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Portoviejo
City
San Gregorio de Portoviejo
From top, left to right: Vicente Amador Flor Central Park, Metropolitan Cathedral of Jesus the Good Shepherd, Eloy Alfaro monument, Olmedo street, Manabi Agriculture monument, Portoviejo Botanical Garden and Manabi Technical University.
FlagSeal
Motto(s): Spanish:Portoviejo se Levanta Querer es Poder (English:Portoviejo rises, When there's a will there's a way)
Portoviejo
Coordinates: 1°3′22″S 80°27′19″W / 1.05611°S 80.45528°W / -1.05611; -80.45528
Country	Ecuador
Province	Manabí
Canton	Portoviejo
Founded	March 12, 1535
Founded by	Francisco Pacheco
Urban parishes	List of parishes 12 de Marzo 18 de Octubre Andrés de Vera Colón Francisco Pacheco Picoazá Portoviejo San Pablo Simón Bolívar
Government
• Mayor	Javier Pincay
• Vice Mayor	Mariela Coral
Area
• City	67.94 km (26.23 sq mi)
Elevation	53 m (174 ft)
Population
• City	244,129
• Density	3,600/km (9,300/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC−5 (ECT)
Postal code	EC130105
Area code	593 5
ISO 3166 code	EC-M
Climate	BSh
Website	www.portoviejo.gob.ec

Portoviejo (Spanish pronunciation: [poɾtoˈβjexo]), also known as San Gregorio de Portoviejo, is a city in Ecuador, and the capital of the Province of Manabí 30 km (19 mi) from the Pacific coast. It is still known as the city of the "Royal Tamarind Trees" due to former Tamarind plantations in the area.

It serves as the main political and economical centre of the Portoviejo River valley, which also includes the cantons of Santa Ana and Rocafuerte, where about 110 km (42 square miles) are cultivated every year.

The city, which was affected by economic crisis in the eighties and nineties, is now recovering but severe budget limitations and a huge unemployment rate present difficulties for local authorities.

Founded on March 12, 1535, it is one of the oldest cities in Ecuador and is the eighth largest of the country.

Portoviejo is important for the cultivation of coffee, cattle and fishing and has a thriving agricultural-processing industry, with good road connections to Quito and Guayaquil.

History

Founded March 12, 1535, near the coast, by the Spanish captain Francisco Pacheco as "Villa Nueva de San Gregorio de Portoviejo", it was moved inland to its present site in 1628 due to Indian attacks.

On April 16 and 17, 2016, a large earthquake with a moment magnitude of 7.8 struck the region. Portoviejo sustained over 300 fatalities and building damage.

Gastronomy

The city has a rich agricultural and maritime industry, employing over 50% of the population, as well as a flourishing gastronomic sector. The gastronomic sector is now regarded as the main post-disaster, referring to the 2016 earthquake, cultural industry, providing employment opportunities and reducing poverty for local inhabitants.

In 2018, Portoviejo's gastronomy was declared as intangible heritage of Ecuador, a certificate granted by the Ministry of Culture and Cultural Heritage on October 18, 2018, to commemorate the 198 years of independence of Portoviejo.

In October 2019, the flavor of the Manabi capital was recognized as part of the Creative Cities Network, by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Portoviejo received this recognition when World Cities Day was commemorated, as reported by the Municipal Autonomous Decentralized Government of Portoviejo. The inhabitants of Manabi recover their culture, through gastronomy and the conservation of ancestral recipes; points considered to be part of the Creative Cities, in the Gastronomy category. Portoviejo is the first city in Ecuador to obtain this recognition.

Among the main ingredients used in portovejense food are peanuts, bananas, cheese, corn, and yucca.

A typical meal might consist of Biche de Pescado, Shrimp, Corviche, Bolón de verde, Encebollado, Cebiche de Pollo, Aguado de gallina, or Cangrejada among others.

Points of Interest

The many parks within the city include Mamey Ecological Park which includes a large animal reserve, The Forest Park located in the north of the city, and Central Park Vicente Amador Flor.

The Jardín botánico de Portoviejo, a preserved area, botanical garden, arboretum, orchid garden, palmetum and rescue area in the northeast of the city serves as a place for leisure, as well as biological and agricultural studies within the Manabí region. It consists of a combined total area of 50 hectars, owned by the Technical University of Manabí, located in Portoviejo.

The Parque Arqueológico Cerro Jaboncillo, an archeological site and museum is located outside of the city.

Situated near the city center on the Av. Universitaria y Olmedot and Alajuela Street is the Metropolitan Cathedral of Jesus the Good Shepherd.

A nearby village, Sosote, is known for its tagua workshops, a traditional Ecuadorian handicraft.

Education

The Technical University of Manabí (UTM) located in Portoviejo, was founded in 1952, having an estimated acceptance rate of 72%. It is locally known as Universidad Técnica de Manabí.

The Private University of San Gregorio Portoviejo is the second university of the city, founded in the year 2000 with an estimated acceptance rate of 51%.

