A few weeks ago we received an email from friends who live in Melbourne, Australia, to say that they were on a cruise ship which was going to dock in Manta, Ecuador in a week or so. And would we be able to come and meet them.
Well, never having been to Manta before and not being quite sure how to get there, we figured we needed to give it some thought.
Later that day, we happened to meet up with a brother and sister from our congregation, and mentioned it to them. We said that as we had never been to Manta, and weren’t likely to go unless we had a good reason, we thought this was as good a reason as any to go there (it’s hot – equator hot!). And did they want to come, too.
After a couple of minutes’ thought, they agreed for much the same reasons. They’ve been in Ecuador for around a year, and haven’t seen much of the country either. So we decided we’d work out between us what options there were on how to get there and where to stay.
Map of Ecuador with Otavalo and Manta circled in yellow
It would have been interesting to travel by bus during the day and that way see more of the country. So far, we’ve mainly stuck to the mountains, and not really seen much of the country to the east or west of the Andes. One of the issues of not having a car is that travel takes more planning than just throwing a suitcase into the car and driving off. In Ecuador, you can always get somewhere by bus, but it may take a few buses, and you may have to wait a while between buses, depending on where you are going.
So we decided that the less interesting, but sensible and safe, option was to take an overnight bus.
Our plan was to catch the bus on the Wednesday evening around 7.30pm and arrive in Manta 10-11 hours later on Thursday morning, stay a couple of days and catch a bus back home on the Saturday evening.
We had an uneventful bus trip (that’s how we like ‘em!) arriving at the Flota Imbabura terminal (the bus line we took) in Manta between 6 and 6.30am, to be greeted by a welcoming committee of over-enthusiastic taxi drivers who kept asking each of us to agree to take their particular taxi to wherever we were going. Not a good question for people who have been on a bus for 10-11 hours and are half asleep and don’t know if they are coming or going or where their luggage has got to.
We did take a taxi and were charged what seems to be the usual “ignorant tourist surcharge” of double what the fare should have been, (we paid $3 instead of $1.50!).
Our hotel wasn’t far away, and we were able to leave our bags there until we could check in to our rooms later.
Our hotel in Manta with (my) Brendan and Susan and Brendan
We had breakfast at a café and then decided to find somewhere cool and shady to hang out until we could check into the hotel.
Why not go to the beach?!
Deck chairs at the beach at Manta
You can hire beach chairs with umbrellas for shade for a dollar or two each, so we decided that was a good way to occupy the morning. It seemed to me a very “British” thing to do, although Brendan and Susan who came with us and are British, had never done it!
Staying cool – except for the sunburned toes!
We were glad for the shade, and there was a good breeze, which was nice as it was pretty hot!
When I first got off the bus it was warm, but I thought, “this isn’t too bad – it’s not too hot”, and then I realised that it was only 6 o’clock in the morning, and the sun had barely risen!
One of the vendors selling at the beach
While we sat in the shade, various people came by and tried to interest us in buying what they had for sale. A couple of people had ornaments made of tagua, which is also known as vegetable ivory. The ornaments were a good price and pretty cute, so we bought a couple.
Our tagua ornaments. The blue footed booby cost US$6 and the turtle US$4
This is where the tagua nuts come from
A useful place to go to in Ecuador is the local tourist information office, or ITur. The office in Manta is good because it has air conditioning! And they told us of interesting places to go and how much we should pay for taxi fares. Taxi meters are not always used in Ecuador, so if you are new to the area and don’t know how much you should pay, you can easily end up paying too much.
For instance, the lady in the ITur office told us that we could take a taxi to a nearby town called Monte Cristi where Panama hats are made (the hats actually originate in Ecuador, not Panama), about half an hour inland from Manta, and that the driver would wait for us while we spent an hour there, and then take us back to Manta again, all for $20. So we did that a couple of days later. We actually didn’t see any hat-making as we were taken past the town to a tourist attraction with souvenir shops, a restored steam train and a museum. But no hats.
View over the town of Monte Christi
Looks like Brendan got himself a bird!
The day after we arrived in Manta we went down to the dock to meet Leon and Gina, our friends from Aus who had come in on the cruise ship.
Leon & Gina. It was rather windy on the beach
The cruise ship. 2 or 3 cruise ships dock in Manta every week
Manta proclaims itself to be the Tuna Capital – if they are all the size of this one, it very well could be!
We spent the morning exploring some of Manta (not too much, as it was hot!), and went to a local market, where Leon and Gina bought locally made Panama hats.
Hat making in action
A photo from the museum at Monte Christi
At the market we saw a man selling silver jewellery and ornaments, and the surprising thing was that we recognized him from the market in Otavalo where we had previously bought a couple of things from him. It seems that often people who sell at markets will travel quite a distance to go to other markets.
We also met a man who was originally from the United States and had lived in South America for around 20 years. He said he had a friend with an ice cream shop about 5-10 minutes’ walk away where we could get really nice iced coffee. We decided that was just what we needed and so followed him. After we had followed him up hill for a lot more than 5-10 minutes, we decided he’d lived in South America too long and had picked up the local sense of time!
We finally came to his friend’s shop. He was German, and had also lived in Ecuador for quite a few years. The iced coffee was good and we were in the shade with a nice breeze, so we were happy.
Drinking iced coffees while chatting with the owner (sitting on the right)
We found the style of some of the houses here rather different from what we’ve been used to in the Andes. These are some of the more interesting older houses.
Some come with built-in air conditioning! There are gaps between the bamboo.
In the evenings we ate at a restaurant next to the beach not far from where we spent our first morning in Manta – there was a good breeze and the food was decent, especially if you like seafood.
Sunset just outside the restaurant, on our last evening in Manta
Saturday evening we were to return home, so we stayed in the hotel (with air conditioning!) until the last possible moment before checkout and then went in search of lunch and shade.
We spent a lot of the afternoon at a shady park watching the iguanas and dozing. At least Brendan and I did, while the “other” Brendan and Susan went exploring. They enjoyed the heat more than I did.
A well-disguised iguana climbing a tree in a leisurely fashion
Saturday evening we boarded the bus to take us back home.
After we had travelled half an hour or so, the bus stopped and a policeman came onto the bus and said that we were all to get off and bring with us what possessions we had on us. Outside the bus the men and women were separated, and we were patted down (men by policemen and women by policewomen) and they checked our handbags and what we had with us. Then we were free to get back on the bus and go on our way. It seems they were checking for weapons and other unacceptable things.
When we were first in Ecuador we were rather wary of travelling by bus as we had heard stories about people being robbed etc, and it can still happen if, for instance, you fall asleep with an expensive camera sitting on your lap (that happened to someone we know). So we always make sure that if we have anything valuable it is well out of sight and that we take a safe bus line.
Shortly after that, the bus stopped again and the Police came on board. The problem this time was one of the passengers who had had a bit too much to drink before getting on the bus, had been verbally abusive to the bus conductor ever since we left Manta, and had been loudly talking non-stop to the air or anyone nearby. He and his son were sitting directly in front of Brendan and Susan and so they copped a noseful of the alcohol fumes.
We think the bus conductor must have phoned ahead to the Police as they were waiting for us when the bus pulled over just before the town of Chote.
The Police asked him and his son to get off the bus and they had a conversation with them outside for about 5-10 minutes, during which it appears he promised to behave himself and they got back on the bus with not a peep out of him for the rest of the trip.
The rest of the trip was uneventful, with us arriving in Otavalo around 5 or 6 in the morning and then falling into bed for some proper sleep!
Greetings from Ecuador!
