The luxury bus we took only departs at one time each day from both Manta and Guayaquil. Most fares for this route are $6 but for the extra $2, we got unexpected luxury. Beautiful, comfortable seats that reclined almost fully complete with leg rests/risers. Each seat had its own personal A/C, lighting and a plug in for electronic devices. Windows had curtains for those who wished to sleep and not enjoy the view. Our curtain was wide open and we loved every mile of the drive.
We left on Saturday at 1:30 from Manta. 3 hours later we had arrived at an even larger bus terminal in Guayaquil. Thousands of paassengers milling around that terminal. With the help of a nice Enlgish-speaking fellow-passenger, we were directed to where we would catch a taxi to our hotel (and where to go for our return trip).
It was a 15 minute ride to the Sheraton Hotel where we had reservations. The story gets kind of interesting here because a few days prior, I had sent a message to my nephew who was on a return itinerary flying a Twin Otter from Antarctica to Calgary, Alberta. I asked him, if by any chance, he would be in Guayaquil on a layover on the upcoming Saturday. He replied YES, that he was ... and we then discovered we were booked into the same hotel AND even checked in about 5 minutes from each other. Such coincidence in life !! We had a fun evening with Blake and treated him to a nice dinner at Plaza Lagos. This Plaza is a must see if you get to Guayaquil. It is quite magnificent. Great restaurants, shops and walking areas. Very grand in fact.
Sunday morning found us rising early and making our way to the Duran train terminal where we were to catch our train for a one-day train excursion through the sugar cane fields, cacao fields, pineapple fields, and banana plantations. Again, it was a short 12 minute ride to the station and early Sunday morning there was no traffic !
We boarded Tren Ecuador - Tren de la Dulzura - nicknamed 'the train of sweetness' for our journey just prior to 8:00 A.M. for our Duran - Naranjito - Duran train trip. There were four guides on our train and each of them spoke some English. So as they educated everyone about what we were seeing, they included Joe and I by speaking our languaage!
Rolling through the city, we saw merchants opening their shops, a street florist preparing her buckets of flowers, and a lot of poverty. But, having said that, we have to keep in mind that a simple shack seems quite horrible to we westerners, but for millions of people in the world, these little shacks are home .. and happy homes !
Once out of the city, we were rolling by huge sugar cane fields and rice paddies! As far as our eyes could see. The largest sugar cane plant in the world is about one hour out of the city. It employs thousands of people.
When rolling through the banana planations, our guide told us that banana production in Ecuador provides work for about 2 million people ! The banana trees produce 3 times a year... We saw several plantations that had the huge banana stems covered in a guaze type fabric... assuming these might be the organic banana farms. With the fruit protected, they wouldn't need to spray pesticides over the plantation.
Our first stop was Yaguachi. Here we were greeted by a local dance troupe who entertained us with traditional dances wearing traditional costumes with traditional music ! We loved every minute of it. Inside the lovely old train station (the first in Ecuador) there was a delightful little restaurant that offered local dishes if anyone wanted a mid-morning snack.
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Back on the train, in the comfort of our air conditioned coach, we ordered a cappuccino from the little coffee and snack counter and settled in for some more lovely agricultural scenery, small villages where everyone came out to wave at us, and barking dogs chasing the slow-moving train. Our lovely guides came around and presented each passenger with a lovely fresh fruit kabob as a little treat.
Next stop - Naranjito where we enjoyed two wonderful presentations. The first, being all about cacao. We were first shown the cacao pod as it comes from the tree. She then opened it up and showed us the cacao beans/nuts inside the fruit. They were covered with a jelly-like coating. Each of us was able to pick a cacao bean from the fruist and suck on it to enjoy the sweetness that comes with it. On the farm, they are laid out in the sun on large banana leaves, covered with more leaves and left to sweat for a couple of days. They are then uncovered and allowed to bake in the sun . As we passed some cacao farms, we could see along the tracks large patches of caco beans/nuts drying in the sun and occasionally the farmer sweeping them around with a broom.
Many years ago, the cacao production was almost decimated due to a bad fungus/disease that struck the growers plantations. A specialist in cacao growing, ultimately was able to produce a new and strronger variety of cacao plant that was more resistant to this disease. To this day, they have great success growing this variety of Cacao. The few remaining fields of the original cacao pod are 'reverred' and are shipped to the finest chocolate producers in the world. Here in Ecuador, one of the finest chocolate producers is a company by the name of Pacari. Joe and I have certainly enjoyed our share of this fine chocolate since discovering it!
After learning all about the cacao plant, we then shuffled over to another area in the terminal and enjoyed a wonderful presentation by a local artesan on how they use every bit of the banana plant. She demonstrated how she takes the trunk, and peels it off in strips, then tears finer strips from that and hangs them to dry. Once they are totally dry, they are dipped in water, wiped dry with a cloth, and then she rubs wax over each strand to allow it to remain pliable and hold the little bit of moisture in while she weaves it into hats and many little novelty items. She was the sweetest little lady and took quite a liking to Joe - inviting him to try out her craft !! Much laughter later, the demonstration came to a close.
After lunch, we, along with our guide, walked two blocks to learn about a beautiful church that was the center of this city and built in the early 50's in honor of San Jacinto. Sunday mass was being held but we were invited to step inside and take a picture and see the beauty of the cathedral.
We then enjoyed lunch from the little restaurant in the station which included a cacao Shake! OMG... just waaaay too good !! With that excellent chocolate, we concluded we had not ever had a better chocolate shake in our lives!
After stocking up on our Pacari chocolate bars from the sales display, it was time to board our train and make our way back to the city.
Again, we enjoyed the many thousand of acres of agriculture and waving at all the locals as we rolled by their wee tiny homes and shacks.
Back at the Duran station, we left our guides and the train and caught a taxi back to the hotel. After a little rest in the room, we went for a walk and found a great smoke-house restaurant called "Grilling". We enjoyed a fantastic dinner, a short walk back to the hotel and called it an early night.
On Monday morning we made our way across the street to a huge mall where we found a nice breakfast place. Once done, we caught a cab to the Malecon and spent a long time walking along this beautiful space by the river. Part of the Malecon includes the most amazing walk through some amazingly beautiful gardens. The river was very muddy and full of tree branches from recent downpours. But the sun was blazing down upon us this day and we sought shelter along the river for a nice cold Pilsner Light !!
At 5:00 we went back to the hotel, gathered up our little travel bags, and headed to the bus terminal. Back on to our luxury bus for the return trip to Manta.
A great 3 days of exploring a little more of Ecuador.
Just a few notes I've made about life here in Manta.
When we go into the parkade of the large Mall Pacifico, we are always handed a ticket by the attendant who has recorded our licence plate on it. When leaving the parkade, we have to give it back to him. This assures that we are exiting the parkade in the same car we entered in. An interesting security plan.
I've also observed that the garbage men actually go through a lot of the garbage when they pick it up off the bins on the street to separate the recylable plastics. Yukky part of that job in my opinion!
Something else that is so different than our habits in North America. When in a grocery store, once you place all your groceries on the counter for the cashier, you turn your cart back to the area in front of the cashiers... often we see items in these carts that the person has decided they don't want !! A strange rule we think.
This morning we were in the mall and since it was Sunday, we heard a beautiful voice singing a church song. When we walked around the corner, in the middle of the lower part of the mall, they were holding mass... and many mall shoppers had stopped to participate in the service. The Ecuadorians as a strong-faithed community. I had my hair shampooed nearby so thoroughly enjoyed the vocals from the young man just outside the shop.
That's it for this edition... hope you enjoy the read !
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