Transportation

The city is located on the E30 road connecting from Manta, Manabí to the capital of the Cotopaxi Province, Latacunga, as well as the 39A.

In 2014, Portoviejo served a bus system of 129 buses on 12 routes throughout the entire city.

The local airport was closed by order of president Rafael Correa in 2011. Currently it is only used for the city's police helicopter operations, as well as for artistic events and trade fairs at Christmas time. In 2016, the airport served as a shelter for those affected by the April 16 earthquake. The nearest currently operating airport, Eloy Alfaro International Airport is instead located in the city of Manta 26 kilometres (16 mi) to the west.

Geography

Climate

Portoviejo has a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen BSh) with consistently very warm to hot conditions all year round. The advance and retreat of the cold Humboldt Current means there are two seasons: a lengthy dry season from May to December and a short wet season from January to April. The wet season is quite erratic owing to the El Niño Southern Oscillation. in El Niño years rainfall may be several times the long-term mean.

Notable people

• Vicente Amador Flor (July 19, 1903 – December 3, 1975), a poet known for writing poems about the city.
• Nathalie Cely (born 28 December 1965), the former Minister of Production of Ecuador and former Ecuadorian Ambassador to the United States.
• Valentina Centeno, Ecuadorian politician
• Lucila Santos Trujillo (1925/1928 – 4 May 2020), former first lady of Ecuador.

Twin cities

• Baracaldo, Spain

Gallery

• The Catedral Metropolitana de Portoviejo.
• Green Iguana in the Botanical Garden at Portoviejo.
• Tagua, Ecuadorian handicraft.
• Aerial view of Portoviejo.

References

1. Citypopulation.de Population and area of Portoviejo
2. "Portoviejo guide, travel destinations & best time to visit | Ecuador". Ecuador.com. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
3. Ayala, Maggie; Casey, Nicholas (April 17, 2016). "Ecuador Earthquake Kills Hundreds in Huge Wave of Collapses". New York Times. Retrieved April 17, 2016.
4. ^ "Portoviejo | Creative Cities Network". en.unesco.org. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
5. Sandoval, Carla (22 October 2018). "Cocina tradicional manabita declarada Patrimonio Cultural Inmaterial". El Comercio (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-09-29.
6. "Portoviejo: The Queen City of Ecuador and its Cultural and Natural Wealth". www.journeygourmet.com. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
7. ^ "Nature & Parks in Portoviejo". Tripadvisor. 23 September 2024. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
8. "Parque Central Vicente Amador Flor". Tripadvisor. 23 September 2024. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
9. "Info Jardín Botánico de Portoviejo | Portoviejo - Manabí, Ecuador". ec.viajandox.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-09-23.
10. "Cerro de Hojas Jaboncillo – Instituto Nacional de Patrimonio Cultural" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-09-23.
11. "Info Catedral Metropolitana de Portoviejo | Portoviejo -Manabí, Ecuador". ec.viajandox.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-09-23.
12. "Portoviejo Ecuador, Catedral Jesús del Buen Pastor". 2022-01-27. Archived from the original on 2022-01-27. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
13. sophie2714 (2012-08-17). "Introducing - 'The Lads'". justtradeuk. Retrieved 2024-09-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
14. "What is Tagua?". Treats Designs. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
15. "Technical University of Manabi [Ranking + Acceptance Rate]". EduRank.org - Discover university rankings by location. 2019-11-21. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
16. "Private University of San Gregorio Portoviejo [Ranking + Acceptance Rate]". EduRank.org - Discover university rankings by location. 2019-11-21. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
17. "Un sistema de buses y rutas poco claro". El Diario, EDIASA S.A. (in Spanish). 21 February 2014. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
18. "Tras 80 años de operatividad se cierra aeropuerto". El Universo (in Spanish). 2011-12-10. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
19. Dewar, Robert E; Wallis, James R (1999). "Geographical patterning of interannual rainfall variability in the tropics and near tropics: An L-moments approach". Journal of Climate. 12 (12): 3457–3466. Bibcode:1999JCli...12.3457D. doi:10.1175/1520-0442(1999)012<3457:GPOIRV>2.0.CO;2. S2CID 55652367.
20. "CLIMWAT climatic database". Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations. Retrieved 20 June 2024.

External links

Media related to Portoviejo at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website (in Spanish)

v t e Provincial capitals in Ecuador
Within regions, north to south
Insular	Puerto Baquerizo
Costa	Esmeraldas Portoviejo Babahoyo Guayaquil Santa Elena Santo Domingo Machala
Sierra	Tulcán Ibarra Quito Latacunga Ambato Guaranda Riobamba Azogues Cuenca Loja
Oriente	Nueva Loja (Lago Agrio) Puerto Francisco de Orellana (Coca) Tena Puyo Macas Zamora

• Populated places in Manabí Province
• Populated places established in 1535
• Provincial capitals in Ecuador
• 1535 establishments in the Spanish Empire
• People from Portoviejo Canton