This day was unique for us, as we saw a new and definitely more generous type of vegetation: the deciduous cloud forest of southern Ecuador. Right during the rainy season we visited Puerto Lopez, a small community of fishermen, and by bus, we saw another small series of towns, including Salango. The inhabitants of this area are very proud of their small museum, where we learned that their ancestors were seafaring people, using rafts to trade along the coast with other groups. From here we traveled further along the coast to the Finca /school of Lynn Fowler, named Gandhi.
The highlight of the day was a visit to the National Park of Machalilla, where we visited the archaeological site of Agua Blanca. The waters of the terrible El Niño of 1983 cut a new ravine near the town, and exposed a series of huge ceramic containers which were found to be, when studied, funeral pots with human skeletons inside. An English archaeologist who briefly studied the area suggested it was a cemetery. These are simple ceramic pots with a diameter of approximately 65 cm, and a height of 90 cm. The locals kept scratching in the area, coming up with fifteen other pots later. Different ceramic pieces have also been recovered from the area, and now are to be seen in the small local museum, dedicated to the Manteño People. Here we had the opportunity of purchasing some local handicrafts, among which were lovely reproductions of the various pieces found in the area.
