Beaches - fun and sun.

This route guides us through the unique nature and history of the coastal provinces of Guayas and Manabí. You can fly either to Guayaquil or Manta, and drive through the coastline. The following pages will guide you from Guayaquil, traveling Northward.

Following this route, nature lovers have the opportunity to explore unique dry forests with their two contrasting seasons, cloud forests and their rare fauna and flora, to dive within coral reefs surrounded by exotic sea life, to admire the numerous bird species of the region, and submerge in isolated and exotic beaches. The "Chongón-Colonche" Mountain Range at the north of the Guayas province has unique ecosystems with an amazing diversity of endemic plants and birds: one can climb from very dry forests at the coast to lush cloud forests at the top of the hills, only a few kilometers away.

For those who are sports inclined, there are opportunities to fish, sail, surf, ski and dive.

In addition, these two provinces hold vestiges of an amazingly rich history. The most antique cultures of America settled here on the Coasts of South America.

Finally, if you only wish to rest, suntan, and watch the sunset... along this route you will find suiting accommodations and services.

Province of Manabi, Sun and culture

Manta is a charming city by the beach. Until recently, it was only known for its important tuna fishing fleet, the production and bottling of vegetable oil, and the commercialization of "paja toquilla" (straw) hats. The "paja toquilla" hats, commonly known as Panama hats because they were originally sold through the Panama Channel, are made in the nearby town of Montecristi among other towns of the province, and are very well known internationally.

Today the visit of cruise ships full of tourists, the aerial base rented to the US Air Force by the Ecuadorian government for the antinarcotics operations, and the construction of modern hotels like Oro Verde and Howard Johnson have improved Manta’s economy and transformed the city into an important international tourist destination.

Manta is a modern city, but some antique bamboo and wooden houses still remain as a remainder of the old village. Located at the Pacific coast and with an average temperature of 25 degrees Centigrade all year long, dry weather and dry tropical forest in its surroundings, Manta is an attractive city to visit. Additionally, Manta offers first class hotel facilities and daily aerial services from the main cities of the country, offered by the local airlines Tame and Icaro. The warmth and hospitality of the Manteños contributes to the rapid tourism development of the whole province.



Although the signals on the roads are not completely clear yet, people from Manabí are very friendly, and this makes it possible for you to travel around asking for directions along the way. You can find well known international car rentals like Avis, Localiza or Budget. Another option is to ask for a planned tour at the travel agencies located at the lobbies of the main hotels.

The delicious gastronomy is also one of the main attractions of Manta. A variety of traditional tasty tropical dishes prepared with fresh seafood are served at the main hotels and restaurants in appetizing presentations. Don´t miss the "ceviches" of several seafoods, or the exquisite "viche de pescado", which consists of albacore or tuna fish with peanuts, yucca, corn, and sweet potato.

The city of Manta is decorated by a wide variety of tree species: ceibos, jasmines, almonds, rubber plants, acacias, mango trees, beautiful palm trees on the beaches, etc. Colorful flowers like that of the "Buganvilla" plant are also found. These plants were named after the French Colonel Buganville, who visited South America in the XVIII century and was marveled by these colorful flowers unknown in Europe at the time. He asked that these plants be named with his last name.

The balsa tree (ochroma logopus) is native to this province. Its light wood allowed the first inhabitants of the region to navigate large distances easily and rapidly. The floor of the balsas was built with balsa wood and the walls were built with bamboo (guadua augustifolia).

History tells that the golden jewels and decorations that the navigators of the balsas -- natives "from the South"-- wore on their noses, breasts and ears called the attention of the first Spanish visitors of the Caribbean, who believed that the gold that the couldn’t find in the Caribbean was at the South of the ocean.

A visit to the Central Bank Museum is a must in the city of Manta. The museum includes a permanent exhibit room of the archeology of the seven cultures that inhabited the province of Manabi from 4.200 BC to 1.530 AC: Valdivia, Machalilla, Chorrera, Guangala, Bahía, Jama-Coaque and Manteño-Huancavilca.

