very poor, &...

Feb 16, 2009 - Mudslide hell and Manta

So Mar and I got a taxi into San Vicente and waited for what seemed like hours at the rather open and sketchy, and extremely hot bus station. The bus arrived late but we had comforted ourselves with the knowledge that we were in the front row and would have ample row with which to relax and sleep. The bus was less than executive and tons of drunk teens boarded the bus hurriedly pushing an older woman out of their way in the process. The bus was quickly full with people sitting and standing and we were manoeuvering through the dark, narrow...