Ecuador

In the town of Manta, I spent the day with a few others on a private tour that included the fish market.  I always love the local markets as it’s a great way to see how people live and do business.  This market up until a few years ago was conducted fully out on the beach.  Today most is under a roof, but some remains out of doors.  The pelicans and egrets clearly know when the market is in session. 

We then wandered around the town of Montecristi.  The town is renowned for originating and still making Panama hats; the finest of which can sell for thousands.

Our stop the next day was Guayaquil.  I strolled around the waterfront and markets with friends as well as visiting Iguana Park.  Heads up if you ever visit here: don’t stand under the trees.  The iguanas hang out in the trees and droppings from these guys is a whole lot worse than any bird!  And no, I was not a victim, just an observer J.

Rosario Islands, Columbia

Had a great day of snorkeling in the Rosario Islands today.  It was about an hour ride from Cartagena in a small speedboat (14 of us on the excursion).  Not a lot of good coral, but some good fish and it was just nice to be in the water.  I tried out my water camera for the first time.  Got lots of fish scooting out of my shot.  At least this star fish wasn’t moving around on me! Hopefully I’ll be a pro at it by the time we get to good South Pacific snorkeling locations. 

 

There were lots of fisherman out on the waters.  Some peddling their wares to passerby's like us.

 

Tomorrow we pass through the Panama canal...

 

Dominican Republic and Curacao, Willemstad

Clearly I’m having to good a time as this is my first post for the world cruise J.   We docked in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on Sunday and Curacao, Willemstad on Wednesday.  I like to take excursions that give me a feel for a country, so in both of these locations I went out into the countryside to see a cacao processing facility, a former plantation and some lovely beaches. 

In the Dominican, it was a long drive out to the cacao processing facility.  This island still has much development ahead as most people in the countryside have no running water and sanitation works seems to be non-existent.   After visiting the plant we stopped at a family-run farm where they grow cocoa and show the full process.   I’ve seen this before, both in India and in Boston.  Yup, Boston.  Behind the Old North Church is a chocolate shop where they show how early settlers processed their chocolate.  I should be an expert on it by now.

For photos we start with a cocoa pod, and as the second photo shows, there can be many pods hanging around on these trees.

 

The inside of a pod (this one has already been half emptied). 

The dried cocoa beans being pounded… for a long time.

 

Not sure this is how I want to eat my chocolate.

 





Everything in Willemstad is colorful with brightly painted buildings in the city and the countryside.

 

 

In Curacao walking along this row of market stalls you hardly notice how this differs from many city markets…

 

 

 

It’s actually a floating market.  The boats go back and forth to Venezuela to load up on produce and fish to sell.