Best of Manta
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Port
Manta, Ecuador
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Activity Level
Moderate
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Excursion Type
All
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Wheelchair Accessible
No
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Starting At
$119.95
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Minimum Age
Information Not Currently Available
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Duration
Approximately 6 hours
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Meals Included
Meals included
Discover Ecuador's self-proclaimed finest port city, Manta. Your tour starts with a panoramic drive along the malecón -- the oceanfront road where the constant breeze makes for very pleasant conditions. The New Town and residential areas are home to wealthy Ecuadorian exporters and industrialists.
Visit the tagua button factory, where the tagua palm nut (often called vegetable ivory), found only in Colombia and Ecuador, is peeled, cut and made into buttons, sculptures and souvenirs. In its raw state, the tagua palm's seed is roughly the size of an egg. It is soft and workable when first processed, but it later becomes as hard as ivory.
A 15-minute drive brings you to a typical ranch where manteños (people from Manta) will show you the steps required to create a fine Panama hat. These hats were the backbone of the Ecuadorian economy in the 1960s, and even today, some families continue to use age-old techniques to authentically produce these well-known sartorial accessories. The fiber is obtained from the Carludovica palmate plant that grows only in tropical regions. Ladies boil the fibers in huge pots to soften the material, then dry it in the shade. Now begins the hard work, as the hat is formed row by painstaking row. The finer the hat, the longer the process takes. A superfino (top quality) hat takes at least three months to weave, and when it is rolled up, it will fit through an average wedding ring. Once the weaving is done, the hat needs to be shaped -- a bit of ironing takes care of that -- and finally, the traditional black band is fitted, and the hat is completed. Finally, you will learn how to roll a Panama hat so that if you purchase one, you can take it home in its little balsa-wood box. You will have free time to snap a few photos, and if you wish, you can purchase a fine hat directly from the producers.
Continue to Pacoche. Here, at a local restaurant, you will learn to cook one of the traditional appetizers typical of coastal Ecuadorean cuisine. Once it is ready, enjoy it as a snack before returning to the pier.
Notes:
Minimum height is 2 feet. Minimum age is 4 years.