We recommend that you pay special attention to the coca shamans of the Jama-Coaque culture that could extract the hallucinogenic effects of the coca leaves without chemical processes. They combined lime and ash to neutralize the harmful effects and extract the hallucinogenic juices.

Another thing worth admiring of this same culture are the gigantic huts that are impressively similar to the Asian-Pacific pagodas. Thus, the discussion remains as to whether the cultures from this part of the coast are descendants of those of the islands of what is now Japan, or if they managed to establish commercial contact with these far away cultures.

Thanks to the archeological richness of the museum, some important historical discoveries have been made. For example, the "sillas de Manabí" (Manabi chairs) were believed to serve for sacrifices. Now it is known that they were ceremonial seats for the shamans to share their wisdom and give advice to the community about physical or spiritual sufferings.

We also recommend that you take a careful look at the mural that represents the long voyages of the natives on balsa boats.
Proudly, in 2003 the museum received 3.415 visitors only of tourists that reached the city in cruise ships like Royal Princess, Radisson Seven Seas, the M/ S Zenith, among others.

The Museum is located at the offices of the Central Bank at the heart of the city. Entrance fee is US$1. Tour guide in English is included. The museum is open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 9h00 to 17h00.

Handicrafts
This province is well known for the Panama Hats made from natural raw hay called "Paja Toquilla". They are made in Montecristi, but because they were first sold to Panama during the construction of the Panama Channel and were widely used there, they received this name. Small towns in Manabi, such as Barcelona, shine like gold with all the paja toquilla hanging to the sun to dry.

In Manabi you can enjoy:
Portoviejo, the capital of the province. Manta, that has become an important port and tourist site. The relaxing comfortable beaches of Bahía de Caraquez, Boca Briceño, Canoas, Pedernales and Cojimies. South of Bahía de Caraquez you can reach San Clemente, San Jacinto and Crucita, other beautiful visiting areas and beaches.
In this province, the Machalilla National Park is found.





Amazing and Diverse "Machalilla" National Park

A great destination during the month of July is the MACHALILLA NATIONAL PARK that holds various attractions: Isla de la Plata off the coast of Puerto López, Los Frailes Beach, the Archeological Site of AguaBlanca, Salango, and the Beaches of Puerto Rico and Puerto Cayo.
"Machalilla" takes its name from one of the precolumbian cultures that inhabited this area. The Valdivia, Chorrera and Manteña Cultures also inhabited this land of a template climate and extraordinary landscape where arqueological remains are still found within the park, and can be admired in situ especially at Agua Blanca and Salango. The park ocupies 136,000 acres. It has an average temperature of 75 degrees fahrenheit and by the influence of the Humboldt Current in the Pacific conserves the amazing tropical humid and tropical dry forests.

HOW TO REACH MACHALILLA
If you want to travel by land, check out our road map of the Province of Manabí. By air you can take TAME airlines to the city of Portoviejo, from Quito. The airport at Portoviejo offers car rental service and taxis also.

ISLA DE LA PLATA
From Portoviejo to Puerto López and the surrounding areas, where you can stay at ecological hostals, it takes approximately two and a half hours by car. At Puerto López, you take a two hour boat ride to Isla de la Plata. On this route, during the navegation you have a high possibility of viewing dolphins and whales.

The locals tell that the name ISLA DE LA PLATA (Silver Island), was given to the Island because the pirate Francis Drake at the end of the XIV century, took treasures from the Spanish ships and hid them on this island. According to the legend, much of this treasure was never claimed and is still hidden there.
Isla de la Plata is a favorite spot for scuba-diving this time of the year, because even though the temperatures are at a cool 60 to 65 degrees fahrenheit, the sea temperature is higher than 68 ºF. The Island is surrounded by Coral Reefs so the marine life is exciting and plentiful. There are several oerator in Quito, Puerto Lopez, that offers scuba-diving: good equipment, PADI instructors, guides, and boat service to the Island.



