Others highly recommend using Esmeraldas as a gateway to the beaches and coastal resorts.
Named Esmeraldas by the Spanish explorers who found the local natives bedecked with emeralds, this area of Ecuador is lush. Rain forests, tropical vegetation and mangrove forests, together with rivers and dense foliage make this province green in color and in conservation efforts.
Until a few decades ago, the area around Esmeraldas, in the province of Esmeraldas (see map,) was accessible only by sea. The only inhabitants for centuries were of the Tumaco/La Tolita culture that spread over the modern borders of Colombia and northern Ecuador.
After slaves were brought to the New World to work the growing sugar plantations, the mines and other efforts, some of them escaped shipwrecks and swam ashore on the Esmeraldas coast, They overcame, first by violence, then by breeding, the local cultures, and created the "Republic of Blacks" which became the haven for escaping slaves from other Ecuadorian provinces and South American vice-royalties and countries.
Isolated for so many years, the black and native cultures interwove and created a culture that remains vibrant today. With the coming of roads, the development of the port and the establishment of Esmeraldas as the site of Ecuador's largest oil refinery for the Trans-Ecuador pipeline bringing oil from the Amazon, the city of Esmeraldas has become a large commercial and tourism center. At the same time, ecologically concerned citizens have created wildlife reserves and mangrove conservation groups.
Cruise ships call in at Esmeraldas. Some offer on-shore excursions to Quito, 116 miles (185 km) to the southeast, Cuenca or Chan Chan, but many of the passengers prefer to spend the day sightseeing locally.
Getting There
By air:
Shopping Tips
Though Carludovica Palmata, the palm-like bush that provides the material for Panama hats grows in the neigboring province of Manabí, you can buy the hats anywhere along the coast. Food and Drink
Seafood and tropical fruits are a staple along the coast. Be sure to try:
- Encocado de Pescado - fish prepared with coconut juice
- Tapao - wheat with fish and banana
- Arroz con Menestra, Camarón, y patacones - rice with lentils, shrimp and pressed green fried banana
- Ceviches - made with fish
- Empanadas and bolones de verde- balls made of green banana, that usually have some stuffing inside
- Cocada - sweet made of coconut, peanut and brown sugar.
- Aguardiente de Caña - sugar cane liquor)
- Coco con Aguardiente - coconut juice with liquor
