Manta is the major Ecuadorian port. Fishing is very important and several of the traffic circles along the coastal road have monuments to fishing and tuna.
We took a morning tour that introduced us to four important aspects of Ecuadorian culture. The first stop was a small museum near the dock where we were introduced to not just the pre-columbian cultures but to cultures from 3000-5000 BCE, which were clay working to metal working groups. One of the groups introduced building their sacred building on top of mounds.
The second stop was in a village known for making burlap bags from agave leaves. They showed us all of the stages from scraping the flesh from fresh leaves, to separating the fibers, to spinning the fibers into threads, to spooling the threads, to weaving the fabric. Fortunately for the village, as the world becomes more environmentally aware, there is more demand for natural fabrics, especially for exporting Ecuadorian coffee!
Next we went to a button factory. They make buttons for export from “vegetable ivory” that comes from the nuts of a coconut relative called tagua. The nuts are about the size of a small fist. They dry the nuts, then saw then into quarter-inch slices, then drill out the button. There is various sorting of the slices and the buttons for size and uniformity. Unfortunately, although there are some protections for their fingers, there are none for their lungs, and there was essentially saw dust everywhere.
Finally, we went to Monticristi, the origin of the Panama hat. There are various stories explaining the misnomer, but they all involve some connection to Panama, obviously. The fiber comes from a relative of the palm (the toquilla straw plant or Carludovica palmata) and involves many steps. Depending how finely they make the fiber and hence the weave, Ecuadorian hats can cost from $10 to $1500! (Oh, I forgot, Ecuador uses the US dollar for its currency.) Of course, the last stop was a hat market, and Janice and I each bought a hat. They are supposed to make good travel hats since they can be rolled up and washed as needed while still retaining their shape. Traditionally, they come with a balsa wood box for storage.
Upon returning to the ship, we received an invitation from Cruise Specialists for a lunch at the Pinnacle Grill on the sea day following Peru. CS has several social events over the course of the cruise so their clients can get to know each other. It is also part of their marketing; a way to make their clients feel special.
We also received an information form for our landing in Peru. For the two segments we are on, only Australia required us to obtain a visa before sailing, and theirs is electronic at no cost. Some countries require a page in your passport and charge over one hundred dollars. Other countries let the ship acquire our visas or landing cards. Peru just had a customs form for declaring that we wern’t carrying in excess cash, etc.
After dinner, I skipped the entertainer, an Argentinian singer. Apparently I didn’t miss much. Janice and I ended the evening listening to Diane in the piano bar and had another two-for-one, this time a Mexican Chocolate, hot chocolate w/Kahlua.