Manta is the busiest port on the coast of Ecuador, and a fishing town to its marrow. It lies on the western tip of a peninsula in the province of Manabí, and its harbour is crowded with fishing boats, tuna trawlers and cargo ships, so that the whole waterfront smells of salt, diesel and frying fish. Tuna canning has been the city's big business for decades, and the town sits on a coast where the cold Humboldt Current meets the warm tropical water, a meeting that makes the sea rich.
The city has some 180,000 people and a busy, workaday character, with a seafront promenade, beaches popular with surfers and families, and a market where you can try ceviche, the lime-cured seafood dish that Ecuadorians take very seriously. It is hot and often dry, with a haze over the water, and the evening breeze is welcome. Montecristi, ten kilometres inland, is the home of the so-called Panama hat, which is actually Ecuadorian. The finest examples are woven from a fibre called toquilla straw, so fine that a good hat can be rolled through a ring, and the craft is recognised by UNESCO as part of the world's intangible heritage.
The ride here follows the Ruta del Spondylus, the coastal route named after the spiny oyster that was prized by the peoples of ancient Ecuador and Peru, who traded its brilliant red and orange shells as a sacred offering. The road runs along the Pacific coast, dipping in and out of fishing villages, beaches and dry hills covered with scrub, with the sea flashing in the gaps. Surfaces are mostly good, though trucks, buses and sudden speed bumps in the villages demand attention, and the road can be hot and dusty in the dry season.
Fuel is easy in a port of this size, and stations are plentiful on the main road. Start the day early, since the heat builds fast, and aim to arrive by late afternoon when the light turns gold over the water. Take a walk along the harbour at sunset, when the pelicans come in with the fishing boats, and the sky glows. It is a fine place to end a ride.