Sunday, Jan 15th--Manta, Ecuador

We crossed the equator around 3am this morning and docked in the second largest port of Ecuador, Manta, at 7:30am.  It is raining and 73F.  Manta is 1 degree latitude south of the equator.  At the dock with us are some large fishing boats that have big nets and a small helicopter on them.  We have our bags packed and are to meet at 9am to depart for the airport.  Regent has chartered 3 planes to fly the full SA cruise passengers, who want to go, to the capital of Ecuador, Quito.  Apparently we are on the first plane which is an Embraer 120.  That is a Brazilian turboprop that carries 30 passengers.  We will be in Quito overnight and rejoin the ship tomorrow evening in Quayaquil, just 150 miles of here, where ship will sail to this evening.  Equador is the smallest country in SA and is about same size as state of Colorado.  The Andes mountain range runs down through the center of the country so it has 3 distinct regions and climates:  the coastal plains, the mountains, and on the east side, rain forests.  The largest tributary of the Amazon river begins in east Ecuador.  You can shop here for hand-knit sweaters made from sheep or alpaca wool, colorful ponchos, patterned scarves, and Panama hats.  There is also lots of silver pieces and jewelry embedded with Andean jade.  Hopefully I can keep Rebecca out of the stores.  Bringing a credit card just in case.  Interestingly enough, the US dollar is currency used here.  Time to go now and still a light steady rain.  Yuk!