Manta, Ecuador
Our first impression from balcony? Giant city! But then my eyes focused on the beaches and I was ready to jump on the shuttle. Celebrity provided a quick ride to the marketplace by the sea. Tables of trinkets... some were the handiwork of locals, others bordered on garage sale.
Having just come though the Panama Canal, I should have expected to see hats...but I was surprised. There were many booths full of Panama Hats. We didn't realize until later that the hats roll up for easy packing. So we missed an opportunity to buy a hat from an area near Panama!
Across the street from the marketplace was a beautiful beach. It was a rather busy street, as it is the main route to the airport. There is an over road crosswalk but we chose to head deeper into the town to explore. See our ship in the background?
Wandering around, we came to the Parque de la Madre. It seemed to be quite a gathering place for locals. Children playing on the swings, people engaged in conversation... nice and relaxing spot. I'm a sucker for flowers, so bougainvillea caught my attention.
What also caught my attention was this magnificent tree! It reminded me of the Banyan trees in Lahaina, Maui. Something soothing about these beautiful hanging trees. I loved seeing the kids run around while the adults relaxed in the park under this tree... slow down the pace!
Okay... not exactly a "scenic" photo but it definitely caught our attention. We saw this lady and initially thought she was carrying a baby. Upon closer look, we thought actually she was carrying her puppy. When we got up next to her, we realized it was a stuffed animal... what???
Our roaming continued through this little town, there were many pharmacies but not an overabundance of touristy shops. With lots of crumbling buildings, much of the town is under construction... except this church! You'll see as I recreate and document past travels, I have a thing for churches. This is the Inglesia la Merced.
Employees were just setting up for lunch at this cute outdoor restaurant. Sal y Pimienta has indoor and outdoor seating. Located to the right of the church as you walk out, it's a little bit of a climb if coming from the market area.
Manta is the world capital of tuna, but there are also an unusual number of sculptures! These two had another "friend" sitting on a bench across the street.
Since Hurricane Harvey hit on August 28th, we have been to hardware, building supply stores at least once a day and often more. While walking through this sleepy town, we passed this hardware store and were drawn to it like magnets! We got a good laugh when we realized we both headed in the door like it was a normal thing to see in Manta.
We kept seeing stacks of cardboard rectangles as we walked down the streets. At first, we thought this was how recycling was done. Then we reached this motorcycle monitored parking space. Notice each seat has a piece of cardboard on it... that way the seats aren't too hot when the owner comes back outside. Clever...
Feeling a bit lazy and wanting to check the internet to see if we were missing anything amazing, we stopped by Casa Rosada. The plan was to have Cappacino but we ended up adding pineapple upside-down cake! Boy, was it good!!! Sitting outside was enjoyable and security guards dressed in suits subtly shooed away street venders/beggars.
Sitting across the road from us, was a guy preparing oranges.
It is not unusualy for port towns to have venders who aggessively attempt to sell watches, selfie sticks or other touristy items. I have to admit, this is the first time I've seen someone walking down the street with a large painting of The Last Supper and carpeting...
Sitting under the umbrella at the cafe was nice, but so was seeing it when we looked back. Stately pink building, it was perfect next to the park!
When we got back to port, we spent a bit of time watching truck after truck be filled the tuna straight off the cooler ships. I couldn't believe how much fish there was! For me, it was exciting, for Barry... not so much :-)
Sitting just off the ship, workers waited to load supplies for the rest of our journey. Sacks full of coconuts, star fruit and dragon fruit.Yum!
This is one piece of art found around the ship. Every time we passed it, Barry made a comment because it reminded him of his recently flooded BMW motorcycle. Due to the numbers of flooded vehicles, they were all crushed when insurance transaction was complete. It was a little sad to think of our beautiful bike smashed...
No matter how a day goes, it always ends nicely if a bottle of Caymus is waiting. We are quite partial to California reds, especially Napa area. Until next post...
