This commune, which has a church with a window facing the sea, has been celebrating weddings for six years amid colorful murals from the Casitas de Colores program.
Many of the travelers who travel in their own vehicle on the Spondylus Route From Santa Elena in the direction of Manabí they have the sweet custom of stopping for a few minutes in the La Entrada commune, located just before the border between both provinces, to taste some of the delicacies that have made the city famous. Benito’s Sweets, business that operates on the right side of the highway.
This has happened in the two decades that this place that is owned by Benito Pincay has been operating. But for six years, La Entrada commune has proposed to captivate visitors in other ways, becoming a destination for weddings thanks to the brilliant initiative of building the town’s church right in front of the sea and with a large window that allows the oceanic landscape to accompany the happy couples who decide to celebrate their wedding in that temple!
The acceptance has been overwhelming, since they have reservations for all the remaining weekends of this year, indicates Stefanía Guale Pozo, president of the commune, which shows the interest that La Entrada has aroused among those couples who wish to link their destinations in that unforgettable environment located two and a half hours from Guayaquil. “We are working hard on the tourism issue for the benefit of the 1,200 inhabitants of the community,” he says.
The experience inside the church is complemented with a very striking detail: The Entrance has 85 murals painted by artists from all over the country within the program called Casitas de Colores, which was started by Shell y Marsha Spivey, a retired American couple residing there for eleven years, who also supported the construction of the church. “Four festivals have already been held to invite artists to paint a mural,” says Stefanía. And we will continue adding more works in future festivals so that each wall looks beautified ”.
This allows the newlyweds and their guests to be greeted by works of art with a diversity of themes, which evoke the ancient culture of the area, in addition to its natural wealth.
All these murals await couples, but also all travelers who now stop to contemplate them in pleasant walking tours that may very well end with a delicious ceviche that can be requested in one of the small stalls of the community members, who usually fish. and dive every day to stock their businesses with oysters, octopus, shrimp and fish.
Armando Asunción, in charge of Tourism in the commune and president when this initiative began, explains that they are motivating the inhabitants to start small businesses related to tourism as a way to help the local economy. “Now we have seven cevicheria points, divers from here in the commune, besides there are small dining rooms ”.
As part of that goal, they have already restored the humpback whale monument and hope to modernize the adjoining food court soon. Thus, La Entrada hopes to continue growing as a destination, with marriages, with art, with gastronomy and, of course, with the now traditional Benito sweets. (I)
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