Manta is the largest seaport in Ecuador, It also has an international airport. The last time we did this cruise, we flew out of Manta for Quinto. But it is also the city closest to Montecristi, the home of the Panama hat.
Our tour today was Montecristi and the Highlights of Manta. Our first stop was to the Museum. Here they had some items from pre-columbian times. A very small museum, only one floor. But interesting.
Next we stopped at the Tagua Factory. Tagua is a nut from the palm tree that is used to make items that look like ivory. Lots of buttons are made from this nut.
The nuts are spread out on the ground in order to dry them.
Once they are dry, they then slice them into this slices. This is done with a sharp saw.
Next they carve the slices into round buttons using a drill and electric sander. The smaller buttons are not done by hand as they are too small for the machine. The large pieces of nuts are carved into figures. They make all sorts of items. But this is all done by hand.
On the way to the next stop we passed this large statue in the middle of the road. It is of the ladies who weave the Panama Hats. They have to lean over the form is order to weave the brims.
Notice that her breasts are on the form of the hat. Not all the weavers have such large breasts.
Our next stop was to Cabuya plant weaving workshop. Here they take the stalks of the palm trees and make rope from it. Very basic means of doing this. You can see the fibers that the ladies then pull and make it into spools which are then weaved together to make a flat panel. All very labor intensive.
They use these machines that are loud and lots of fibers are in the air. Some of the women wear masks.
Just a close up of the operation.
Here there are several individual spools of the fiber that he is making into one large spool which is then used to weave into the flat mat.
This is the final product. This machine is done with foot pedals and sliding the cross material by hand.
These workers have been doing the same thing for 50 years.
The last stop on the tour was to Montecristi. Here in the square, they set up booths all selling the hats. Several different styles were available.
This is a demonstration of the actual weaving of the Panama hat. Once the crown is formed the weaver has to lean over the hat to weave the brim area. It is hard work and usually done in the early morning or in the evening. They do not want to sweat on the product.
The view from our balcony was of the dock where the tuna boats get off loaded. Quite a job. They work all day unloading the fish from the boats. The fishing boats take turns coming to the dock.
They use nets to catch the fish. I do not think this type of fishing is allowed in the USA.
Then back to the sip for lunch and a nap for Bob. They we swam for one hour and got ready for dinner. Cocktails in Mariner Lounge where we could not get blue cheese stuffed olives. This needs to be fixed.
Dinner was good. Bob had the Dover Sole from Prime 7. The night before he did not enjoy his meal when we ate there. So they promised him he could have his choice the next night in Compass Rose. This he enjoyed. We went to the show which was a performance by Panos Karan, a concert pianist. He is very good and we really enjoyed his show. I thought of Aiden the entire time. Wished he could have seen this gentleman play.
Back to the cabin to read and lights out. Tomorrow we dock in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
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