Apr 14 - Destination Guayaquil

April 14  2017 - Destination Guayaquil

The wet coastal region of Equador..90% is for export

Late start today....8.45... We went down to the station and boarded the train again in Bucay and set out through the lush vegetation towards our next stop Naranjito. 

Millions of bananas ripening in the high humidity

This wet rainforest area is the main production area for sugar cane, bananas and pineapples and we passed through plantations of all three. 

The bananas are wrapped in bags with airholes once they reach a certain stage to help them ripen & colour and protect them from bird and insect damage. All the bags were printed from a local co-operative and all the small plantations work together to harvest and sell their products communally to the fair trade associations. Amongst the plantations, small homestead of indigenous Equadorians who all waved at the train with excitement as it passed by at its normal 30mph.

Pineapples - probably one of the few
fruits we found in every country

Pineapples are another major crop here and it is the first time we have seen field upon field of pineapples.

Cocoa Pods growing in the Hacianda plantation

Cocoa was the principle crop for this area and produced some of the highest quality cocoa until the 1940’s when a crop blight wiped out the entire area. After this the locals concentrated on bananas and pineapples but recently given the popularity of quality artisan chocolate some younger farmers have started again on the cocoa crop but one with better resistance to the bug that wiped out the native cocoa trees. The result again has been a high quality cocoa crop so the plantations are again on the increase.

We stopped at a Hacienda that is home to a Danish/Ecuadorian family who settled here 45 years ago and have plantations of all 3 crops but are now specialising in cocoa. 

They showed us the cocoa process from end to end. The cocoa pods are opened, the seeds are extracted (which in their original white state are sweet like passion fruit), then dried in the sun. 

Once dry they are toasted in large pans and once cool the shell is removed to give the raw cocoa seed. These are then ground and bagged and shipped off for production. The raw cocoa tastes like chocolate but is very bitter, this is 100% cocoa powder.

We had lunch at the pretty Hacienda in the open which was lovely and then headed back to the train for our final leg into Guayaquil (Duran station).

Steve spent much of the day consulting his altitude map of the journey to check that he really was nearing sea level and had said goodbye to the dreaded altitude sickness that has dogged him for the past 3 weeks.

Our final leg was again by steam train, so we watched as they switched the diesel over and attached the steam engine and then we were off puffing & tooting through the countryside. 

All the locals came out to wave and take photos as the steam train passed.

All went well until at a level crossing in a small town, the train caught the  overhead electrical wires !!  Wiring in South America is several degrees worse then Turkey and power  outages due to rainstorms are common. Not sure whose power we took out, but the train drivers had to tie up the cables so the train could go underneath !!

The city of Guayaquil although we will
spend no time her as we are just here to board a ship

We left the train in Duran station and picked up our ride into Guayquil city for a quick overnight before heading off to the Galapagos tomorrow.















HAPPY EASTER TO EVERYBODY.....

These are easter gifts although we thought they were a
bit ku Klux Klan for our tastes

More views from the train of the wet coatal areas and the stilted communities.....outside the city, rice is the predominant crop.....