Day 7 Manta, Eauador

Day 7 - Manta, Equador

The ship docked at 4.00 AM and we were ready for our private vehicle at 8:45 AM   Manta is making a solid effort at attracting tourists.  The first place they took us was to a modern, newly constructed tourist centre in Monticristi, where they had on display an old steam locomotive and some large modern sculpture as you will see in the photos.  Linda and Garry both shopped for Panama hats which are all made in Equador and apparently always have been.  We saw how the hats were made and if you look carefully at the picture below you will see three women hand-making these famous hats.  There is much painstaking skilled labour in each hat, especially the finely-woven ones which can cost about $200.  The standard ones like mine were about $25.  Karen bought one for Jonathan which had a handsome brown band.  It was the type that can be folded right up and rolled into a small box about 3" x 3" x 10" and made from very light but strong balsa wood.  On our ship this afternoon one can now see many Panama hats.  

We then drove through Manta (not too interesting) and eventually went back to the beach near the ship and had a cool, refreshing Cervaisa. On the way back to the ship I spotted a bus driver who had found a shady spot for a siesta in the 100 degree heat.....under his bus.

Jane has been released from isolation, and I found her on the back deck, knitting.  She is trying to recover to perfect health in the next few days for our trek to Machu Picchu.