The Island has two guided hiking routes, both with awesome sights. You will encounter an interesting colony of blue-footed boobies, masked boobies, frigate birds, and albatrosses. The plant life is also interesting and the guides are well versed on the subject. You must purchase a 5 day pass to the MACHALILLA NATIONAL PARK for a fee of TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS. With this ticket you can visit all the sites of the National Park.

AGUA BLANCA COMMUNITY
Fifty two families make up the Agua Blanca Community. The small village is located 7.5 miles to the north of Puerto López and 3 miles off the main highway. The people of this community live in a very similar way to their ancestors, the Manteña Culture that inhabited this land from 800 to 1532 DC. There is a small museum where you will find some precolumbian ceramics and pictures of some of the current inhabitants with the same facial features as those found on the ceramics. The guides are locals who proudly tell how the community survives without land divisions among them and how their environment has been practically unchanged for years. From the museum, the guide takes you on a walk for over about a mile . You will encounter birds such as the hornero with its unique nests, the beautiful motmot, iguanas on tree branches, alovely clean river valley, arqueological areas, a sulfurous lagoon, and a breathtaking view point. You will see the funeral urns in situ with the human bones and skeletons exactly as they were found. The Manteña Culture buried their dead in urns dressed with their ceremonial clothes and adorned with earrings, necklaces, etc. In the arqueological area you can also admire in situ remains of the ceremonial temples, houses and squares. In the temples you can see pieces of the famed stone seats (small stone thrones) used by the shamans or spiritual leaders of the community.
For more information contact the tourism office at Puerto López:
Phone (05)604-168 or (05)604-160.

BAHIA DE CARAQUEZ

The city of Bahía de Caráquez is named after the bay and the pre-Columbian residents who came from the sea and settled here.

Because of the estuary and the Pacific Ocean around the city, the local nature offers sweet and salt water that allows diverse vegetation. In the area you can find mangrove trees, ceibos forests, sweet water humidity such as that in La Segua Marsh.

A few years ago Bahía became an eco- city as a result of its big Green Movement and because of the community effort to rebuild the city after the earthquakes suffered in 1997. Bahía de Caráquez is one of the few cities in Ecuador that recycles waste serving as an example for other regions.

Traffic is not a problem. Many residents and tourists prefer to use ``Ecological Taxis´´ which are bikes adapted to transport two passengers. This keeps the city free of pollution and offers a peaceful place ideal for vacationing.

MAIN ATTRACTIONS

Isla Corazón
It's a mangrove island where one of the largest frigate bird colonies of the southern Pacific lives.

The island is great for bird watching, at least 60 sea bird species are found. An elevated path, of about 656 feet of length, takes you to a strategic viewpoint. We recommend that you go with a native guide.

On a canoe ride, visitors will be able to observe frigate birds, pelicans, different kinds of herons, seagulls and so on.

La Segua Marsh
It's a sweet water humidity area of about 172 hectares. In La Segua there are approximately 280 thousand bird species. It's one of the most interesting bird-watching sites on the Ecuadorian coast.

At least 63 aquatic bird species live in the marsh area; the non-aquatic birds are associated to the humid environment.

The marsh is visited year by year by migratory birds that between August and January, turn this place into a provisional spot for resting and feeding.

Cerro Seco
One of the last tropical dry forests in the world is located in the Bahía de Caráquez area by the Pacific Ocean. Its giant ceibos have a spectacular shape.

Early in the morning dozens of birds can be seen and heard. A small colony of golden orioles builds its nests in the giant ceibos branches. At 393 feet a beautiful viewpoint can be reached to take the most stunning pictures of the ocean.

El Estuario:
One of the sites to be visited is El Estuario, where 101 bird species have been registered. One of the endangered species that can be found is la Espátula Rosada (Roseate spoonbill). The bird colony on the Fragatas Island is worth visiting.

There is also the possibility to take a tour to the Hacienda "Rio Muchacho". In a three-day visit you can enjoy horseback riding, bathe in a natural waterfall, see organic agriculture and learn how to make tagua jewelry. All this accompanied by regional food.

