The MS Marina visited two main ports in Ecuador on consecutive days. Manta, the first Ecuadorean experience is about one degree south latitude and the other, Esmeraldas, is located about one degree north latitude. In between the two cities, the ship passed the Equator during the evening of March 21-22, 2019.
Manta with about 250,000 inhabitants, is located in the province of Manabi. The area is famous for its perfect year-round weather, its beaches, its tuna fishery, and its hand-made Panama hats which Ecuadorians will insist, have no origin in Panama. Landing in Manta, the impression of Ecuador is a country that is doing pretty well. Its not just the fancy new American SUVs lined up on the docks, its the modern highway system winding through town and the attractive strip of hotels and office buildings next to the beach. Ecuador has spent wisely on some new infrastructure. The dock is very impressive for a small city and the roads are decent, except for the numerous speed bumps that have been installed to "calm" traffic.
In Manta, an archeological tour had been booked. The Cerro De Hojas Jaboncillo Museum and archeological site was explored. It was about a one-hour drive out of Manta, up and into the very hot and humid adjacent hills. There in the midst of a 3500-hectare reserve, is a nice little museum and a complex managed by the National Institute of Cultural Heritage. The complex includes a library and a lab for the archeologists to piece together their "finds". Gym and his lovely companion, would tour the museum and then get in a truck and drive up the mountain, to then hike up about 500 meters in the steaming jungle to observe some of the digs and replica buildings. There was a great view from the top. The problem with the whole tour was that there were no English guides at the site and the signage was all in Spanish, so the guide that accompanied our bus had to interpret. If they want cruise ships to send more people they should, at a minimum, offer English signage.
Esmeraldas, the second Ecuadorean port, is known for being the place where the Trans-Ecuadorean Pipeline, the provider of the life-blood of the Ecuadorean economy, comes down to tidewater and joins the inlet to the massive, state-owned refinery. In contrast to the protests that are happening in Canada, Ecuador seems happy with this means of delivering their country from the third world. And the refinery provides 80% of the jobs in Esmeraldas. It is not quite as pristine as Manta here in this northernmost Ecuadorian port and as such, to Gym, it seemed like a tropical Edmonton.
There was no tour of the refinery so Gym and his lovely sidekick opted to check out how chocolate is made. They drove inland about 1.5 hours to the first stop at a small farm. Here they hiked into the woods to find some cacao trees and linked up with the farmer, who explained the basics of growing cacao. Then down the road a short way, they visited a cacao processing plant where representatives from the coop farmer-owned organization, that explained the fermenting, drying and marketing processes. This cooperative of small farmers uses organic methods to grow and produce cacao that is non-GMO enhanced. It was a really interesting tour and at the end of it, the product was available for sampling and purchase. Mrs. Gym bought a mess of chocolate.
Later that night the Marina left Ecuador and steered a course for Panama. The Marina would spend another 36 hours at sea before she would line up to enter the Panama Canal.
Stay tuned!
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| Pre-Colombian chair of the village elite, a u-shaped chunk of solid rock sitting on a crouching ocelot. |
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| A 72 year old lady that hand makes one Panama hat every three days and sells them for $40 |
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| The lady's inventory |
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| Inside the museum |
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| A display with the Chief and his lady on the left and the shaman and his wife on the right. Note the u-shaped chairs |
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| Another chair in the museum |
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| The "finds" unearthed at the "digs" |
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| Mrs. Gym at the trailhead leading up onto the mountain |
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| A replica building from the period with the trail climbing up to the right |
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| View from the top after a very sweaty climb |
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| Bamboo grove in front of the cacao orchard in Esmeraldas |
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| Ripening cacao pods which are about the size of a mini football |
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| The farmer showing the difference between good beans and bad beans |
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| This is what is inside a cacao pod - a whole bunch of mucus covered cocoa beans. This is a heathy pod with the proper colour and nice healthy beans. Gym tasted a mucus-covered bean which you suck on but then spit out. It has a sweet aroma and taste. |
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| This is one of the coop farmers talking about growing cacao. The coop crest is on his vest. |
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| This is the fermentation building at the plant. The beans ferment for five days here. |
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| Then the beans are spread out on these drying racks that can be moved under tents if it rains. |
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| Each rack is marked with the farm of origin and the date it was brought in to the plant |
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| After the beans have been tested for sufficient dryness, they are ready to be made into chocolate. They are ground up and sugar and flavouring is added. The bars they sold were 70% pure. |
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| Driving back to the port in Esmeraldas we passed a market that reminded me of some of the Farmer's Markets in Edmonton. |
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| Back on the ship that night Gym ordered sole served in a bowl of its bones. You could eat the bones too! |
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