Fascinating Ecuador Was Hard to Leave…

Continued from Ecuador…

DAY 8 - I loved everything about Ecuador!  It is a gorgeous country with an extremely friendly and hard-working citizenry.  Larry has been here before, and I vowed to return to this emerging tourism country to explore more of its natural wonders and the magnificent mountain areas that are located directly on the world’s equator.

Even though the country is located in what would seem to be a very hot place on our globe, the cool Pacific breezes kept the temperature a perfect 75 degrees in our port, and the mountain areas in Ecuador are much cooler both day and night.

Larry’s camera caught me as I was falling in love with this finely-woven Panama hat, and I purchased it for only $30, feeling guilty for paying such a low, low price for all of that work!

When we returned to our ship after our visit to the Panama hat factory, I took a photo of the American flag that flies on the deck of the ship in the dock beside our cruise ship. The armed Army and Navy personnel (seen under the thatched roof shade structure) stand guard 24/7 on this vessel.

 As our ship’s captain sounded the three blasts of our ship’s horn to signal our departure from our port in Ecuador, the ever-present tug boats and pilot boats were there to accompany us until we were out of their harbor.   It was hard to leave Ecuador after only one day in this great country.

I got Larry to smile for my camera as we were pulling away from our Ecuador port.  With each port departure there is a fun Bon Voyage party where the ship’s pool areas are decorated with international flags.  The festivities are generally accompanied by tropical drinks, champagne, great beer, and music from our ship’s talented live band.