Sea Food:
Local restaurants in Bahía serve a vast variety of typical food such as shrimp, fish and squid ceviche. People from the Ecuadorian coast are specialists in preparing fish in many different ways: fried, with coconut (encocado), grilled and in many other ways.

Bahía, Ideal for Sailing
For the last two years Bahía has become one of the favorite places for sailing boats that travel along the Pacific Ocean. Its calm water, ideal weather, and warm people, in addition to the services the city offers, make of Bahía a great place to track



In and Around Santa Elena - Sun, fun and culture

To continue the "Ruta del Sol" (Sun´s Route), you can keep going South from Puerto López or start from the city of Guayaquil. We recommend that you get information in your hotel or in the Chamber of Tourism about transportation and travel facilities.
If you are willing to take a bus, you can do it at the terminal, asking for those buses that go to Libertad, Santa Elena, Salinas (approximately 150 km). The ticket is worth three dollars. The E40 highway has some signs that will guide you to the visiting places.

MONTAÑITA: it is a favorite spot for national and international surfers and young adventure tourists. This charming town offers a variety of inexpensive hostels, national and international food, and an exhilarating nightlife.



OLON: the wide beach of Olon is crowned with an outstanding Sanctuary, with open walls and a breathtaking view of the beach.

BALLENITA:

Only 5 km away from the Santa Elena population is Ballenita (Little Whale), a very nice beach with an inhabited town. We recommend that you visit the Farallon Dillon Restaurant-Museums of the Dillón family, which also has an exquisite restaurant with a gallery of nautical pieces and antique marine pieces that were collected by an Ecuadorian ex-marine who collected them throughout 30 years of voyages. Along with paintings and pieces of furniture, some of these antique pieces are for sale.

In the restaurant-museum are exposed pieces that were recovered from the Spanish ship "Jesús María de la Limpia Concepción de Nuestra Señora La Capitana" (Jesus Mary of the Clean Conception of Our Lady the Captain), known simply as "La Capitana" (The Lady Captain). This ship was built in Guayaquil in 1.654 and sunk ten years later in front of the Ecuadorian Coast. Among this collection is a diving suit built in 1.900, which includes an air compressor. It is very impressive.

SALINAS:
Salinas is called that way because salt used to be extracted from its beaches. It is located in the Santa Elena peninsula. Contrasting with other Ecuadorian beaches, Salinas used to be a desert place, but today, thanks to occasional rain and the Daule-Peripa project, the fields are green and one can admire gigantic Ceibo trees and beautiful farms on the way. The highway is in perfect conditions.
Salinas is a common vacation place for people from Guayaquil during the months January- April (winter). These months are very sunny and there's almost no rain. During the rest of the year, Salinas is mostly empty and the weather is not as pleasant.

Salinas is an international tourism beach because it has great accommodations. The Barceló Colón Miramar Hotel is a resort with amazing food and entertainment services.
Strolling through the Salinas "malecón" (boardwalk) one finds a vast diversity of food, including typical seafood dishes like "ceviche", also corn, yucca, bananas, fruits, and many others. Malecón is a safe place where a lot of entertainment is found during the day and especially during the night.



During a stroll through "malecón" one can also take the chance to visit the Naval Archeological Museum, which is two blocks away from the Barceló Colón Miramar, on the corner of Malecón Guayas and Quil. It is open from Wednesdays to Sundays from 10h00 to 13h00 and from 15h00 to 18h00.
This small museum displays the vast archeological richness of the region, from the very antique culture of Las Vegas (8.000 to 4.000 B.C.), through ceramics of the Valdivia (4.200 to 1.500 B.C.), Chorrera, Machalilla (4.200 to 500 B.C.), Guangala-Jambelí (500 B.C. to 800 A.C.), and Manteña-Guancavilca (800 to 1.256 A.C.) cultures.
In other words, it holds a representative sample of the Pre-ceramic, Formative, Regional Development and Integration periods of the Ecuadorian pre- Hispanic history.

