Manta, Ecuador

The port of Manta was pretty crappy as were most of the ports to come. The excursions offered were not very interesting but it was better than staying on the ship in a crappy port.

A view of Manta.

A view the other way.

A bunch of tuna fishing boats. Manta is the world capital of tuna fishing - or so we were told.

We were docked all the first day and the second day next to refrigerator ship shown below. As near as we could figure out all the small ships in the previous picture would transfer their catch to this huge ship. It would then be flash frozen and kept in the hold until it was full and then it would be unloaded onto trucks.

This went on for two days.

We did two excursions the first day 1) to a factory where they turned a particular nut into ivory jewelry  and 2) to a Panama hat factory.

Below is the huge yard where the nuts are kept before being turned into jewelry and other things, They have to sit out under the sun for weeks until they are dry enough to work with.

The nuts come from the big thing top left. The spiny pieces all fall out and the nut is inside. It is then put in the sun to dry.

This is the kind of junk they make.

Next we went to a panama hat factory...mildly interesting.

This is the plant they use.

The leaves are separated as shown below.

Then boiled.

Then the hat making starts. The maker leans over as shown below and puts pressure on the hat as he or she weaves the grass into a hat.

A couple really short videos showing hat making.

Panama hats are such a big deal in this city they even have a huge stature on the main street of a woman making one.

What's od is this is Ecuador and they're known worldwide as Panama hats. There is an explanation for that.

The rest of the time in Manta was not very exciting (as if the above was) and not worth reporting on.

Done.