The Sea Princess arrived in the port city of Manta, on Ecuador's central coast on August 26.
This city is famous for its tuna-fishing industry, beautiful beaches and subtropical humid climate. We left the Sea Princess for four days to travel by coach to the largest city in the country, Guayaquil.
From Guayaquil we will take a plane to Lima, in Peru and then we'll take a train to Cusco where we plan to explore Machu Picchu, the famous Inca site we have always wanted to visit. Then after four land days we'll re board the Sea Princess at Lima's port city of Calloa and continue on our world trip.
Jamie, our experienced and friendly guide arranged our itinerary throughout this 4 day excursion and he crammed our days with many interesting experiences and sites to visit.
Our group of 24 passengers left the ship at 7.30 am. Already it was warm and humid but our air-conditioned coach made the 5 hour trip to Guayaquil pleasant and comfortable. As we drove out into the countryside the hills became drier, the vegetation less dense and for many kilometres there were no towns. From time to time there were clusters of village houses, some on stilts for coolness. It was obvious that many of these people are poor, subsistent farmers, living in homes made from mud bricks with grass roofs. They grow their own crops and kept goats for milk and other animals for meat or eggs. Sometimes we'd pass home-made roadside stalls where we assumed the villages sold goods from their small plots to the passing trade.