A varied collection of the famous Valdivia Venus is found in this museum. The abundance of these sculptures in the region is still a mystery, but it is known that they represented women's fertility and that of the Earth, and that they hold a close relation to similar representations in other cultures of the time, such as the Maya or the far Egyptian culture. These sculptures mark the beginning of ceramics in the American continent.
The museum also displays an impressive representation of the antique "balsas" (canoes) made of the wood with the same name (scientific name Ochroma piscatoria) and enourmous cotton sails that impressed the Spanish conquerors, as they traveled large distances (Mexico-Peru) and were very light and handy. These balsas were used for commercial exchange with cultures of Mesoamerica. The famous shell "concha spondylus" (Spondylus princeps), also called "mullo", was the money or coin of the time. This shell is found on the Ecuadorian coasts of Manabí and Guayas and also in front of the Peruvian coast.

Vestiges of the commerce and cultural exchange between South- Central America are found in the Panamas and Mexican coasts, where woolen items and some foods were exchanged with the Mayas.
From the Spanish conquest, the museum displays golden coins ("doblones"), copper coins ("malravedíes") and silver coins ("pesos" and "patacones"). These coins all have a mark with the Spanish King's signature on them, and they were registered by the "ensayador", who was in charge of the "Casa de la Moneda Real" (Real Coin House). Among these coins, some pieces of the "Lady Captain" galleon (mentioned above) are displayed.
By the end of the visit to the museum, the Ecuadorian Army displays antique army materials, since Salinas is an important Ecuadorian air base.

MUSEUMS GUAYAS

REAL ALTO "IN-SITU" MUSEUM:
On the highway from Guayaquil to Salinas, one must turn to a road which goes to Chanduy to find the Real Alto Museum, managed by the community descendant of the "Valdivia" culture. One can observe the physical traits that are still preserved by the modern community from this antique culture.
This museum is ideal to appreciate the functioning of archeological investigation. Pictures and illustrations show the geological and cultural history of the place. The museum itself is an intent to go back to the Ecuadorian roots, displaying brilliant and strong colors, as well as examples of the religious syncretism and the musical and artistic taste of Ecuadorians.

Next to the museum is a 100 year-old house made of "caña guadúa" (a wooden cane) and another wood called "guasango". This house was built with the architecture of the Valdivia culture. The place resembles a ceremonial center of the human groups that inhabited this area from 4.200 to 1.500 A.C. The area has favorable conditions for an early human settlement: pleasant weather, river, ocean, and a vegetation which favors the recollections of fruits and also hunting. These conditions lead the Valdivia culture to become sedentary and leave its nomad life behind.

Although pleasant, the weather varies due to the ocean current of El Niño, which brings along dry periods as well as floods. These drastic changes derived in the destruction of the vegetation and animals too. Possibly, the life of the Valdivia culture depended on these climate changes, which forced them to emigrate.
The over-exploitation of wood almost turned the Santa Elena peninsula into a desert. But thanks to the water repress that was built in the Daule and Peripa rivers, the area is now irrigated and is recovering its original vegetation. Scientists keep hope that the original fauna of the area will also be recovered.

Not only can one admire the archeological remains in the museum, but one can also appreciate old endangered species of trees like the Guasango (Loxopterygium huasango) and Guayacán (Tabebria chrysantha).
Miss Vicky Bernabé, the Museum's guide, is proud to be a descendant of the Valdiva culture, and indeed her facial traits tell of her heredity. The Association of Guayas Archeologists and Anthropologists are in charge of the museum, which is managed by the Valdivia Community. It is open Tuesdays to Sundays, from 9h00 to 17h00. The entrance fee is of $2.

MUSEUM OF THE "LOVERS OF SUMPA": definitely worth visiting is this small but outstanding in-situ museum, which is located at the antique settlement village of the "Las Vegas" culture (approx. 8.800 to 4.600 BC). The museum got its name because the burial that is uncovered disclosed the skeletons of a man and a woman that were carefully buried together about 5-6.000 years ago. This museum is the largest cemetery of the time that has been excavated in the new world. Open Tuesday thru Sunday, 9h30 to 16h30. Admission fee is $1.00 for adults and $ 0.50 for children.

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