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Residents are typically outgoing and certainly enjoy their city. There are small parks and pleasant garden refuges. Banco Central’s small, but interesting museum on Avenida 6 showcases pre-Columbian pottery, and is open weekdays until 4:30 PM. The collection of ancient artifacts dates from the 2000 year old Huancavilca-Manteno culture that once thrived along the coast.
In addition to the pretty, and increasingly popular, beaches near Manta, some of Ecuador’s forward-thinking ecological projects near the port help preserve the world’s ever-shrinking supply of natural habitat. Isla de Fragatas in Bahia de Caraquez, is a sanctuary for breeding marine birds, including a healthy population of frigate birds, many more than the Galapagos and Isla de la Plata is as well known among geneticists for its unusual species, even though it is overshadowed by the more famous archipelago. The bay and local coastline is known as the Millennium Coast and the islands are part of Manchalilla National Park, Ecuador’s only coastal preserve. The 55,000 hectare land portion of the park is also a preserve for tropical day forest and a small cloud forest. There is a small pre-Columbian archeological site in the park that is attributed to the pre-Columbian Mantena civilization and more than 200 species, including parrots and anteaters, have been identified within its protective grounds. While the term may be bit hackneyed ever since the “hype” of the 2000 New Year’s celebrations, the area is quite beautiful. Dolphins and whales play along the coast and the archaeological site at Chirije (chuh ree hay) reveals an ancient port that dates from 500 BC when Bahia people explored the Pacific Coast.
Machalilla National Park encompasses a coastal mainland stretch and 2 offshore islands, Isla de la Plata and Isla Salango. It constitutes the last remains of dry tropical forest in Ecuador and is home to a rich variety of lirdlife as well as some reptiles and mammals.
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