After leaving the Canal the journey takes us down to Ecuador and the port town of Manta.

Ecuador is famous for the Panama hat, it originated there and not in Panama. They are one of the country’s largest exports. Got the name ‘Panama’ apparently at the time the Panama Canal was being constructed, Europeans wore them there for sun protection. US President Roosevelt wore one and the craze took off.

In our tour we visited a place where ‘all things Panama hats’ was revealed. Claimed that all genuine hats are hand made in Ecuador. The process was explained. Quite a back breaking job for the women who make them.

It takes a day to make a basic hat, they start at around $US50-60 prior to striking a deal. More elaborate hats, made using very fine lengths of palm fronds, can take up to three months to make and go for in excess of $US500-600. These ones are very smooth and less textured than the basic ones.

There are hats everywhere, so there must be quite a workforce working to get all these hats made if the making times claimed are correct. There are no machines that make them. The Chinese have had a go at mechanisation, but have failed. Much to the pleasure of the guide!

There was also an explanation of the use of the nut from the Tagua palm, ‘vegetable ivory’. All sorts of things are made from this hard white coloured nut; buttons, jewellery, carvings etc. The chap who demonstrated a carving had the onlookers guess what he was going to produce after making some initial cuts. Homealone, being crafty, immediately proclaimed ‘an owl’ and yes it was to be an owl. Upon completion she was presented with the finished item for ‘guessing’ correctly. Well, Slobro was peeved at this. He had been seething over the last couple of days at not being included in the poster photo on the Canal and for that matter not being allowed to get a Panama hat. Also some narky comments that the blog about the Canal had been too technical. In a real grumpy mood and had to be put in the back pack.

After a drive around town, the electrical installations are an amazing sight, and a short stop at a museum it was back to the ship and the afternoon ashore for lunch and a look around the water front. Ecuador is the worlds largest exporter (but not producer) of bananas, also big in shrimp.

Manta is also known for its large tuna boat fleet and canning capacity. It claims to have the worlds largest tuna operation. Boats everywhere, we witnessed fish being unloaded into trucks from our ship’s deck. Industrial scale of operation.

On the waterfront there were rows of artisan souvenir shops and restaurants, all specialising in seafood. We randomly picked one out and enjoyed lunch. Allthego went for a deep fried whole fish and Homealone prawn and fish with a coconut cream sauce.

Both were spiced up and very tasty. Some Sangria washed it down. The beachfront was a quite wide expanse of sand, beach goers huddled under rows of shelters along the high water mark. It would get very crowded in summer.

We had an excellent stop over here in Manta, the sun had come out in the afternoon and it made for a pleasant sail away as we headed out to sea bound for Lima.