Panama Hat Maker, Ambachtelijke goederen, Museum, Lokale keuken aan het strand. SHORE TOUR

Anthony ('Toni") was waiting well ahead of time at the appointed meeting place with a clear name sign & in distinctive uniform just as detailed in the booking instructions. As a school English teacher his English was superior to the Ecuadorian norm. Coincidentally our driver also named Anthony drove the late model air-conditioned & comfortable van for our group of six cruise ship passengers very competently in the busy Manta traffic & assisted some infirm passengers. Toni strategically organized the tour so we had minimal interferance from larger ship-organized tours, gave us bottled water & other small snacks-nice touch Toni ! We started off at the Manta Fish market & after a tour of the stalls & the many marine species displayed he explained how to buy samples of fresh edible shell fish which were consumed readily by many in our group. The nearby shipbuilding/repair was also seen on our walk. Toni suggested that we stop at a convenient ATM for passengers in need of cash on the way to the Centro Civico Cuidad Alfaro Congress & Museum. We were fortunate that Toni knew that the Congress buiding would be open for viewing. It was an illuminating experience of the Parliament meeting place. The Museum is an interesting building representing the shape of a condor & enough time was spent on hearing the history of Gen. Jose Eloy Alfaro Delgardo, before seeing the first amazing demonstration of Panama hat making at one of the nearby stalls. Excellent views of the Montechristi area can be had from this elevated sight. The visit to the artisan's Panama hat makers was entertaining, informative & also a pleasant no-pressure shopping experience. All stages of the hat making process were demonstrated, hands-on hat forming & some prizes awarded to lucky audience participants. Panama hats & the like and all types, shapes & sizes were available for sale at value prices. We also visited an artisanal chocolate making facilty which again included hands-on some aspects of the chocolate making process, sampling of the attached shop's wares & very reasonably priced tourist packets of all chocolate flavours. We then had lunch at a beach side restaurant with excellent sea views with whales breaching in the distance. Although not Toni's first choice, (one restaurant was closed) it was exceptional in it's range of dishes, mainly fresh sea food-based. It had a wide range of beer & other beverages available including pisco sours that proved to be irresistable to some experts present. Lunch was a very pleasant highlight to end the tour & we thank the Tonis' for their flexibility in the time taken to enjoy it fully. We had a brief photo stop at the large "MANTA" sign on the way back to the ship. We returned with plenty of time to do further souveniring at the cruise ship terminal. A couple of us had reservations in booking tours like this type that may be too tiring - this was not the case & we found it easy going. The group unanimously remarked that the tour had been an extremely enjoyable day.

Fabulous tour guide Tony. Speaks excellent English. Tony was able to answer any questions about the history of Manta and surrounds. Very knowledgeable!

Awesome Tour! I only had one day and I was so glad to pick this one. The guide was great, totally patient. Can't wait to make the local coffee I picked up!