Manta is quite small town, where everybody knows each other, every new person going out to the "normal" night clubs will be making friends easily as the Ecuadorian people is very warm and friendly. I am from Manta and I lived most of my life there, I have read some of your comments and I agree that Manta is not as dangerous as most people say, you have to use common sense and everything will be fine. who is your family there? Do they happen to run the local pharmacies there? I dont remeber the road names, but I will try to look through some things that I have from there and find out. Well, I'm not sure how to explain where exactly it was at. In order to get into the business district we had to walk by a cemetary that was surrounded by a white cement wall (there are footprints in the cement by the corner where someone walked through the cement before it was dry). It was within walking distance from the beach. It was between the Howard Johnson and the Ora Verda. (i.e.-never go out by your self at night, ect.) Anyways back to your question it's kind of hard to explain where we lived but I'll try. I went out many times by myself and never had a problem. We lived in a gated community in a tiny pool house. My boyfriend worked there so I moved there with him. Not only am I female but I was only 19 yrs old when I moved there, right out of high school, first time away from home, and first time to fly. Just let me know what you want to know about. Well, I can give you more advise if you want it. If you run into any of them let me know and I'll tell them to help you out. If you can become buddies with the American firefighters there. The food is good but some of the places will make you sick for weeks. Be careful where you eat at on the beach. If you buy from them once they will never leave you alone, but if you never buy from them they will eventually stop asking. They will bug the crap out of you, they shake chicklets in you face and say, "chicklet, chicklet". Also never buy anything from the people at the beach. If they shoot you a high price just laugh them and offer them half as much as they orginally asked, if they dont come down just start to walk away. Never pay more than $1 or $2 for a cab ride, and remember that EVERYTHING there is negotiable. But when they see an American they raise the prices cause they think we have lots of money. But, we lived in our landlords pool house the rent was pretty high for no more than we had ($350). It's pretty safe, although the gate guards only have 1 or 2 bullets for their guns. After you go about 2 block turn right and there is a black iron gate that leads into the area where we lived. Anyways it is just about 2 blocks from that corner. (w/in walking distance) When you get there find the cemetary that has a white cement wall around it and by the fire hydrant there are foot prints in the sidewalk (someone walked through the cement before it was dry). Anyways back to your question it's hard to explain were we lived, but it was near the beach. I was a perfect target, a young blonde female, but I usually felt safe. Just watch for the FARC, they are drug lords from Columbia that like to kidnap American's. It was my first time away from home and first time to fly. I moved to Ecuador right after I graduated high school.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |