Sam has to say that Ecuador is one of his favorite stops to date! What’s not to like about a country where not just children, but road workers and passersby stop and WAVE at your bus!We had a couple choices about what to do on our day in port, but they narrowed themselves
down nicely. First there was “Hemisphere Crossing & Quito World Heritage Site,” We had alreadycrossed the Equator (and received the certificate to prove it, 
although King Neptune’s visit was postponed) and hope to visit Quito someday as part of a trip to the Galapagos, so at almost a $1000 a pop, this was too pricey. On the other hand, “Fine Panama Hats” and “Manta & Montecristi” were both tours which dealt with Panama hats (a major product of Ecuador – they were apparently used in Panama during construction of the Canal, which is where they acquired their name). These seemed a bit too sponsored. We settled for the “Machalilla” tour, visiting that National Park, and got a stop to watch work on hats anyway.
Speaking of this, it’s hard to come away without one (unless you let a wind blow it overboard, which happened to one lady on the ship). Prices vary according to weave – tightly woven hats take much more time to produce. But stopping to see the early stages of production in which fibers for the finished product are cooked and separated is a real eye-opener and offers some wonderful photographs. (Figure a cheap hat will run you about $20 and a fine one about three times as much, although you can bargain
a bit!) One of the things which most impressed Mary was the change in ecology based on altitude – this can range from anywhere from lush jungle to arid desert, but was more at the desert end of the scale when we were there.Machalilla National Park is a little bit of everything. Ecuador’s only coastal park, it boasts archeology (a quite impressive small museum), plenty of spectacular scenery, and a resident local population, many of whom are involved in helping in the park. A short nature walk offered
everything from lessons in local husbandry to an exotic bird or two, 
to (Sam’s favorite) very small dung beetles, who just like the scarabs, rolled small balls of you-know-what around. You have to look close to see them though. We stopped at Mantaraya Lodge for a set buffet – good local fish and apparently the price of accommodation is about $50 a night (and we mean $50 – Ecuador uses the US dollar as their currency – prices apparently went up when this was instituted, but it has provided 
a measure of economic stability and things are still inexpensive by US standards).Finally, there was time for a walk on the beach opposite Isle de la Plata, where Drake’s men allegedly divided Spanish loot. A beautiful location – you can even find chunks of Ecuador’s only coral reef washed up on the sand. Seeing slices of Ecuadoran life, in the kapok trees, the houses painted in “election colors” (something neither sympathizers of McCain or Obama
appeared to have tried state-side), to the ebb and flow of everyday life on the side of the road. It’s a beautiful country with surprises around every corner, and we didn’t even make it up to the mountains!
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