Earlier this morning at approximately one o'clock the ship passed over the equator as we headed to Manta which is a mid-sized city in Manabí Province, Ecuador. It is the second most populous city in the province, the fifth most populous in the country and, economically, the third most important city of Ecuador. The city of Manta has grown in the last 50 years to nearly 200,000 inhabitants. Its main economic activity is tuna fishing. Other economic activities include tourism and a chemical industry producing anything from cleaning supplies to oils and margarine. Manta is a modern city, but some antique bamboo and ooden houses still remain as a remainder of its old village origins. 
Until recently, it was only known for its important tuna fishing fleet, the production and bottling of vegetable oil, and the commercialization of "paja toquilla" (straw) hats.
The "paja toquilla" hats, commonly known as 'Panama' hats because they were originally sold through the Panama Canal, are made in the nearby town of Montecristi and among other towns in the province, and are of course very well known internationally.
Manta's main beach, Murcielago, has a modern board walk with a variety of restaurants offering local culinary specialities 
and the region's most delicious drinks. In recent years the city has become a popular stop for inter-national cruise liners sailing from the Caribbean to Latin America.
During our 2007 Grand World Voyage we visited Manta and toured the local area including a visit to the town of Montecristi the centre of the Panama hat trade. Although tempted we did not on that trip buy a Panama hat despite the valiant attempts by the numerous local traders to persuade us otherwise. There are just thousands of hats on display to choose from designed for all head sizes and tastes.
At about 6.00 am we picked up the pilot and were alongside our moorings in Manta Docks at 6.30 precisely.
The harbour is just full of tuna fishing vessels mostly anchored a little way out and with a few unloading their enormous catches onto the quay. 
They are all identifiable by their sky high towers with a lookout station perched pr-ecariously on top.
So far no nasty smells but the day is young!
Being a fishing port does however mean there is an annoying amount of flies round the ship today.
The Prinsendam is having its first refuelling today and this is happening just below our balcony but again, thankfully, no nasty smells. Our wonderful Indonesian cabin stewards, Daden and Edgar, were as usual again cleaning our cabin nice and early today as we sat on the balcony out of their way. 
They do work hard and are always remarkably cheerful. Edgar can be seen each morning around about 6 o'clock vacuum cleaning the public area outside the Lido restaurant. They do off course, as well as the morning time, also tidy up our cabin after 8.00 pm when we are at dinner. Most nights they leave a cleverly made towel animal on the bed or sitting on the table. I assume they do sleep for a few hours each night. 
Deden can do a pretty mean imitation of a barking dog which he occas-ionally utters down the corridor to confuse the odd unsuspecting passenger. I have now perfected my own dog bark (quite impressive even if I do say so myself) which is uttered by me in response to the one from Deden. We then both hide out of sight from anyone popping out of their cabin to investigate the commotion! I think we might have a few inquisitive passengers down our corridor now. We soon headed into town using the ship supplied shuttle bus that took us out of the port to an area set up with stalls selling all kinds of tat and next to a quite modern church at the top of some steep stairs. 
I ventured up while Maria, because of her recent knee mishap, waited below. The church was indeed modern, very bright and airy and constructed in such away as to take advantage on any breeze.
It was packed for the 10.30 Sunday mass. I was soon mesmerised by the wonderful singing coming from a young lady and man accompanied by their guitars. It really was as if the angels were singing and as a result I stayed until the end of the sevice.
We then took a cab (all cabs in town are $1) to the main beach area that is surrounded by fish restaurants.
The area was full of families and young courting couples enjoying the lovely day that had now developed. As it was a Sunday it seemed that the whole town was out here by the beach.
After exploring the area we settled on 'Oh Mar' which had a very inviting fish menu. 
The fish was just wonderful and was washed down with a very cold bottle of Chilean white wine. The wine from a vine yard we hoped to visit in Chile in a week or so time.
We had a wonderful time playing with the cabin stewards on our floor when we were on the Maasdam in 2006. Once my husband and I passed a room where Augi was working. He had his back to the door and didn't see us. He was vacuuming. My husband unplugged the vacuum in the hall and waited. A few seconds went by and Augi came out to investigate and my husband jumped out at him and yelled. Augi screamed like a little girl. We all had a good laugh, and so did the other stewards. They'd been watching!
ReplyDeleteWe were in cabin 66 on the Amazon cruise last month. Deden surprised us with his barking and we had a great time telling him that he needed to clean up the mess that the dog left in our room.
ReplyDeleteYour reports are marvelous. Great fun to read. I start each day you. Thank you so much. Don
ReplyDeletePaul,
ReplyDeleteLovely photo of Deden. He always tidied our cabin either when we were at breakfast or just a little after that. He is a gem and he really looked after us. His helper has either been moved to another deck or another ship. He too, was excellent.
Jennie