A few more images of Manta and its environs. Poverty is wide spread it appears. International trade is down. Businesses close down...
 |
| Police station in an outlying suburb. |
 |
| Little Ecuadorian in his mother's shop |
 |
| Tourist demonstration of natural fibre coffee sacking weaving. Coffee is now bagged in polyester bags, cheaper than these home manufactured ones, even if imported |
 |
| Sample of woven sacking, it is wwashable and reusable. |
 |
| Village accommodation. Everyone was waving and smiling at me. |
 |
| Souvenir stand in a village |
 |
| Main street - dirt - in a village |
 |
| View over Manta from a nearby hill side |
 |
| Fishing boat yard, near Manta port |
 |
| Shaman figure in a small Manta museum |
 |
| One of the beaches of Manta, with Veendam in the far background |
 |
| Wall mural depicting Moche natives |
 |
| Fresh roses (Manta's main export) even in a beach side cafe, local beer is safe to drink. |
 |
| Equatorial sun, pitilessly hot and burning, requires that even locals need umbrellas and shade... |
 |
| Duchas - showers - along Manta's beach |
Meanwhile back aboard....
Saying Good Bye to Manta we are headed for the Equator, which we will cross today, on the 21. April at 22:00, although the 'official' Celebration of King Neptune's visit will be held on the 22. April. It will involve a lot of gloopy mess being spread over a couple of dozen 'pollywogs; firs time Equator crossers, who then finish up in the swimming pool making it a gross mess. However, the pool will be drained, cleaned and refilled again overnight. So we have fresh swimming pool water once we are in the Northern Hemisphere.
The ship in the meantime has gone into 'gastro bug fighting mode'. The Captain has issued several notices about reduced services due to an 'increase in gastric intestinal infections' aboard ship.
First a nice letter - please wash your hands
Illness is spread person to person or by 'common touch', i.e. touching anything especially serving utensils previously touched by an ill person with contaminated hands, and then eating with now also own contaminated hands.
Then second letter with the same text - please wash your hands.
Self service at the buffet was suspended.
Then a third letter with the same text - please wash your hands.
Things are getting 'locked down': no library books - magazines have disappeared. No 'shopping' without going through a control point with human 'sanitizer enforcers'. No rummage sales tables. No sauna or thermo treatments - period. No self serve laundry. Photo gallery - controlled sanitizer access. All dining rooms roped off with controlled access, where each passengers has hands sanitized. The bars have ‘health police' with sanitizer squirters upon entry. Staff is moving all over the ship continuously wiping handrails, knobs, chairs, elevator buttons - anything that could be contaminated. When I checked last, pool and hot tubs were still open. So is the Casino - and no check at the entrances there...not many people inside anyway, and most of the dealers are now deployed as temporary sanitizer squirters around ship.
Most passengers, the ones not affected, take it in stride and with understanding - maybe they are still standing BECAUSE they practiced adequate hygiene, who knows.
Others complain about the ship being 'dirty' (not true) and insist that no passenger would carry this gastro bug around or - God forbid - carry it on board from shore side. They just KNOW that is something the ship 'has'.
Well, after observing my fellow travellers for a long while - that theory seems to be a little far fetched:
People breeze into the buffet past hand washing machines and sanitizers, and search through a pile of butter packs to find 'a cold one', through bread rolls to find 'the crunchiest one', through fruit to find 'a perfect one', drop serving utensils into food trays, blow their noses in between picking up the salt and peppers - and all that without benefit of washing their oh so clean hands.
Excuses...I washed them in my room; sanitizer is bad for your skin; why wash them after using the bath room - I never pee on my hands (this is an actual quote); or just - what for??
So, as an old cruiser, one avoids anything that may be touched by human passenger hand, and washes, washes, washes and hopes for the best. Certainly don’t eat in a buffet, unless you are the VERY first one in the room and have washed your own hands upon entry.
In the meantime, afflicted passengers are requested to quarantine themselves voluntarily in their rooms after telling Front Office about their sickness. Medical help is available if required, standard charges apply. I guess this may not attract a lot of people to 'do the right thing'.
Who knows what the next 'level' of precaution is going to be, I just hope the ship evades quarantine at any ports...
Saying Good Bye to Manta we are headed for the Equator, which we will cross today, on the 21. April at 22:00, although the 'official' Celebration of King Neptune's visit will be held on the 22. April. It will involve a lot of gloopy mess being spread over a couple of dozen 'pollywogs; firs time Equator crossers, who then finish up in the swimming pool making it a gross mess. However, the pool will be drained, cleaned and refilled again overnight. So we have fresh swimming pool water once we are in the Northern Hemisphere.
The ship in the meantime has gone into 'gastro bug fighting mode'. The Captain has issued several notices about reduced services due to an 'increase in gastric intestinal infections' aboard ship.
First a nice letter - please wash your hands
Illness is spread person to person or by 'common touch', i.e. touching anything especially serving utensils previously touched by an ill person with contaminated hands, and then eating with now also own contaminated hands.
Then second letter with the same text - please wash your hands.
Self service at the buffet was suspended.
Then a third letter with the same text - please wash your hands.
Things are getting 'locked down': no library books - magazines have disappeared. No 'shopping' without going through a control point with human 'sanitizer enforcers'. No rummage sales tables. No sauna or thermo treatments - period. No self serve laundry. Photo gallery - controlled sanitizer access. All dining rooms roped off with controlled access, where each passengers has hands sanitized. The bars have ‘health police' with sanitizer squirters upon entry. Staff is moving all over the ship continuously wiping handrails, knobs, chairs, elevator buttons - anything that could be contaminated. When I checked last, pool and hot tubs were still open. So is the Casino - and no check at the entrances there...not many people inside anyway, and most of the dealers are now deployed as temporary sanitizer squirters around ship.
Most passengers, the ones not affected, take it in stride and with understanding - maybe they are still standing BECAUSE they practiced adequate hygiene, who knows.
Others complain about the ship being 'dirty' (not true) and insist that no passenger would carry this gastro bug around or - God forbid - carry it on board from shore side. They just KNOW that is something the ship 'has'.
Well, after observing my fellow travellers for a long while - that theory seems to be a little far fetched:
People breeze into the buffet past hand washing machines and sanitizers, and search through a pile of butter packs to find 'a cold one', through bread rolls to find 'the crunchiest one', through fruit to find 'a perfect one', drop serving utensils into food trays, blow their noses in between picking up the salt and peppers - and all that without benefit of washing their oh so clean hands.
Excuses...I washed them in my room; sanitizer is bad for your skin; why wash them after using the bath room - I never pee on my hands (this is an actual quote); or just - what for??
So, as an old cruiser, one avoids anything that may be touched by human passenger hand, and washes, washes, washes and hopes for the best. Certainly don’t eat in a buffet, unless you are the VERY first one in the room and have washed your own hands upon entry.
In the meantime, afflicted passengers are requested to quarantine themselves voluntarily in their rooms after telling Front Office about their sickness. Medical help is available if required, standard charges apply. I guess this may not attract a lot of people to 'do the right thing'.
Who knows what the next 'level' of precaution is going to be, I just hope the ship evades quarantine at any ports...
