As we continued southeastward the scenery became decidedly flatter and wetter as we were passing through an area that was wet enough to grow rice. Along the highway there were areas were rice was piled up to dry, and especially at the speed bumps, where traffic always lows there were the vendors selling truly locally produced goods. In some cases raw goods - literally!
At those speed bumps it was routine to pass other traffic and very often to be passed as well. Moving along the road we were on eventually merged with a few other roads that pretty soon became 4-lanes of 'official' traffic and 3-4 lanes using the shoulder of the road. This was all trying to fit onto 2 lanes of a bridge crossing a large river, Rio Babahoyo, as we approached the city of Guyaquil.
We drove around and through the city and eventually wound up in a parking deck under the Malecon (or was that under the boardwalk?). This was a beautiful walkway that ran for several kilometers along the bay and had gardens, exercise trails and areas, shops, restaurants.
This is also where we began to realize the intensity of the Sun. Up to this point we had been at elevations nearly two miles higher and at the associated lower temperatures the Sun had not felt as warm - there was also a tremendous difference in humidity. This, as it turned out would be the temperature/humidity we would deal with for the next two days.
We were in somewhat of a rush as we needed to be in Salinas around 1:p.m. for dinner, and so that we would also have enough time to get to Manta while it was still daylight. The road from Guyaquil to Salinas went from very tropical and green looking to dry, sandy, and hot. It reminded us very much of driving across New Mexico, or west Texas. It was very warm in the car and at one point we stopped to get something to drink - straight from the nut.
We got to Salinas, had a great dinner in a resort hotel and then drove along the ocean as we headed north toward Manta via the 'Ruta del Sol'. This is a two-lane highway that more or less follows the outline of the coast and connects all of the coastal cities between Salinas and Manta.
Since this was the only road connecting the cities it was also the main road through most of them, and in some cases was the only road. It was a great scenic drive as the Ecuador coast along the way was anything but flat. We were in and out of foothills or small mountains or in the valleys between them.
In some places the road was washed out or was in the process of being repaired, but for the most part it was a pretty well maintained road. It was a long hot drive and it took about 5 hours of non-stop driving to travel from Salinas north to Manta.
We got to Manta right around sunset and stopped for a few minutes and walked out on the Malecon and across to the ocean to cool our feet.