North and Central Coasts - Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands - page 129

$$
There's not much of a backpacking or tourist scene in Esmeraldas, so cheap dorms in wel-
coming hostels are out of the question. You're better off with this mid-range value option,
which is probably one of the few air-conditioned hotels in all of Esmeraldas Province.
You'll thank me later.
• Hotel Puerto Ballesta
12 miles (20 km) from Esmeraldas on the Atacames road
www.puertoballesta.com
$$-$$$
This beautiful 'backpacker's paradise' (as it's been called) hotel underwent a facelift years
ago that brought a sense of modernism to the aged building. Now, rooms have private bal-
conies with views of the ocean or the florid gardens the hotel centers around. A great res-
taurant is on the first floor.
Manta
The seaport city of Manta looks like it got lost on the way to Miami, with long stretches of
gleaming beaches that convert into a glittering metropolis by night. About 10 hours west
of Quito and 3 north of Guayaquil on the northern end of the Spondylus Route, Manta is
probably the most popular beach with affluent nationals and tourists more oriented toward
beachfront villas than rustic hostels. If some TV exec ever conjures up The Real
Housewives of Ecuador , it would be filmed here.
But before Manta became a high-rise haven for snowbirds, it was home to the indigenous
Mantas who inhabited the area from as far back as 500 BC to 1526 AD, about a decade
before the Spanish arrived. The Mantas named their city Jocay or 'house of fish' and ap-
plied it as a major trading post (as did the Incas later on), thusly a principal stop on the
Spondylus Route in its heyday. After its independence was won, the contemporary fishing
industry settled in and today Manta is home to a handful of national and international tuna
processing plants. Other than a sprinkling of other major businesses, tourism currently
takes the cake as the number one breadwinner.
Most serranos (mountain people) begin to flood Manta in December when vacation time
lines up with coastal 'summer' brings clear skies, just before the short rainy season begins
in January. The city enjoys a tropical desert climate which is low in humidity and gener-