Manta is a small port city in Ecuador, about 2 hours from Quito. Poverty is readily apparent here. I don’t know much about the politics of Ecuador, but our tour guide seemed to be pleased that the government was now collecting past due taxes from corporations. The money seems to be being spent on repaving all the roads in the area which really, really need it.
We were taken first to a small farmhouse to show how the locals make Panamanian hats. Distributors buy the hats from the families and export them around the world. The twenty-two of us overwhelmed the tiny yard with its chickens, pigs and of course, a donkey.
Then it was on to the foothills to the community of Montecristi. The small colonial town was purported to be famous for its weaving and wicker work as well as the birthplace of the Panama hat. All that was there was a well maintained church and a tattered flea market. We were greatly disappointed.
Next up was a photo stop of some local yacht building and then the archaeological museum located just outside the pier entrance. The musuem had a very small but good collection of pre-Columbian artifacts. They seemed to be very proud of how they had saved these treasures from the Spaniards.
Anyway, Ecuador is just not our thing I guess. Way too much of the rest of the world to see first before we’d revisit. We do cross the equator tonight so hopefully things will begin to cool down a bit as we near San Francisco.
Good night!
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