MANTA ECUADOR
This morning we woke up and overnight we had arrived in Manta Ecuador. Today we had signed up for an excursion. First we went on to visit a place where they are making the famous Panama Hats. Yes, the Panama hats are made in Ecuador. It was President Rooseveld who gave the hat that name when the Panama Canal was being built. Our next stop was at a button factory. The buttons are made from a type of coconut seed what looks like small stones. When you cut the seeds, the inside looks a lot like ivory. Jewelery is also being made of these seeds. Our 3th stop was at an eco lodge in the rain forest where we were shown how to make a dish from something what looked like a big green plantain.. On our way back to Manta we stopped at an wonderfull beach called San Lorenzo beach. We spend an hour here that gave us time to get our feet wet in the 75 deg F ocean water and have a cold beer at an local beach restaurant. We continued our trip back through one of the more wealthier neighbourhoods of Manta. Manta has a large fishing industry. There are multiple fish processing plants in Manta and large quantities of tuna is exported. The harbour in Manta is crowded with fishing vessels of various sizes.
Last night we had dinner outside on the back deck of the ship.
Cheers
“travel,”south america”,”cruise”
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