I was talking with the owner of the small hotel we are staying at in Guayaquil this morning and she commented on how surprised she was when I arrived at her hotel a few days ago. My email account is 'surfpirate' and she had assumed that I would be some young surfer guy instead of a 50 year old man, this segwayed into my hobby of underwater treasurehunting or 'surfpirating' for short. At the mention of treasurehunting, her eyes lit up and she asked me if I would be interested in seeing authentic treasure that had been salvaged from the wreck of the spanish treasure ship La Capitana that wrecked off the coast of Ecuador in 1654? Oh Yes Please!!
She made a phone call to a friend down the street from our hotel who is the director of the historical society and it was arranged that I would have a chance to see this private collection of treasure and artifacts if I would just walk down the street for half a block. I was up to my room for my camera and on my way in minutes and presented myself to the security station at the historical society and that's when the trouble started - the communications director got involved and wanted to see credentials. I told him that the director had said it was okay for me to see the artifacts and he responded that the director was out of town on business so I would have to come back later, a real bureaucratic nightmare and all of it in Spanish which left me at a decided disadvantage with my broken down pigeon spanish. The long and the short of it was that this Gringo was not getting anywhere near any national treasures without the Director being personally in attendance and since he would not be back for several days and I was about to leave Guayaquil that meant I was never going to see the treasure. I have found in south america that the direct approach is often not effective so I agreed with the communications director, thanked him for his time and left the building BUT I did not give up.
[attachment 191154 IMG_4184.JPG]
This is treasure from the wreck of a giant treasure ship and if there is a will there is a way, so I hightailed it back to the hotel and spoke with the owner again. Her spanish indignation was immediately inflamed and she fired off a phonecall to the communications director that was scorching in tone even if I couldn't get every word of the rapid fire spanish - 5 minutes later I was back at the door of the historical society and the communications director had now gone to lunch. I was lead to a back storeroom that was full of junk office furniture and there I met Carlos and the Director's assistant. Carlos is the curator of the historical society and also a scuba diver so we talked a bit about diving and treasure hunting and underwater metal detectors - it turns out that Carlos has been on several archeological dives in high altitude lakes, searching for Inca Treasure - very interesting fellow.
[attachment 191159 IMG_4198.JPG]
Instead of taking me to a vault or other secure room to show me the artifacts, Carlos starts pulling out plastic bags with paper wrapped goodie inside. The first bag has a silver bowl and plate from the captain's table off the La Capitana.
[attachment 191160 IMG_4186.JPG]
The next bag has a bunch of silver candlestick bases, silver clasps and last of all a beautiful gold crucifix with nice clear details and Inca styling, the nails at the points of crucifixion are moveable.
[attachment 191161 IMG_4189.JPG]
Then Carlos breaks out the red box I have been eyeballing this whole time and it is half full of little plastic sleaves, the kind you would put a coin collection in, these are 2, 4, and 6 Reales and they are all stamped 1653!
[attachment 191162 IMG_4196.JPG][attachment 191163 IMG_4193.JPG]
We chatted away some more about treasure and diving while I handled and photographed the treasure. It was a really remarkable experience to hold 450 year old treasure in my hands. It pays to be nice and it pays to Never give up!
She made a phone call to a friend down the street from our hotel who is the director of the historical society and it was arranged that I would have a chance to see this private collection of treasure and artifacts if I would just walk down the street for half a block. I was up to my room for my camera and on my way in minutes and presented myself to the security station at the historical society and that's when the trouble started - the communications director got involved and wanted to see credentials. I told him that the director had said it was okay for me to see the artifacts and he responded that the director was out of town on business so I would have to come back later, a real bureaucratic nightmare and all of it in Spanish which left me at a decided disadvantage with my broken down pigeon spanish. The long and the short of it was that this Gringo was not getting anywhere near any national treasures without the Director being personally in attendance and since he would not be back for several days and I was about to leave Guayaquil that meant I was never going to see the treasure. I have found in south america that the direct approach is often not effective so I agreed with the communications director, thanked him for his time and left the building BUT I did not give up.
[attachment 191154 IMG_4184.JPG]
This is treasure from the wreck of a giant treasure ship and if there is a will there is a way, so I hightailed it back to the hotel and spoke with the owner again. Her spanish indignation was immediately inflamed and she fired off a phonecall to the communications director that was scorching in tone even if I couldn't get every word of the rapid fire spanish - 5 minutes later I was back at the door of the historical society and the communications director had now gone to lunch. I was lead to a back storeroom that was full of junk office furniture and there I met Carlos and the Director's assistant. Carlos is the curator of the historical society and also a scuba diver so we talked a bit about diving and treasure hunting and underwater metal detectors - it turns out that Carlos has been on several archeological dives in high altitude lakes, searching for Inca Treasure - very interesting fellow.
[attachment 191159 IMG_4198.JPG]
Instead of taking me to a vault or other secure room to show me the artifacts, Carlos starts pulling out plastic bags with paper wrapped goodie inside. The first bag has a silver bowl and plate from the captain's table off the La Capitana.
[attachment 191160 IMG_4186.JPG]
The next bag has a bunch of silver candlestick bases, silver clasps and last of all a beautiful gold crucifix with nice clear details and Inca styling, the nails at the points of crucifixion are moveable.
[attachment 191161 IMG_4189.JPG]
Then Carlos breaks out the red box I have been eyeballing this whole time and it is half full of little plastic sleaves, the kind you would put a coin collection in, these are 2, 4, and 6 Reales and they are all stamped 1653!
[attachment 191162 IMG_4196.JPG][attachment 191163 IMG_4193.JPG]
We chatted away some more about treasure and diving while I handled and photographed the treasure. It was a really remarkable experience to hold 450 year old treasure in my hands. It pays to be nice and it pays to Never give up!
