Ecuador – Cuenca

After my adventure filled time in Banos I headed further south to Cuenca for a couple of days of relaxation.  Cuenca is a town originating from the time of the Inca which was then recast as a colonial administrative centre under the Spanish.  Cuenca is a larger city of 400,000.  When I first arrived I didn’t like it because compared to Banos and Mindo it is so large and busy with traffic everywhere.  However, after a couple of days of wandering it has grown on me considerably.

It straddles a small river which has a lovely bath beside it.  The whole city is very pretty, clean, and well maintained.  Which is probably why it is overflowing with gringos.  There are an astounding number of Americans and Canadians, mostly retired, who either come here for the winter or have moved here permanently.  This morning at breakfast everyone in the cafe was gringo.

One of the big export products from Cuenca are “Panama” hats.  This is a misnomer as they are actually from Ecuador but were popular with the workers during the construction of the Panama canal in the 19th century and the label stuck.  Of course being the consumate tourist that I am, one of my goals in coming here was to get hats for Eric and me.  On the advice of some friends from my Galapagos cruise that I met on the street I headed to the hat museum.  This is actually a store in an old hat factory where they show you the process of making and finishing the hats and then sell you some!

Giant hat at the entrance of the museum

Old hat press and model made of hats

Lots of hats to chose from – most the classic design

Fashion hats with a bit more edge and colour

Hats come in differing levels of quality (and related price).  The higher quality hats are made with thinner strips so that the weaving is softer and more dense.  The top quality ones (superfino) you can hold up and not see any light shine through.  These are the ones in theory that you can roll up, though it’s not recommended.

The really nice one is on the left. It was stored in a special case to protect it since it takes months to make the top quality ones.

I opted for mid-range quality.  Because they didn’t have any finished versions of these in Eric’s size I had one customized.  I found one I liked for me.  They needed time to finish it so I went off to wander then came back to pick it up.  Luckily I was in time to see the process!

First the brim of the generic hat is flattened in a machine.

Then the hat is put in a press with an aluminum mold. Using steam the hat is formed to the classic shape.

Presto – classic shape.

Then the band is added.

Actually while I was away they sold my hat so they had to customize another one for me.

My hat :)

The specially shaped bag for carrying the hats.

Besides having fun at the hat shop, I did a lot of wandering in the city.  Also most of my time has been figuring out the rest of my trip.  At one point I concluded I would stay longer in Ecuador and skip Peru until Eric could join me which resulted in lots of research as to what to do and new reservations.  Then things flipped back to Peru so I finally figured out all the details for the next month.  I’m happy to have it settled and figured out so that when I fly to Lima this afternoon I can just relax and enjoy my time.

I have found that upon reflection I have not spent my time in Ecuador very efficiently.  With some better planning and research I could have done it better.  However, I’m very happy with what I have seen and done here.  I’ve loved being in Ecuador.  The people are very friendly and not aggressive at all in trying to sell you things (nothing like Morocco or Egypt).   The standard of living, at least in the cities, is quite high.  I have felt completely safe as a female walking around at night.  The people seem healthy and happy (the only people I’ve seen smoking are foreigners).  I can’t wait to come back again.  This has been the perfect introduction to travelling solo!